cat2email version 2.0 is now available!
This is a minor update, to make this plugin function correctly with WordPress 2.0. It introduces no additional features.
WordPress allows users to create and save draft posts, which can then be published by a moderator or admin. This process works well for "guest" authors, as well as for controlled environments (like schools) where all content must be reviewed and approved. An interesting quirk, though, is that once the item is published, the original author can comment on it without restriction, regardless of any comment moderation settings that might be in effect.
Moderate Authors is a WordPress 2.0 plugin I wrote to remedy this situation. When activated, the author of any post is forced through the moderation queue. The only exceptions are authors with the "edit options" capability, who I consider to be administrators and therefore exempt from comment moderation.
I like making and releasing plugins for WordPress. It's a fun, and rewarding, hobby. I'm not always thrilled with the support requirements, but I feel it's important to provide at least some help for my code.
Some days, the support questions really get to me, though, and it honestly makes me want to stop releasing new plugins. That's by far the biggest drawback to releasing plugins.
But for every dozen "it doesn't work!" comments or emails I get, I get at least one "Thank you!", and those really make my day. Some people say thanks with a Paypal donation -- to date, most donations have been $5 and $10 (though one generous user did give me $200! Thanks!!). I've also received some CDs and a pair of shoes from my Amazon wishlist, which is super nice.
Then there have been some really unique perks. Marc sent me an autographed copy of his book, Hammerjack! I'm reading it now, and if you liked Neuromancer or Snow Crash, you'll likely enjoy it. And just today WPStation published their interview with me! Thanks, Michael, for asking me!
I don't have any delusions of fame (and if I did, the onslaught of support requests would quickly remedy that!); I was just happy to share a little bit more about myself. I'm looking forward to seeing his next vict^Wguest! I think this is a fantastic way for the WordPress community to develop an even closer connection!
If you're a WordPress user, please take a moment to send a note of thanks to the authors of the plugins on which you rely. Your blog is what it is because of their work. If you've got a couple of bucks to spare, consider making a small donation to the author of your favorite plugin. Believe me, that's a great way of saying thanks!
Ozh's admin menu drop-down plugin for WordPress 2.0 is fantastic!
The only anti-spam software I use on my blog is Bad Behavior. That plus comment moderation has been sufficient for me for quite some time. I have qualms about both akismet and Spam Karma 2, and as such prefer not to use them.
Since upgrading to WordPress 2.0, I've been suffering a significant increase in the number of spam comments sitting in my moderaiton queue. I sent my Bad Behavior log off to io_error, who confirmed that they were all manually entered, and as such slip past his plugin. Most of the spam comments have Asian text in the body, and a lot of them link to .cn domains. So my first line of defense was to add .cn to my list of forbidden words (with the unfortunate side effect that no one with a blog in China can comment here, for the time being). That didn't really do much to help, though.
Looking through the spam comments, almost all of them have an all-numeric username supplied. So I cooked up Non-Numeroc Names, a plugin which will flag as spam any comment submitted with an all-numeric username. So far, so good: all of the spam has been flagged as such, and diverted from my moderation queue!
Chris' Spam Nuker plugin makes it possible to retreive any legitimate comments that may have been misclassified. After that, you can eliminate all the spam from your database with a single click of the mouse!