How do I quickly Delete 20,000 Spam Comments
Hi I have 21,000 spam comments on two articles. I am normally happy to delete spam manually but that would take hours as there is only 20 on a page.
Does anyone know if I delete the articles does it delete the comments?Or is there a quick way.
I know how it happened and it has been dealt with I have blocked the Russian browser but now i need to deal with the comments
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I found a video you might be interested in - if you have WordPress. This entails the use of a plugin and you will likely need to pore through the pending comments to approve those that are relevant before performing the operation. You can always use the plugin momentarily and then remove it when you are finished. I have not looked into it further than the video, just be careful such a large operation doesn't take the servers down. Here again, there may be settings that will allow you to do, say 1000 at a time. Here's the video...
https://youtu.be/PsE0KxWvO2Q
I hope the system doesn't strip this link. If it does, the name of the plugin is "WP Bulk Delete."
It has settings on it that would allow you to delete any pending comments, not to mention other settings.
I hope this helps!
Daniel
Thank you so much Daniel for taking the time to do that. So kind of you it is much appreciated. You know I never recommend plugins but in this instance, I can install, use , delete
I keep my plugins to a bare minimum myself. Yes, I would say that this would warrant the temporary use of a plugin after the usual precautions, researching into it, etc. It's a shame this kind of stuff is a part of marketing on the Internet. Going forward, I know you will fortify your systems for this type of attack.
I had the unfortunate experience of someone getting into my hosting account when I was with Hostgator and used it to transmit thousands of pornographic mails all over the creation. I got hate mail before the account got shut down. It's not fun! It's one good reason why I use WA's hosting.
Go to comments and then hit screen options. You can set the number of comments viewed as high as 999. It will still take time to remove them all but only 22 deletions verses hundreds.
This will seriously load the servers so keep this in mind.
Thanks Craig I have my own servers. they coped.You would think I should know the answer myself but never has this problem
Hi Catherine ,
I can't help you how to delete mass spammy comments.
But what I do to avoid them is when a link is provided ,the comment is not posted and kept in moderation.
And I will have to delete them manually too in the back ,so I am curious about this too :-)
Thanks for asking this question ,hope someone can enlighten us :-)
I wish you well,
Luc
Thanks they are in moderation its not the comments that are the problem it is the effect on my server
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Wow 21.000 spam comments. That just totally blows my mind! How does it even happen? Bots I assume.
Good luck getting rid if them
Yes a Russian bot
Do you have Akismet installed?
Yes it's not something that a spam filter can stop
I don't understand why a spam filter like Akismet would not do the job Of containing the spam comments. What more can you tell me about the comments, how did they appear on your website?
They came from a Russian Search engine
Ok. I didn't realize bot comments were unaffected by Akismet.