I've given myself edit permission on everyone's blog, because without that I can't automatically remove spam for you. If you're happy to look after spam yourself and/or don't want me to have access, you can remove my permission again.
I was just taking a look at the database and realised that there was a lot of spam that was never getting removed - and this was why. I wish I had better anti-spam tools - surface-to-surface missiles, say, with stupid-seeking warheads, but for now MT Blacklist is it.
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 5, 2005 12:46 PM | TrackBackDid you see this? MT is "primarily in the information-gathering stage at this point."
Posted by David Boxenhorn at July 5, 2005 02:09 PMYep, that's what it is. This is the cure. Except that as Wins of Change found out, CPanel keeps doing the upgrade - apparently even if you turn off automatic updates. Grrr!
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 5, 2005 05:10 PMYep. The problem is two Perl modules that were updated over the weekend. CPanel automatically applies updates to certain modules, including these two, and they break Movable Type. The fix, found here, is to downgrade those two modules. Unfortunately, if you do that, CPanel automatically updates the modules again, apparently even if you tell it not to.
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 5, 2005 05:18 PMAh, so it did save my comment. Well and good.
Just to make things more interesting, we are getting hit by a massive trackback spam flood. Trackbacks are turned off for the next few hours, because it's so bad that when I turn them on, the server collapses under the load within ten seconds.
The watchdog checks for spam floods every ten seconds, but it seems that's no longer enough.
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 5, 2005 05:20 PMI don't know how long it would take to get another goat. How about I sacrifice a pound of hamburger? It's nice and bloody.
Posted by owlish at July 5, 2005 11:03 PMA dumb question for Pixy - how much of our spam level has to do with the fact that the MT comments are run on CGI files? Would it necessarily be better if these were PHP-ified, or would it make no difference?
Posted by sadie at July 6, 2005 11:04 PMIt would likely run better if PHP-ified. But then they'd probably just send us more spam.
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 7, 2005 06:48 AMOwlish - I advise you to sacrifice that hamburger to the flames at once! Then bury the remains under a pile of lettuce, onion, tomato, cheese, bacon, pickles, beetroot, pineapple, fried egg and tomato sauce. Bun optional. 
(That's an Aussie "hamburger with the lot", by the way.)
Posted by Pixy Misa at July 7, 2005 06:51 AM