I was messing around with RSS again and I noticed another possible use for it. There seems to be a lot of abuse on the comments facilty and I was thinking about ways that this could be reduced. One way I though of was to build a database of IP address’s that are banned from using the comments facilty. This is not actually a very good way to do it due to DHCP and various other hacks that can be used to circumvent whatever we do. While playing around I built the following
RSS file of Banned IP address’s.
There are a lost of things that could be done to make this a much more comprehensive list and I am sure I could come up with a simple script to parse the file and insert it into the banned IP list in moveable type (I have not checked this). It would rely on good editing and weeding which is something I have not got the time to do. It would also rely on a trust network of some desrcription to add and remove IP address’s from the list.
What it could be used for is as a list of Possible spam addresses. What I mean is, if you find an IP in this list then check the content of the message or vice versa.
On the other hand you could just take a stroll over to Jay Allens website and sort your spam out that way. I have just installed it and needless to say it was a flawless install. I just hope it does its job as well 😉