It seems that my web host is becoming slower and slower. I’ve installed WP-Cache that caches the output in the blog which results in shorter loading time for the visitors. I’m using Counterize for website stats and to be able to run that together with WP-Cache I’ve had to make my own stats script that adds the stats without using any Wordpress functions. Since I had to make this change I took the opportunity to collect stats by loading the script via an image tag instead of loading it directly in the PHP. This is the way I did it back in the day. A benefit of this is that most bots aren’t logged since they don’t load the images, so there’s less maintenance needed for the bots exclude list.
The gallery is not a part of this caching yet. I’m going to make my own solution there when I have the time. Until then I’m afraid the long load times is something you’ll have to live with.
I’m happy to report that since I made my little alteration to the comment form I’ve had a total of zero spam comments. A couple of bots have been caught in the traps I’ve laid out, but most bots don’t even get that far. I know how I would develop the idea further, but I don’t have to worry about doing that until the bots figure out how to post the spam.
