CleanTalk's blog

Author: Denis Shagimuratov

How to hide Website URL Field From WordPress Comment Form
How many useful website URL’s did you get through comments on your website lately? Not too many, we believe. But it really is a good way for spammers to send spam websites using this form. This «Website URL» field is frequently used by spammers to place spam links in it. CleanTalk helps you protect your WordPress website comments by hiding this field off.

So we improved CleanTalk’s integration to Comments and from now you can just remove «Website URL» field from all of the comment forms on your website. This feature is disabled by default, but it will take less than a minute to enable it using your WordPress dashboard. This option does not completely remove the field but hides it on the page.

At the moment this feature works only with default WordPress Comments. So if your comments form is made with another plugin it will not be able to hide it’s «Website» field for now. If you use another comments plugin and still need to remove «Website URL» field – just let us know in the comments below.

How to hide «Website» field to protect your WordPress site comments

Step 1: Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.

Then go to Settings link next to CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin.

Step 2: Click on «Advanced settings» button at the bottom of the screen. More setting will appear.

Then find Hide the «Website» field in Comments and Messanges section.

Step 3: Just switch it to «On» and press the «Save changes» button.

Done! It really is that simple.

Now just go to your WordPress site page and see the difference while CleanTalk helps you completely protecting your WordPress website comments

If you have any questions, add a comment and we will be happy to help you.
Create your Cleantalk account – Register now

Additional features
- CleanTalk protects not only comments, but also registrations, feedbacks, contacts and reviews.
- Installation takes about 1-2 minutes.
- Smart 100% protection against spambots.
- Always online – 24/7 technical support & free mobile app.
- Logs, personal lists, country filters, stop-words and many another.
A complete list of CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin features can be viewed here. https://cleantalk.org/help/introduction
WordPress spam protection
June 30, 2021
Contact Form 7 Spam Protection for WordPress
Once you created your contact form using Contact Form 7 you actually may get spam and still need a Contact Form 7 Spam Protection for WordPress.

Once CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin is installed it starts to protect all of the existing forms on your WordPress website. It may not only be Contact Form 7 contact forms but many others.

How to install Contact Form 7 Spam Protection for WordPress

To install the Anti-Spam plugin, go to your WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Add New.

Then enter «СleanTalk» in the search box and click the Install button for «Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk».

After installing the plugin, click the «Activate»‎ button.

After it is done go to the plugin settings and click the «Get Access Key Automatically»‎ button. Then just click the «Save Settings»‎ button.

That’s it! From now your WordPress website and Contact Form 7 form are protected from spam.

Download CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin | Download Contact Form by Contact Form 7

How to test your Contact Form 7(CF7) spam protection

You can check if CleanTalk Anti-Spam properly protects your Contact Form 7 from spam by using a test email s @ cleantalk.org (without spaces). First, open the form in an Incognito browser tab. Fill in all the required form fields and send a form. After submitting the form, you will see a block message about the block on the form submission.

If you have any questions, add a comment and we will be happy to help you.

Create your Cleantalk account – Register now and enjoy while CleanTalk protects your Contact Form 7 form from spam

Update

The protection works only for website visitors, not for website admins. Be sure to test the form protection using Incognito mode.

Update 2

Here are pros and cons of reCAPTCHA for Contact form 7.

Additional features
- CleanTalk protects all forms at once: comments, registrations, feedbacks, contacts, reviews.
- Installation takes about 1-2 minutes.
- Smart 100% protection against spambots.
- Always online – 24/7 technical support.
- Logs, personal lists, country filters, stop-words and many another.
Protect your website effortlessly—enhance your Contact Form 7 spam protection with CleanTalk today and keep your forms spam-free!
June 29, 2021
Access key rotation for Anti-Spam and Security
In case your website is connected to CleanTalk it uses a special Access key to exchange information. We have improved its functionality to guarantee you the safest user experience.

Connect your website to CleanTalk in 5 minutes and forget about spam.

Improved Access key safety

Your Anti-Spam and Security Access keys don’t have any expiration date. So don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything about it.

Access key doesn’t need to be manually renewed except several cases:
- In case you gave your website access to web developer or a freelancer and it may be compromised.
- When your website had been hacked.
- When you expect your CleanTalk access being given or copied to a third party.
- In case you have any other issues and risks with CleanTalk account access.
Also you can always change your password or email in CleanTalk dashboard.

How to update your Access key

Step 1: Add your website to dashboard using the button below. If your site is already connected to CleanTalk pass to Step 3.

Step 2: Input your website URL in “Site URL” field.

Step 3: Click on “Settings” button under your website name.

Step 4: Go to “Change the Access key”.

Step 5: Click on “Generate key” to create new safe Access key.

Step 6: Then Apply the key by pressing the button below.

Step 7: And just close the window after you are finished.

Well done! Your new Access key is successfully generated and applied to your website. From now it will be active and if needed, you may change it again to guarantee its safety.
June 25, 2021
New feature: Settings and Personal lists templates for Anti-Spam and Security

For our clients with more than one website used by Anti-Spam and Security protection we created Templates to save your website settings and personal lists – you can find it in your «Tools» menu. Using Templates you can easily copy any quantity of personal lists and filters, that you have already created for one of your websites, connected to your CleanTalk account.

How to connect your website to CleanTalk

In order to connect your website to CleanTalk just register via register link and follow the instructions from email. It may take you about 5 minutes to fully protect your website from spam.

How to use Templates

Step 1: If you want to use personal lists template, create at least one list. For more details about adding and working with personal lists use our guide. Website settings for templates are always created automatically when the site is connected to CleanTalk.

Step 2: After that go to «Tools» → «Templates» and press «Add template» button.

In the dialog window name your Template and select a website that has at least one personal list using «Copy settings from site» field.

Use «Set as default» checkbox to automatically add personal lists to all the new websites you connect to your CleanTalk account and «Copy personal list from…» checkbox to add personal lists from selected site to this template. If the checkbox is not marked, the template will only copy website settings.

Step 3: Apply Settings and Personal lists template to your new website. In order to apply the template to any site use «Apply» link under the template that you wish to use.

After that just use «Apply to services» field in order to select website that you wish to use this template with.

That’s it! Feel free to use as many templates as needed to save time while protecting your websites from spam and security issues.

If you’re looking from where to start – create your first template.

In case you got any problems while using CleanTalk you can always open a private ticket.

June 18, 2021
SQL injection in Anti-Spam by CleanTalk for WordPress prior 5.153.4

Hi there,

We have fixed possible SQL injection in Anti-Spam by CleanTalk for WordPress. The vulnerability can be exploited in versions 5.150 till 5.153.4.

If you run one of these versions please update the plugin to the latest stable version as soon as possible,

https://cleantalk.org/help/update-wordpress

To find the current version please follow,

WordPress console -> Settings -> Anti-spam by CleanTalk -> Statistics & Reports > Plugin version.

March 10, 2021
Anti spam extension for phpBB 3.1 ready
We released the first version of anti spam extensions CleanTalk for phpBB 3.1. The extension protects phpBB 3.1 from registration spam bots, spam posts and new spam topics on the board.

The full list of features
- Protection from spam bots registrations.
- Protection from spam bots topics and posts.
- Filtering by the user groups Guests and New users.
- Filtering posts by “stop words”.
The extension is compatible with phpBB version 3.1.1 and above.

Setup manual anti spam extension CleanTalk for phpBB 3.1.

Download the extension cleantalk-antispam-4.2.zip.
November 18, 2014
Anti-spam plugin for Joomla, version 2.3
Available updated anti-spam plugin for Joomla, changes in the new version,
```
- Added anti spam protection for any custom/plugin contact form. To enable this option please set 'Enable anti spam test for any contact forms' in plugin settings.
- Added onSpamTest() method. This method should be used to filter spam on third party plugins.
- Updated CleanTalk API.
```
We remind all the plugin functions,
- Protection from spam bots registrations at Joomla,
- Protection from spam bots at feedback form,
- Anti-spam for VirtueMart 1.x, 2.x
- Anti-spam for One Page Checkout (Rupostel).
- Anti-spam for JComments 2.3, 3.0.
- Anti-spam for Rapid Contact, VTEM Contact.
- Anti-spam for BreezingForms.
- Anti-spam protection for any contact forms plugins.
- Support Joomla 1.5, 2.5, 3.x.
Updates UNZIPFIRST.cleantalk.joomla.plugin-v2.3.zip.
September 16, 2014
Anti-spam plugin for Joomla, version 2.1
Available updated anti-spam plugin for Joomla, changes in the new version,
```
- Improved JavaScript anti spam test. Now JS code loaded for every
page. Test result inserts in Cookies.
- Added Cookies anti spam test.
- Disabled relevance test for comments.
- Added URL to page where comment posted.
- Updated CleanTalk API.
```
We remind all the plugin functions,
- Protection from spam bots registrations at Joomla,
- Protection from spam bots at feedback form,
- Anti-spam for VirtueMart 1.x, 2.x
- Anti-spam for One Page Checkout (Rupostel).
- Anti-spam for JComments 2.3, 3.0.
- Anti-spam for Rapid Contact, VTEM Contact.
- Anti-spam for BreezingForms.
- Support Joomla 1.5, 2.5, 3.x.
Updates joomla15-antispam-2.1.zip, joomla25-3x-antispam-2.1.zip.
August 29, 2014
Spam filtration policy changes

In the spam filter police for registrations/comments added changes, now if a request there are no data for multiple antispam tests, the requests considered as spam, the server returns response,

*** User forbidden. Check plugin setup. Request number 412dfcd6925edac260874365f9f3fcf6. Antispam service cleantalk.org. ***

Please do dummy registrations/comments with email stop_email@example.com, you shouldn’t see plugin response as described agove.

August 1, 2014
Sentences stop list for comments

Added the option to filter comments on website with a list of sentences or phrases. The function is available on any CleanTalk plugins that supports anti-spam for comments.

To activate the list, use the control Antispam control panel,

1. Enable option ‘Enable comments test via stop list‘.

Enable comments test via stop list.

2. Add sentences, phrases or words.

Website words stop list.

We remind you that list you can use to filter messages with words/sentences/phrases denied to publish on the website, for example – insults, name of individuals, names of competitors, propaganda of drugs, extremism, etc.

July 15, 2014