I have uploaded my lesser known email spam fighting plugin Transpose Email to WordPress Extend. So, now you can download and install and update the plugin from within WordPress Admin area itself.

Actually, the plugin has been lying neglected in the repository for several years now, before the directory even existed! However, it definitely wasn’t in usable form. I’ve rearranged the files and deleted the useless ones and the download is perfectly ready now.

Transpose Email plugin allows you to use JavaScript to create an encoded link. Clicking that link will trigger the user’s email client to open and create an email.

Download the plugin or read more about customizing the Javascript.

I have updated my plugin Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks with one feature addition.

You can now choose to delete post revisions. Selecting this option will delete all post revisions in your WordPress database. Post Revisions were introduced in version 1.6 and in my opinion are absolutely useless unless you operate your blog as a wiki. But, do you?

I also fixed a minor bug where the scheduled cron was not deleted when you reset the plugin settings to default.

Lastly, the plugin now comes with its own uninstall code. Deleting the plugin from the Plugins screen of WP-Admin will delete all options from the database.

Existing users can upgrade the plugin from within WordPress Admin itself.

Read more about Auto-Close or directly download it from the plugin repository.

I have updated my plugin Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks to include one main option, viz. the ability to keep certain posts open.

You can set it for Comments and Pingbacks/Trackbacks separately. You need to enter a comma-separated list of Post IDs that you want to keep open for discussion.

Read more and download »

From my experience, one thing that most spammers do is try to post comments, pingbacks or trackbacks on your extremely old posts.

If you are not monitoring the comments, pingbacks or trackbacks on your site properly, you will not even realize that these have been posted.

Many a times, you would not want anyone to post a comment or a pingback on an extremely old post, especially on personal blogs.

WordPress has no inbuilt system of closing comments on old posts. This is where the plugin steps in.

Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks will close comments, pingbacks and trackbacks on your post automatically at intervals set by you. You can also choose to disable the schedule and run it manually whenever you choose to.

Read more and download Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks. If you find the plugin useful, please do drop in your contribution.

Overview:

Automatically close comments, pingbacks and trackbacks on your blog. This helps reduce the amount of spam aimed at old posts.

Features:

• Can be configured via WP-Admin
• Choose to run it automatically or manually
• Delete comments separately from pingbacks and trackbacks
• Choose to leave comments and/or pingbacks & trackbacks open on certain posts
• Delete post revisions

Requirements:

• WordPress 1.5 or above

Installing

1. Download Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks.
2. Extract the contents of autoclose.zip to wp-content/plugins/ folder. You should get a folder called autoclose.
3. Activate the Plugin in WP-Admin.
4. Goto Options > Auto-Close to configure.

Options:

The below screenshot shows the options. You can customize if you want to close comments and/or pingbacks & trackbacks. You can also choose to run it manually or setup a schedule.

By default, all options are disabled.

ChangeLog:

• 1.3.1 – Now separately choose to close on posts and pages. Also added buttons to open all comments and open all pings
• 1.2 – Added option to delete post revisions. Minor bug fix. Includes plugin uninstaller.
• 1.1 – Added option to keep comments / pingbacks / trackbacks on certain posts open
• 1.0 – Release

To Do:

• Keep posts open by category

Downloads

Current Version is 1.3.1

• Download Auto-Close

Support the Development

Writing and testing plugins takes a good amount of time. If you like the plugin and find it useful and would like to donate something for my work please do click the Paypal Donate button below. The payment is secure. I haven’t filled in any amount. Feel free to donate what you please. Any amount is welcome. Thank you

License

All files and their contents are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Questions or Bugs

Known Bugs

If you have any questions or would like to report any bugs then please use the support forum.

Download Auto-Close v1.3.1

Following Thilak’s results, I installed Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam Image Plugin for WordPress to test.

I’m much against the idea of using Captcha for my blog, because of the problems with accessibility. However, of late I have been getting a lot of spam.

Even though Bad Behavior has blocked 10000+ access attempts in the last seven days, a good portion of spam has been getting through.

This has been caughty by Spam Karma 2 successfully. However, they are still getting through and still consuming bandwidth.

Hence, I felt the need of installing Peter’s plugin. Thilak has found the amount of spam being blocked reducing from 1000 to around 5 a day.

I will be monitoring this for the next few days. The plugin is easy to use and install. The image is also clearly visible, so you shouldn’t face any problems with reading it.

If you do face any problems please email me, so that I can take necessary action.

I had to make some changes to the code to make it XHTML 1.1 compatible. Will write detailed installation instructions tomorrow.

After having thought about it a while I’ve decided to use Google Apps for Your Domain for AjayDSouza.com.

I have already been using Google Apps to manage WebberZone email for a while now, and now AjayDSouza.com

What this means is now I have a 2Gb Email account, which has all the features of Gmail (which IMO is second only to Yahoo! Mail).
This is very useful because I can take a considerable load of my VPS. I have also found that Gmail’s anti-spam tools are a lot better than SpamAssassin.
I also have complete POP and SMTP access if I need to download any email.

I can also use my email address with Google Talk and Jabber.

Though I doubt I will use this, but I also have my very own Google Calendar for events.

One thing I don’t need is Google Page Creator.

The best thing is:

Organizations accepted by Google during the Google Apps for Your Domain beta period are eligible for free service for their approved beta users even beyond the end of the beta period, as described in the Terms of Service.

I have already added mail checking for my email to Netvibes. This will replace the default POP Mail account I was using.

If you look to using Apps for your domain and want to check email at Netvibes, then use the Gmail Module.

I’ve been receiving a few reports lately about users having problem while writing comments on this blog.

These problems have been of two kind.

First being your comments landing in the spam bin. I am not sure why this has been happening. Also, it has been rare.

I’ve been going through the Spam comments anyway to check if any genuine comment has landed in there.

In case your comment does land up in the spam bin please do write to me and inform me of the same.

The second problem has been a “zero data received” or a “cannot find server” or similar error whenever you try to submit a comment.

This is more severe consequences. I’ve tracked down the problem to be a possibility that PHP is hitting its memory limit. I’ve arranged for the the memory limit to be increased, but I have not sure if the problem has been fixed for good.

Please do send me an email if you face this problem.

I’ve also upgraded the blog today to v2.0.5. In case you notice any errors please do let me know.

It was waiting to happen and it has.

Regular readers would have read a few rants about my internet connection.
I have a “broadband” connection with Exatt.

It works using PPPOE and am assigned a dynamic IP everytime I login.

That is fine, but of late I have been noticing that the IP Addresses are all blacklisted in Spam Databases!

The first time I noticed it was with the latest version of Bad Behavior, when I got blocked out of my own blog. Had to downgrade.

And, today I noticed it with Digg.

A spam database lookup for my IP at DNS Stuff finds it in a good number of Blacklists.

I can’t blame Exatt here however, because I am sure that these IPs have been abused by stupid spammers and users with infected computers

I’ve been initiating removals of my IP Address from these lists. But, is there a solution of removing blocks at one shot?

Don’t ask me to contact Exatt for this, because they suck in Customer Care. I don’t think they even know if there is such a thing called Customer Care.

Update:
I wrote to Digg today about the IP address problem. Seems like I was totally mistaken about the reason I was blocked. The reason I was blocked was because I gave UserSubmitter a shot and after a single set of diggs itself, my Digg account was blocked. Digg was kind enough to let me off this time with a warning.

Lesson learnt. Am posting it out here so that all you folks out there will be careful before using such services like UserSubmitter.

I have seen a lot of emails from African scamsters and most of these usually land up in my Bulk box.
Today, my dad today received a similar scam email. However, what was surprising was the nature of it’s customization.

Firstly, the subject of the email addressed my dad by his first name.
Secondly, my Dad is in the Gulf and the “merchant” also happens to be from there (or so he claims). Mere coincidence?
Thirdly, my Dad is also very active religiously, and the person in the email is rather repents.

However, the contents of the email remain similar to most scams. Person being diagosed with cancer, has a lot of money, wants to give it to you … blah … blah …

Hello dear,

I am Mr. Lawson Rhodes, a merchant in Dubai, Arab Emirate. I have been diagnosed with Cancer which was discovered very late, due to my laxity in careing for my health. It has defiled all forms of medicine, Right now I have only about a few months to live, according to my Medical Doctor. I have not particularly lived my life so well, as I never really cared for myself but the oil business. Though I am very rich, I was never generous, I only focused on my business as that was the only thing I cared for. But now I regret all this as I now know that there is more to life than just wanting to have or make all the money in the world.

I believe when God gives me a second chance and heal me I would live my life a different way from how I have lived it. I have sowed a seed for my healing I have willed and given most of my properties and assets to my immediate and extended family members and as well as a few close friends.

I want God to be merciful to me and accept my soul and so, I have decided to give arms to charity organizations and give succour and comfort to the less priviledged of the Tsunami Victims, as I want this to be one of the last good deeds I do on earth. So far, I have distributed money to some charity organizations in India and Malaysia. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, I cannot do this my self anymore. I once asked members of my family to close one of my accounts in Saudi Bank and distribute the money which I have there to charity organization and to the less priviledged in Bulgaria and Sudan Africa They cashed the money but kept it only to themselves. Hence, I do not trust them anymore, as they seem not to be contended with what I have left for them already.

The last of my money which no one knows of is the huge cash deposit of twenty two million dollars $ 22 million that I have in the Vault of a Financial company in europe for safe keeping.

I want you to collect this deposit on my behalf and disburse it to the Tsunami EarthQuake victims in Asia for the less priviledged.

I will set aside 20% for you for your time and efforts. I need your urgent reply so that I will not have to go on sourcing for a credible person to handle this project.

If you are okey with the condition, do not hesitate to send me mail so that i can furnish you up with all the informations needed.

I wish to hear from you soon.

God bless you.

Mr. Lawson

—————————————————————
Universia – Esse e o seu Universo.
www.universia.com.br

Please note that this is a scam and if you receive something like this delete it immediately.