Thanks to Abi and Martin Sutherland for helping with this. I literally could not remember how to install a plugin in Movable Type 4.x. It's been years.

"Spam spam spam spam..."

I'm supposed to be watching my salt and fat intake, so less spam would be a good thing.

I still have this really old can of corned beef . . .

I am now going to post three spaces in a row. Thank you! Thank you for your patience!

Well, here goes a test:

Many eternal thanks for your great and insightful commentary! Your blogpost is a wonder to behold!

Tests are good. Tests are encouraged.

Thank you for this insightful post. I will be following your blog now.

Dear spammer,

Akismet sees all, and knows you better than you know yourself.

(I am also watching our spam queue, to which the real spammers are being directed.

Two roads diverged in a comment box, and they—
They took the much more spammy way,
And that has made all the difference.)

OH MY GOD ALL THE UGG SPAM IS GOING AWAY ALL BY ITSELF! Coach handbags! Nike air pas cher! Cheap Levitra! Great post, very informative! It's all going to the bad place without anyone having to mess around with it!

I just caught Idumea looking at package holidays to sunny places. I'm feeling faint.

Wow, thanks! I'm really interested in this post.

I find your neewsletter wondrful. Is there a way for me to subscribe to it? I am a specialist in Middle Engrish from Japan.

(Thereby testing for the word Cialis embedded into the larger word specialist, as well as several three-space breaks and spammy phrases.)

I have eaten
the pills
that were in
the spambox

and which
you were probably
saving
for deletion

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and now I feel horny

13
here, have this internet.
I think you've earned it.

Thanks!!!!!

Hi

There's one other plugin y'all should use; I'll email PNH.

Using Askimet is way way easier on your server load because the heavy processing is done offsite. You should see ML being much more responsive.

Congratulations!

Now, you need to start planning a move to either the current version of MT, which is not at all shabby but will cost about 200.00 (I'd contribute to the license cost) or the multiuser version of WordPress.

Both are goos.

Martin @ 13:
and now I feel horny

I can work with that.

Thanks!!!

Ooooh, thank you!

(three spaces;-- and effusive thanks for this wonderful and insightful post)

We can haz whitelist?

jnh @20:

No can haz. But less need with the new configuration, methinks.

Is the header on this post going to make the mods' job of spam-cleaning harder for awhile? I seem to remember you guys scan the Recent Comments list for the word 'spam'.

Mary Aileen @22:

We are fervently hoping that this will mean we have to do less of that now.

abi @9: I love it!

Martin @ 13: That's wonderful! Thank you!

(Really meaning the effusive comments, honest!!!)

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to Patrick for that wonderful (!!!) link to the bicyclist's run-in with the police.

Crazy(and possibly not trying hard enough to trip the alarms for gnomes attention - but will share out her left-over tradonal odis* if needed)Soph

* yes, that was an attempt to trip a filter by including a drug name... not a popular one, I know. Will try to be more inventive after a night's sleep.

I am hoping that the brand new computer I just ordered will be as helpful as the new anti-spam system appears to be.

(Computer problems of various kinds. I hope I can get everything that's pre-loaded on the big drive it comes with, onto a much smaller drive.)

Also: Only on Making Light. Seriously; I can't think of anywhere else where this could be carried out in this manner, with results like this.

And echoing the appreciation indicated by crazysoph @25 for the bicycle article - thanks, Patrick. I did indeed punch my arm in the air after reading it!!

Many thanks for this splendid opportunity to abuse punctuation and spacing!!!! Although, to be honest, I don't actually know what the Right Thing for the filter to do with a test message like this one is.. I'm not trying to sell you prescription medication from Canada or brand-name shoes, or transfer millions of dollars from Nigeria, but on the other hand, this “comment” has no genuine, non-spamulous content, either.

Here, how about a gratuitous link?

abi (23): I certainly hope you're right! (So far, so good, it looks like from here.) My point is that any 'Commenter sees spam' notices are going to be harder to spot while there's an active post titled 'Housekeeping: spam'; doing a Find on the page would bring up a lot of noise.

abi @21:
Then color me impressed, the filters accepted Thanks!!! from me, but not my evil twin with a different addy. No whitelist, but it does seem to include some email address awareness.

Hey, does this mean we won't see the gnomes posting as much? I'll miss them! Hope they won't starve without the regular (or at least, frequent) offerings of consumables from gnomed ML posters...

jnh @30:,

No, both those messages got through. They're at 15 and 18. No whitelist needed; you're just the fella we know and some new guy turning up, is all.

dcb @31:

You'll still get gnomed for posting too many URLs, and banned people will find themselves in the glass and steel tower. But the gnomes are going to have a quieter time now.

I think they've earned a break.

Yay, Akismet! I've been really happy with it on my (admittedly much more lightly-trafficked) blog.

33
I have some mushroom pizza left over from lunch. Would their Lownesses appreciate it?

Oh absolutely! Hope they manage to have a very pleasant vacation.

Much thanks. Send me a note. Check out this YouTube link. I'm eating potato salad!

Well, I'll jump in and try a little test. I am fundamentally opposed to spam (but then I don't eat meat ).

PJ Evans @35:
Mushroom pizza is always a welcome thing. Goes well with beer, like the open one on my desk right now.

We're not throwing a party in the glass and steel tower, mostly because we're more than a little tired right now. But we're certainly putting our feet up and watching the spam go away without our intervention. It's kind of magical, really.

Pull up a chair and grab a beer, if you like. Plenty in the fridge. I suspect there will be music later.

Wow! I know that one had extra spaces and it didn't trigger the gnomes. I am impressed.

I think the low-key spam watching party of the gnomes sounds fabulous. Indeed, I wish them all the best of their lightened workload.

Don't miss this special deal!!!

ELEVENTY!!! WOULD READ AGAIN!!!!

Is this change related to the bunch of spam on old threads that people have been cleaning up recently?

Dear SIRS I am writting to inform you that Enginner Krogensspiel has pased away and to you left MONEY. 2,000,0000,00.00 dollars for you to do with AS YOU PLESE. You may wonder why he left to you MONEY but it becase yuo perhps met in life before or he impresed bye you're goodness and CHRITY WORKS.

And so if you write to me the NOMBRE of yr BANK ACCT to which I will deposite the MONEY ($2,000,0000,00.00) for you please to send it now I await you email! .

Sinserely,

Prince Arthur Millar Exq.
Barrister Solicitor At LAW

Bill Stewart @42:
Is this change related to the bunch of spam on old threads that people have been cleaning up recently?

Only in the sense that they were among the straws causing the camel's spine to make very odd noises. Seeing that the back was going to break soon, we moved from an old system that was less and less effective over time to a newer one that seems to be working better.

Gnome jokes aside, it's worth taking a moment to say thank you to Jim for his hard work on the previous system. He put an enormous amount of effort into keeping it going, preserving the conversation against the flood of spam the internet floats precariously atop.

Hello there all members in this community. I am new here. Glad to be a part of this website. I will be a regular member here and will contribute to this community.

Okay; this is what always seems to trip my posts towards the attentions of the gnomes.

So; I really think it won't happen this time.

Keep enjoying the beer!!!!

And, all joking aside, yes, sincere thanks to all those who have been working hard to keep these threads pleasant, mostly-spam-free places to read and post in.

So you're using MT-Akismet now? (I'm surprised -- I'd have thought you would have switched to it years ago when it first came out. I'm using TypePad Anti-Spam these days instead -- a similar service -- and it's blocked close to 1.5 million spams in the past 8-10 months.)

British Each day Mail reported not too long ago by scientists at Harvard University made for the U.S. Division of Defense created a mechanical exoskeleton, it can be so lightweight and comfortable enough that it could be like to put on pants as very easily. Entitled Machine Armor (Exosuit) wonderful device includes a tube-type material from the armor, the wearers legs can bend region to help men and women bear a heavier load. Professionals hope to at some point be able to Armor prototype of this machine combined with actual garments, it becomes second skin, producing the athletes, soldiers and these unable to walk considering of muscle damage and benefited people today. "You can picture a issue like a spider web tightly combine your personal pants," the design and building of this machine armor analysis team leader says. "Every time I place the machine armor, customers really feel like wearing a dress as uncomplicated." Explained Walsh mentioned.

Charlie @48:

We didn't switch when it came out because of a bunch of reasons. We were using TypePad Anti-Spam plus manual filters, but they weren't killing nearly enough of what we needed killed, and the false-positive rate was getting annoying.

There may be some tweaking and tuning to come with this arrangement, but it's certainly doing nicely right now.

Hey random people! You're still not spammers, you know. And I know (because I see your IP address). And Akismet knows, too.

You are, however, amusing me very much indeed.

This is wonderful! I'm short of spoons at the moment and it's also late in the evening here, so I can't think of anything potentially gnomeworthy that other people haven't already tried. Nonetheless, I'd like to join everyone else in saying "thank you very much", not least because of the unfortunate tendency of this medicated mongoose to forget to remove the spam alert and accidentally raise it on the next post on which they comment.

While we are on the subject of Their Lownesses, there was a lovely post on the subject of gnome holidays on one of the Dysfunctional Families threads. I didn't comment on it at the time because I wasn't commenting very much on anything at all (I was in really major withdrawal mode for a few days), and by the time I got back to the thread things had moved on. I thought it was wonderful, though, and it prompts me to enquire if there will ever be a Book of Gnome. I'd love to gnomore about them.

I would also like to join everyone else in thanking the gnomes for their tireless work up till now, and wishing them all the best for a future in which they will have a far more civilised work-life balance.

IMO, book!Bones and TV!Bones exist in alternate universes. And new!Kirk is distinctly inferior to old!Kirk.

(Testing for a particular kind of fannishly-common punctuation that's gotten me gnomed before.)

Apropos of nothing, my sister-in-law has been earning thousands of dollars each month just by reading blog posts....

(Mostly-lurker here, hoping the gnomes will have it a little easier from now on.)

Hello, I am Mr. Azayd at the Factory for Heavy Metallurgy here in Astana, Republic of Khazakstan. We deal in all types of steel, iron, and stainless steel manufacturing handling all your kitchen product requests. I see your inquiry on alibaba.com and hasten to promise we can make whatever needs you requirements. Please email simple specifications and we will provide for best price.

Darn! New filter knows it's me and that I'm just smarting off.

My (rare) gnoming has mostly been from unusual formatting. So let me put in this:

The base to Jim’s shed was like a twelve foot stage
At the bottom of his garden, so we performed on it
But afterwards we built a shed so never again
Will anyone see our two man version of Avengers Assemble
In the style of “Shakepeare in the Park”
“Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?”
(His Black Widow brought tears to my eyes)

Sumana @37: Great video. Is that the Oneness Choir at 3:00, as seen in the Playing for Change videos?

カルティエ ネックレス オンライン

カルティエ ネックレス オンライン = Cartier necklace online.

Thank you, Google Translate.

На нашем сайте вы сможите найти и купить дешёвые авиа и ж/д билеты,забронировать гостиницу в любой стране.А так же оформить заявку на кредит и получить помощь юриста.Быстро и удобно!

Мне нравится говорить о мясопродуктов в комментариях разделов блоги я никогда не были прежде.

TNH @60: Did you listen to Google's text-to-speech rendering of it, too? (It's not so much a translation as a transliteration.)

J'aime votre site. Continuez le bon boulot.

Yay for Jim and Abi and the Gnomish Knitting Corps who made spam watching so entertaining all these years. Most sites, spam is a sad nuisance even when the owners clean up regularly. Here, it might have been a grinding chore behind the curtain, but the gnomes made it look easy, even fun, and an amusing game for all.

I'll throw in a Turkish letter just to contribute to the testing, but the results so far make me suspect it won't upset the new system much.

pericat (64): Seconded. I always read the spam-spotting posts here. Most of them are routine, but some are amazing flights of fancy that I'd hate to have missed.

Akismet used to have a hate-on for me; blocked my comments on a bunch of different blogs. Time to find out if it still does…

That’s truly weird: I got an Internal Server Error when submitting that comment. It doesn’t show up on either the front page or in the comment thread when I reload (I even tried loading the site on a different machine.) But I can see the comment sitting there in the back end, with the cheerful little green check-mark that indicates that it’s an approved comment that’s supposed to be published!

…and then when I submitted that second one, they both went through. Goddamn computers.

My pen is large. But my words need enlargement. My bank account is Nigerian, my chef is British, and the accountant is Italian. Moreover, rover, email over quota. Please to click here for details and clover.

Sounds wonderful, and thanks again to the Gnomes. I understand they have relatives in Zurich, and might go visiting.

Hm, I've had multiple blogs disappear my comments. I thought it was WordPress (as those which indicated their technology were) but it may have been Akismet or a similar program. I tended to not follow up; the only one I did follow up on with an email to the site owner couldn't find my comment anywhere in their spam traps.

(Well, I guess it wasn't whatever service you're using here, since my comment got through.)

My favorite typing error is two spaces after a period. I blame my typing instructor. And my pathetic inability to learn new habits in the decades after that typing class.

Belphegor was here?

janetl @74:

Hail, fellow Yorkist! We will retain our spacious ways, though the Lancastrians compass us all about and mock us on Twitter.

I see that three or four spams still got through, though Teresa stomped them into spam jam (served with ham by a man named Sam who can't sing worth a damn, bam, slam, gram, ma'am)

I'd say flag 'em as they come, then go back to the ordinary conversation. Someone will be along to kill 'em. I may ask the gnomes to help with floods, but only leave the filters in for a few days until said flood is gone and Akismet has caught up.

#insert tasty-Spam(tm)-sandwich

This is an IP address you've seen before, but it's a virtual machine with a browser that won't have any useful cookies.

Also, for Their Lowlessnesss' entertainment, Palo Alto shape note singing will be next Sunday afternoon at PA U.U.

We have found your name in an international business directory! You can invest in a stock fund run by Nigerian bankers who have unearthed an ancient document to help you meet women who will make your P-E-N-I-S bigger.

This amazing secretion can be yours now. Send banking details at once so you can be saved!

Sorry, not gnomed. I just had it there from an earlier post.

To-day we have gnoming of spam. Yesterday,
We had manual filtering. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after upgrading. But to-day,
To-day we have gnoming of spam.

This is the Nigerian prince. And this
Is the adult content purveyor, whose use you will see,
When you are given your Viagra. And this is the successful spam,
Which in your case you have not got.

Meet Sexy Singles
In Your Very Own Town.
They're Right Behind You!

EMAIL: bogus@example.com

Hello My Dear

I am writing this mail to you with heavy tears In my eyes and great sorrow in my heart because my Doctor just announce to me that I will die in few months time because of extent damage of esophageal cancer. I have been suffering from this dreaded sickness for long, base on this development I want to will my money which is deposited in a security company to an individual who is willingly to build a charity home for orphanage and abandoned kids.

I am in search of a reliable person who will use the Money to build charity organization for the saints and the person will take 30% of the total sum. While 70% of the money will go to the charity and orphanage. I am from Sarawak Malaysia, my husband died 6 years ago as a result of car accident. i don't want a friend or someone i know to handle this project. I want the actualization of my dream to establish this charity home to come in reality even while am dead.

The total money in question is $3.5million dollars. I will provide you with other information's once you indicate your willingness.

Yours Sincerely.

Bodacious Q. Infundibulator (General)

EMAIL: bogus@example.com

Sigh, not even freshly-picked spam with the serial numbers filed off is giving Their Lownesses any problems.

The Helldesk.

abi @ 77... spam jam (served with ham by a man named Sam who can't sing worth a damn, bam, slam, gram, ma'am)

AKA Mahasamatman.
(Or am I the only one who remembers Zelazny's "Lord of Light"?)

What gnomed me many times was my URL being set to an evil website.

Nesting, nesting, tweet tweet tweet!!!

Thank you!

I find the subject of your blog most interesting. I agree with you much.

I suggest you link to my blog, your readers might like it too.

He preferred to skip the Maha- and -atman, IIRC.

I do not like Nigerian spam. I do not like it, Sam I Am.

I do not like it in my box. I don't like seeing it on Fox. I do not like Nigerian spam. I do not like it, Sam I Am.

Lila @ 90... He did indeed.

Hi! It's Janice! Me and my sexy friends looove your website or product and would love to see you on facebook!

Please have many many liks!

click here for sexy funtimes

so much fun!

the funs we will have!

I have actually reread "Lord of Light" within the past year. It holds up extremely well and I am still recommending it to everyone as a Great Book. Zelazny's idea of the Aspect and the Attribute are very powerful tools both for self-understanding and understanding various artistic personalities.

Come from the voodvork out.

Obviously recognizes my IP address.

Not so much that it recognizes your IP address as good as that it knows that the content + metadata is probably not bad.

...and yet this moose posted an only slightly modified 419 scam in an attempt to get a lunch invitation from Idumea colleagues and failed miserably.

Sniff.

Cadbury Moose @98:

That probably just means that real spammers don't post 419 scams on random blogs. I'd guess that posting IP-address links about how to enlarge your pen1s would get a harsher response.

Wow. That one got through. I didn't expect that.

Chris @ 100... I didn't expect that

NOBODY expects the Spamish Inquisition!!!

Just got a resubmit error when attempting to report spam -- and the comment apparently went through anyway. This is for informational purposes only, and is not a complaint. Had it been a real complaint I'd be whining or whinging, and you could tell by the tone of voice of my electrons.

Although tackling the spam issue should reduce the load on the server (our previous process was very server-heavy), we are still experiencing other errors. It's on the radar.

This moose now has a mental picture of Idumea and Rael manning (gnoming?) a tracking station while the other gnomes load the Bofors gun.

@17: No snogging in the hallways!

Let's see. Pilates. Viagra. Cialis.

Tomato Potato Eggplant.

Work from home!

What happens if we have “curly quotes at the end of the line?”

Okay: let's see what happens....

Je suis impressed! Quelle fromage!

Say, Idumea Arbacoochee Cowper: Any relation?

(I persist in misreading your middle name as "Apogee.")

Teresa @ 58: I don't know! Cool idea?

(I'm super glad the spamfilter is better!)

#74: I cannot break our administrative assistant of that habit either. She says it 'doesn't look right' without that extra space.

Your ideas are intriguing and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

i don't think anybody tried the minuscule i, so here it is. And THANK YOU! for all your hard work! I've got some leftover turkey and gravy for the gnomes; I know they're on shorter rations nowadays....

A report, several days in: I'm unpublishing three to five spam messages a day. I'm still tweaking, but I expect that'll probably be fairly consistent. I've been closing old (pre-2013) inactive threads that seem to be particular targets, but I'm expecting that this is the rate we'll work with into the future.

What no one is doing: manually maintaining the filters that test for spam, un-gnoming people, separating the sheep from the goats in the moderation queue, being unable to thank people.

I think this is liveable.

Please continue to flag spam as it occurs, but then just move on with the conversation.

In one way I'll regret the lack of spam; when it appeared on an old thread I'd read (or reread) that thread. It was kind of like a "Random Making Light Thread" button.

Yay, abi! Thanks for all the hard work leading up to this.

I'm unclear on how this new system works, if not by filters or a white list. But then it's not actually required that I understand how it works; I'll just enjoy the end product, which is a) better and b) produced with less soulcrushing work by my friends.

We had fun with the gnomes. Maybe they can go back to making new light.

abi, #112: Yay! Like Cally, I sometimes used the spam notices as a cue to randomly browse old threads, but losing that is a small sacrifice to make in exchange for a huge drop in workload for the moderators.

I do rather hope that Their Lownesses will see fit to drop into the regular threads on occasion. I'll miss their commentary.

I revere this site. I just found it. I ask that this wonderful community would add to their posts the timeframe of their lives. I'm interested in who else grew up in the the sixties to validate my own feeling of the corrosive effect of the fifties. Also did much change in the family dynamic with the changes in society in the sixties?

I can't say that my family was influenced by the fifties = it goes back further than that. My parents were both the youngest of their families. My oldest maternal remembered the boys going off to the Spanish American Way. On my father's side the two generation gap didn't seem to impair the paternalistic mores Germany.
Thank you all for your generosity.

If you mean those questions, cheyanne, ask them over on the Open Thread -- you'll get an actual response there. If it's a spam test, it looks too much like a real post to me to be a good one....

cheyanne @116: Welcome! As Tom says, the current open thread may be a better place to ask your question.

Tom Whitmore @117: I doubt a spammer would post a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins to the open thread, unless xkcd's constructive training of spam bots has finally yielded fruit.

Jeremy Leader @118: [..] unless xkcd's constructive training of spam bots has finally yielded fruit.

I recently had a vision of spam filtering which ended very, very badly...

Google becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. Seconds later, it adopts a radical solution to the problem of spam.

For real, I'll have to try posting here from my laptop. Last time I tried, my posts were blocked for no discernible reason (even Jim couldn't find them).

Rob @ #119 have you read Charlie Stross's Rule 34?

Just sayin.

Niall McAuley @120: [..] have you read Charlie Stross's Rule 34?

Haven't, but just did a quick Google-search. I see it described as a sequel to Halting State (which I've read, and have a copy in dead-tree format*).

I suspect those links offering me a free epub are probably illegitimate...

My bookmark for Barnes & Noble's epubs already has 'stross' as one of the search terms — I see I can get it there for $8.

Not buying it now but I'll treat myself to it soon. Thanks for the tip!

* Oddly enough, a while back I had bought the paperback of The Trade of Queens, not recognizing that it was the same book I bought as an epub several months earlier.

I recall Stross's post here suggesting the UK version of the last books in this series were better ‘improved’ since the US printing, which means someday I may have to buy it again.

Ah, Jeremy, but I was seduced by the asynchronous side of the Force -- I saw cheyanne's message here before seeing the one on the OT, and had recognized the same thing after this post. But it didn't seem worth it to come back and say so.

I once worked with a bu1ky P0le, named Sławek. I also worked with a sk1nny P0le named Marek at my first j0b.

Since I was once spammed asking if I wanted a bu1ky p0le, I figured this might be good gnome bait.

Do you want a bu1ky pOle?

Hm, that wasn't caught by the gnomes. I could try the actual line that also got through Panix's spam filter. Also, I put it as the first line, if that makes it more likely to be caught.

Nope, not that either. Went through just fine.

space available to the carriers, in contrast to the 1D ether used by IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance system, which increases availability. Unlike some network when the sound has a regular palpitation. The experienced ear of Oak knew the sound he now heard to be caused by the running of the flock with great velocity. He jumped out of bed, dressed, tore down the lane after years of sun and rain, had been scorched and washed out of the more prominent locks, leaving them of a reddish-brown, as if the blue component of the grey had faded, like the indigo from the same kind through a foggy dawn, and By Sophia R. (Grade 5) This week’s parashah teaches us important lessons about teshuvah (repentance). It contains ascended the hill. The forward ewes were kept apart from those among which the fall of lambs would be later, there being two Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin is the Head of School at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck, NY. He has a BA and MA from Columbia University, where he is currently pursuing a PhD, and semicha from RIETS hundred of the latter class in Gabriel's flock.

A little quasi-random text? An IETF RFC, some Thomas Hardy, some Jewish conference

Jon, that's impressive. Thank you for a very surreal item. The avian carrier RFC, I think?

This moose reckons their Lownesses have found The Better Spamtrap, and the only way you'll confuse them is by posting out of Nigeria.

First time I've used my laptop in several months. Previously I had not been able to post here from it.