SK2 User Guide

For the most part, while Spam Karma 2 (SK2) appears intimidating at first, within a short time the tabs across the top and each page of the spam comment plugin will be self-evident. You can stay with the default settings or tweak them to match your preferences. SK2 is highly customizable, allowing the site administrator to finely tune the control of comment spam.

  • Stats: Located at the top, this section shows basic SK2 statistics including the version number.
  • Spam Karma 2 Settings: This major subsection contains three minor subsections:
  • General Settings: The overall severity of the filter settings may be set here. There is also an option to insert basic statistics in the footer of your theme, provided your theme has the proper WordPress footer hook.
  • Filter Plugins Settings: These are user-configurable option settings for each SK2 filter. You may adjust, or even disable any plugin used, or you can test, play, and adjust them to your personal needs.

    Most filters are the same as SK1, with better code and default settings. The only noticeable addition is a Trackback referrer check. It imposes the same condition on Trackbacks and Pingbacks, which is perhaps harsher than it should, but possibly better than disabling it completely. Feel free to tone it down or disable if you do not want to limit trackbacks in that way: or set it stronger if you prefer.

  • Treatment Plugins Settings: At present, there is only a captcha backup option implemented. If somebody receives a borderline karma and doesn’t fill the captcha, they will be moderated (and a message displayed if using Kubrick). Email-auto-moderation has not been added, but it is under consideration for future versions.

    Caution is advised in disabling the Anubis plugin: all comments will go straight to moderation regardless of their karma.

  • Advanced Options: This major subsection contains three minor subsections:
  • Show Advanced Settings: This button toggles advanced Filter Plugins Settings on or off, and this further requires that your browser’s Javascript functionality be turned on.
  • Database Tools: Generally, these should remain unchanged. They may be useful for specific errors as detailed in the SK2 FAQ.
  • Theme Check: After you install SK2 and turn it on using WordPress’s Plugin Management, use these tests to insure that your theme is SK2 compatible.

Both Recent Spam Harvest and Approved Comments each contain the last twenty comments on your site, sorted by date. If you need to see more than twenty, the value may be changed. Hovering the mouse over each field shows the details of the comments.

  • Spams Caught by SK2: These are comments that have not yet been approved, they do not show publicly, and if found here may deleted by you if desired. Entries in this list are color coded: grayer colors indicate a lower karma than greener entries. If a submitted comment listed here falls between a narrow karma range, it will be colored with a green background outlined in red, and it’s pinned to the top of the list for your immediate attention, regardless of its date.

    If you decide a message is not spam, select the checkbox in the ID column that intersects with the row of the message, then press the green button Recover Selected. This changes the comment’s status to approved, and moves it to the Approved Comments tab, as well as making appropriate whitelist entries, essentially training SK2 to perform better in the future.

    There is one additional message-background coloring in this list to be aware of: a bluish-gray, with a question mark appearing in the “karma” column. When you see this, select the message’s checkbox and press the button Run selected entries through All plugins.

  • Comments recently approved: This list contains recent comments automatically approved by Spam Karma 2 as well as all other approved comments. Approved comments are all color-coded with a green background and are visible to viewers of your weblog.

    If spam is incorrectly approved by SK2 and appears in this list, select the checkbox in the ID column that intersects with the row of the spam, then press the button Moderate Selected. This moves the spam to the Recent Spam Harvest page, and automatically makes appropriate entries in your blacklist, essentially training SK2 to perform better in the future.

  • Blacklist: This major subsection is composed of four minor ones:
  • Add: Using the drop-down dialog you may manually add blacklist entries to several different types of black and white lists. Personally, I haven’t added any to my own install, but it’s been intensely tested and should work for any domain.
  • Show: You may change the number of blacklist or whitelist entries shown, as well as restrict or sort the listing in several different ways.
  • Remove: If there’s a blacklist or whitelist entry that you wish to delete, simply check the box in the ID column that intersects with the row of the rule to be deleted, then press the button Remove Selected Entries.
  • Entries Matching: Upon initial SK2 installation the blacklist is empty, except for two RBL servers, by default. As comments and spam are submitted, and you train SK2, appropriate entries are made automatically to the black or white lists. Over time, this list will grow. The entries are color coded: grayer values indicate a low score, while higher scores gradient into bright blue. The last column titled “used” indicates how many times the entry has been triggered.
  • SK2 Logs: If you encounter any unexplained behavior, check SK2 Logs, this page contains almost every detail of what SK2 has been doing. Important messages will be both logged and displayed below the one minor subsection:
  • Purge: These log controls, located at the top, should be self-evident.
SK2 Main Page • SK2 Quick Start • SK2 FAQ & Troubleshooting • SK2 User Guide • SK2 Plugins • SK2 API • SK2 Roadmap

1 Comment »

  1. a said,

    February 4, 2008 at 3:28 am

    a

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