Matrix Fights Spam with Mollom
02 SepIn a bid to combat the onslaught of spam that plagues so many websites, MySource Matrix currently offers a CAPTCHA based protection service on forms. When configured correctly, these CAPTCHAs are very effective, although they can often be an inconvenience to legitimate users, in some cases even deterring contributions to your site. On top of these concerns, it has become increasingly apparent that a large quantity of spam today is originating from human employees of spam agencies. In such cases, even the most sophisticated CAPTCHAs do little in the way of protecting your site.
To tackle these issues, Matrix has implemented Mollom, an advanced spam prevention service.
How Does Mollom Work?
Mollom analyses the quality of content posted to websites and automatically determines whether submitted content is spam (unwanted content) or ham (legitimate content). If Mollom is unsure of whether a submission is spam or not, a CAPTCHA will be presented for verification. Both image and audio CAPTCHAs are supported.
Providing a CAPTCHA for inconclusive content effectively eliminates the need for the moderation of submissions.
Mollom boasts a 99.93% efficiency rating and adds that only about 2% of human users are challenged with a CAPTCHA image. These statistics promise to improve the accessibility of sites and maintain a high quality experience for both users and site administrators.
For more information on how this service works, visit the Mollom website.
Mollom Within Matrix
Mollom can be activated on Matrix's External Tools Configuration screen and requires Public and Private keys from a registered Mollom user account. Matrix also offers a Test mode for the implementation process.
Once activated, Mollom protection can be configured for use on both Custom Form and Asset Builder pages. Further spam check options are available on the configuration screen of these assets, including the questions to check and the content that is expected for these questions. For example, if you have a Name question on your form, you can set it as an Author Name question. This indicates to Mollom the type of content that is expected and it will check submissions accordingly.
Below is an example of a Mollom CAPTCHA on a Custom Form.
In this example, both image and audio CAPTCHAs have been displayed and an error message is shown to the user. You can configure the layout of the CAPTCHA through keyword replacements on the bodycopy of your asset. If the user enters the correct CAPTCHA code, their form will be submitted as normal. If they do not, their form will be rejected.
While Mollom's CAPTCHA technology is impressive, it is important to note that most legitimate users will never have to enter a CAPTCHA as their posts will be automatically approved and submitted. This background operation means that your site can remain protected from spam without disrupting the user experience.
How Much Does it Cost?
Mollom offers a standard free service to its customers along with two paid subscription options, Mollom Plus and Mollom Premium.
Mollom's free service caters to sites with up to 100 legitimate posts a day, such as a personal blog or small business site. This service also provides unlimited filtering of spam posts and up to 100 correctly validated CAPTCHAs (i.e. not spam).
Mollom's payment options start from 30 euros a month and offer additional features and support. You can view all the details of Mollum's account options on the Mollom website.
When is it Available?
This feature will be available with the release of Squiz Matrix v4.0.0 due out on November 10th 2010.