Kill BuddyPress Private Messaging Spam With New Must-Have Plugin

Chances are that you’re not building a BuddyPress site as a free platform for people to sell Viagra or make “long time relationships”, right? Don’t let spammers use your site for their purposes.

BuddyPress Private Messaging spam is one of the most annoying and unprofessional inconveniences that your users can experience on your site. A sudden onslaught of spam can endanger the overall success of your site. Not only does it waste your users’ time but it also opens up your Buddypress community to a host of other questions in the minds of your patrons: “Does this site have viruses? Who is getting my private information? Do I really want to be a part of this community?”

Spam can make a user’s experience feel inconvenient and unmanaged, especially if you’re trying to promote your community as a directory or a niche-specific site for discussion. You to be able to keep your registration open for anyone who would like to join, so the last thing you need is your user numbers diminishing because a pesky spam problem. So how do you stop the occasional spammer from slipping through and communicating to your real users? I’m glad you asked.

BuddyPress Private Messages for Friends Only

A new plugin is here just in time, as some of you have already been receiving private messaging spam, both on the buddypress.org forums and on your own installations. Check out the BuddyPress Private Message For Friends Only, written by r-a-y. Previously, you could accomplish this through a hack posted by Rich Fuller. Now all you have to do is download this plugin and drop it into your site to add an extra measure of protection against spammers on your BuddyPress installation. Simply install and activate, and your site will now change to not allow private messaging for users unless they are already friends.

There’s a nice error message for those who attempt to send messages to users with whom they are not yet friends. And there is no error message for site administrators, who are always allowed to send messages to users. Some have complained that the error message is only in English some translations will be included in the plugin’s next release. In the future the plugin will allow PMs for reciprocal follower relationships when the BP Following plugin is released.

Take a moment to address private messaging spam and stop spammers in their tracks today!

Sarah Gooding on Google+