Glitches in Show Top Commentator Plugin
I’ve noted a couple of times how many people of the same name comment on this site. We’ve got a few Tim’s and more Steve’s than I know what to do with. However, until today I didn’t realize can actually cause a problem with the Top Commentator list I display to give a little something back to those of you who contribute to the discussions on this site. As it turns out, the plugin I’m currently using (Show Top Commentators) is name based. So, for instance if Steve from hmtk.com commented 20 times in a month, he’d probably make his way to the top of the list. Unfortunately, if I then approved a comment from someone else named Steve (or using the same handle) that had linked their name to a different site, the last Steve to comment would get the link in the Commentator list! Obviously that’s not what the plugin was intended to do. Also, if someone commented multiple times under different names, they could conceivably take up multiple spots on the list all linking to the same site. That’s not something I’m terribly fond of either so I’m looking around for other solutions that can address this issue.
If you know of a plugin that works a bit better, please let me know. In the mean time, please don’t abuse these glitches or I’ll just have to deactivate the plugin. Also, if you are using the same plugin, you might want to double check your list and make sure you’re actually rewarding your top commentators. I’ll be sure to update this post when I find a better option.
Comments
HMTKSteve October 12th, 2007
All your comments belong to me
Ben Cook October 12th, 2007
Lol don’t try it Steve (at least not here
) Seriously though, I’m pretty sure quite a few people use this plugin and someone of the “evil” persuasion could easily exploit this.
Steven Bradley October 12th, 2007
Ben I always thought the plugin grabbed the email address to determine how often someone was commenting. I don’t know of another plugin off the top of my head, but I think there are one or two similar ones out there.
I’m also wondering how difficult it would be to tweak the Top Commentator plugin.
Ben Cook October 12th, 2007
@ Steven, that’s what I always thought as well. Apparently I was mistaken. It doesn’t look like it would be all that hard but it’s certainly above my skills. I’ll contact a couple of coders I know to see if they can help me out. If not, I’ll go with one of the other plugins I guess.
Derek E October 12th, 2007
I think I am going to change my name to Derek UG and take up a third space on the top commentors.
Ben Cook October 12th, 2007
Hehe, note to self, fix future problems BEFORE mentioning it on the blog.
Caroline Middlebrook October 13th, 2007
Oooh that’s interesting, I use the same plugin but I don’t think I’ve got several commenters with the same name. Well if you find a solution, please let us know!
Ruchir October 13th, 2007
Maybe, you can modify the plugin so that it’ll be based on the website entered or email entered. Now, I’m not a php geek so don’t ask me how.
Aaron March 5th, 2008
Well it is a glitch and I have been one of the bad guys using this technique to actually get backlinks.. but now that it is out of the bag it is not that simple a work anymore ..
Michael Instant Cash October 8th, 2008
@HMTKSteve LOL, funny comment
I’ve never noticed this bug before. I thought it based the comment count off of email address.