Blacklisting by country works

Sunday, April 20, 2008, 1:20 AM
Website Design by John (Article #196)

A while back I began implementing a country-specific blacklisting system to control the amount of spam that appears on a local classifieds website I run, called PunxsyPage.com. Combined with a system that allows unregistered users to pass their ads into a human-edited system for approval, this has brought the appearance of spam on the website down to nearly zero.

I am currently working on a website called MakeABase.com, that will allow users to convert their Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into usable and repurposable databases. Of course, I figure there's gotta be some spammer interest in such a site. After all, practically any website that allows outside users to add content is an invitation for spamming.

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So, I figure MakeABase is going to be my next shot at testing how well the blacklisting of countries continues to work in preventing spam.

FTR, the countries that really are pains in the ass are mostly in the Bite of Africa, including Cameroon, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. India also is worth blacklisting, especially if you don't attract much of an English reading audience from there.

Yes, believe it or not, isolating just a handful of foreign countries and shipping all their traffic down a black hole brings spam postings on your website to an end. Makes you feel real good, right?

Anyhow, I shall report back in the future as to how effective my next experiment in xenophobia goes.

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Welcome!

Wonder where to start with your web design business?

This blog follows along with my efforts to build and grow a website design business, Pro Content and Design.

The goal of this blog is to fill in blanks that may be empty as you get your business rolling.

This blog, particularly the source code section, is not intended for beginners. If you are not comfortable with databases, Ajax, DOM objects and other advanced methods, I strongly suggest you go take a look over at W3 Schools before even reading -- let alone tinkering with -- any of the code here.

I hope this blog has some value to web designers as they attempt to get their businesses going.

Good luck, and happy reading.

Thank you,
John Crawford
Pro Content and Design