Trackback Spam Resources

Not a trackback spam solution, of course, but WP Hashcash is a cute defense against comment spam by requiring a proof of work from the client.

Of course, as soon as comment spammers bake a JavaScript engine into their spambots, it’s all over, so Hashcash isn’t really breaking out of the “arms race” model of spam prevention. (But it does represent an impressively large leap in that race, so it’s likely to be quite effective for a while.)

Funny: Trackback: A Tragedy In 3 Acts. Jason Lefkowitz offers a tongue-in-cheek play set at SixApart, as well as some slightly more sober analysis of how we got where we are today:

When your technology is open to abuse, silence is deadly. You might think that 6A, as the authors of the spec, would have made notice of the deep problems with TrackBack and been on top of finding solutions. Such is not the case: the official TrackBack blog hasn’t been updated in nearly a year, and their Professional Network lumps TrackBack spam in with comment spam and advises use of tools like MT-Blacklist for both. The result is a perception that no fix is coming, which leads people to abandon ship rather than wait for a fix they think will never come.

From earlier this year, an interview with a link spammer in The Register. (TB is mentioned as a fallback for when comment-based link spamming becomes too difficult.)