Spam Destroyer

Stops automated spam while remaining as unobtrusive as possible to regular commenters. The Spam Destroyer plugin is intended to be effortless to use. Simply install, and enjoy a spam free website 🙂

Credits

• omahoung – Bug reporting
• Stromhalm – Bug reporting
• Donncha O Caoimh – Developer of Cookies for Comments, functionality of which is incorporated into Spam Destroyer
• Elliot Back – Developer of WP Hashcash, functionality of which is incorporated into Spam Destroyer
• Marte Sollund and Ingvild Evje – Bug reporting
• Brian Layman – Code advice
• Ronald Huereca – JS advice
• Shawn Gaffney – Bug reporting
• Kaspars Dambis – Bug reporting
• Jon Brown – Added error message filter
  

Simply install and activate the plugin. No settings necessary.

For more information, visit the Spam Destroyer plugin page.

Check out the FAQ on the Spam Destroyer plugin page.

Support

If you would like to file a bug report or ask a question, please do so in the WordPress.org support forums.

Who made the plugin?

The original developer of the plugin was Ryan Hellyer, but many others have contributed code to this project and are now listed as co-authors of the plugin.

2.1.6 (2025-05-01)

• Removing notice triggered by translation functionality load point

2.1.5 (2025-05-01)

• Including translation functionality

2.1.4 (2024-04-18)

• Minor change to remove “out of date” notice on WordPress.org

2.1.3 (2021-10-21)

• Minor change to remove “out of date” notice on WordPress.org

2.1.3 (2019-04-19)

• Minor change to remove “out of date” notice on WordPress.org

2.1.2 (2019-03-07)

• Fixing debbug notice in error returns

2.1.1 (2018-03-18)

• Fixing bug in admin notice GD detection

2.1.0 (2018-03-18)

• Added prefix to cookie to provide less work for those trying to do cookie auditing
• Blocking comments when CAPTCHA is served but GD not enabled
• Providing notice to let the admin know that the CAPTCHA system is not working
• Providing option to disable the admin notice about CAPTCHA system not working

2.0.7 (2016-19-06)

• Added checks in file to see if WordPress is loaded.
• Hooking class instantiation in later, due to taxonomies sometimes not being loaded in time.
• Updating website domain in readme.txt file.

2.0.6 (2015-11-26)

• Fixing logged in user bug.

2.0.5 (2015-10-29)

• Removed the plugin review class due to strange errors.

2.0.4 (2015-10-27)

• Upgraded the plugin review class

2.0.3 (2015-10-27)

• Upgraded the plugin review class

2.0.2 (2015-10-26)

• Upgraded the plugin review class

2.0.1 (2015-8-3)

• Implemented text image CAPTCHA fallback for when comment detected as spam

2.0 (2015-8-1)

• Implemented text image CAPTCHA fallback for when comment detected as spam
• Improved performance via selective loading of PHP files
• Improved documentation
• Added additional links on plugins page
• Implemented time-limit for answering CAPTCHA questions
• Addition of notices in back-end to describe what checks the comment passed
• Removal of spam cleanout since redundant after addition of CAPTCHA fallback
• Fixed bug which triggered legit comments to be detected as spam due to commenting too quickly. Time limit was adjusted from five seconds to two seconds to fix this.

1.4.3 (2014-12-24)

• Support for WordPress 4.1+ added.
• Added translation string specification in header.

1.4.2 (2014-10-17)

• Fixed a bug in the spam checking that (I think) would have cleared the content of bbPress posts for logged in users
• Fixed various spellling errors and grammar wrongs
• Updated version compatibility

1.4.1 (2014-4-19)

• Cleaning up PHPDocs

1.4 (2014-3-21)

• Now automatically deletes spam comments older than a set time (5 days)
• Removed kill.php from trunk
• Updated readme file for current WordPress Release

1.3.2 (2013-6-24)

• Fixed short cookie time bug thanks to Milan Dinić

1.3.1 (2013-3-18)

• Fixed bug which prevented user registration
• Thanks to Marte Sollund and Ingvild Evje of Nettsett for an excellent bug report

1.3 (2013-3-6)

• Instantiated class to variable to allow for remove hooks and filters when necessary
• Added redirect after spam comment detected
• Added error notice on redirection due to spam comment detection

1.2.5 (2012-8-19)

• Changed from kill.php file to kill.js file
• Allows for caching of payload
• Allows for automatic script concatentation
• Cookie creation achieved via raw JS
• Key is passed to script via wp_localize_script()

1.2.4 (2012-8-11)

• Re-removed requirement for jQuery
• Added try / catch to JS to ensure it doesn’t fail
• Moved JS enqueue to form field area so that it only loads when needed
• Added Bjørn Johansen to the contributor list
• Added correct mime-type to JS file

1.2.3 (2012-8-9)

• Added requirement for jQuery due to bug with code introduced in 1.2.2

1.2.2 (2012-8-9)

• Removed need for jQuery

1.2.1 (2012-8-9)

• Moved script to footer on advice of Ronald Huereca and Bjørn Johansen
• Fixed potential security flaw in kill.php

1.2 (2012-8-5)

• Fixed multisite and BuddyPress bugs
• Added support for bbPress registrations
• Added support for bbPress guest posting protection
• Removed the “bad word” list

1.1 (2012-8-5)

• Added support for BuddyPress signup page
• Added support for WordPress multisite signup page

1.0.3 (2012-7-30)

• Upgrade to documentation

1.0.2 (2012-7-30)

• Changed name to ‘spam-destroyer’

1.0.1 (2012-7-30)

• Cleaned up some legacy code from older implementations

1.0 (2012-7-29)

• Initial release

Any beta/alpha versions to be released in future, will be posted for download on the Spam Destroyer plugin page.