Reinstalling Wordpress to Dump Spam Comments?

November 4, 2008 6:22 AM

WordpressFilter: Haven't blogged in about three months, and am considering a return at the same URL, but don't want to inherit all my old spam comments. Would deleting the Wordpress installation at that address then re-installing it essentially reset the spam, allowing me to better control it this time? FWIW, I've been using Akismet, etc., to monitor and catch most spam but would like as clean a slate as possible.
posted by sjuhawk31 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

You'd be better off just removing the comments from the database. If you do reinstall, make sure you install it in a new database, otherwise the new install will inherent the old posts and comments. The URL doesn't really matter in this situation -- instead, the database.
posted by nitsuj at 6:34 AM on November 4, 2008

Well... yes. If you erase your database it will delete the spam but also delete your posts, settings, and basically everything.

If you only want to delete your comments/spam you can always use "DELETE FROM wp_comments" in your database.
posted by Memo at 6:35 AM on November 4, 2008

Don't do that!

Install akismet and tell it to recheck old comments. Akismet has an incredible success rate.
posted by schwa at 7:10 AM on November 4, 2008

I run several WordPress blogs. Sometimes I'll abandon one for months at a time. Spam is a headache, but because of Akismet, I never fret it. When I come back to the blog, I use Akismet to check for spam, and then I delete it all. That's a pretty clean slate! I wouldn't worry about monkeying with your database.
posted by jdroth at 7:54 AM on November 4, 2008

Response by poster: I have akismet, schwa, and I'm happy with how it works, but I want as clean a slate as possible.

Memo, thanks for that tip. I'll try it.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 9:50 AM on November 4, 2008

If Akismet has caught the spam, then deleting it from within Akismet will clean the slate, so to speak. If it hasn't, then you'll have to go through and do it manually, but either way, you get the same "slate".
posted by Solomon at 10:31 AM on November 4, 2008