The Simple Trackback Validation Plugin performs simple tests on all incoming trackbacks to eliminate trackback spam from being published on your site as a comment.
According to the developers, the plugin does the following when a trackback is received:
- Checks if the IP address of the trackback sender is equal to the IP address of the webserver the trackback URL is referring to. (This reveals almost every spam trackback [more than 99%] since spammers do usually use bots which are not running on the machine of their customers.)
- Retrieves the web page located at the URL included in the trackback. (If the page doesn’t link to your blog, the trackback is considered to be spam. Since most trackback spammers do not set up custom web pages linking to the blogs they attack, this simple test will quickly reveal illegitimate trackbacks. Also, bloggers can be stopped abusing trackback by sending trackbacks with their blog software or webservices without having a link to the post.)
Why do we like it so much?
- Works right out of the box
- Has extended configuration and options for logging, moderating, and spam indicating
- Plays nicely (and in conjunction) with Akismet
Nothing’s slipped through this plugin yet, so add it to your blog now and ward off pesky spam.