One of the features that keeps Wizbang running smoothly is the SpamLookup service that is a part of our blogging software. I actually use three products - SpamLookup, Akismet, and AutoBan to automate our spam prevention process. The three together work great; catching, removing, and banning the spammers automatically.
All of the sudden this week the comment process at all of the Wizbang sites went from blazingly fast to horrifyingly slow. There wasn't any good explanation since we're not really doing anything differently behind the scenes. After ruling out speed and server performance issues I went to work breaking down the comment submission process and all the dependencies. It turns out that the built-in SpamLookup service (which is on by default) uses a three different blacklist services for its lookups: bsb.spamlookup.net, opm.blitzed.org , and sc.surbl.org. A little investigation lead to this:
Please stop querying the opm.blitzed.org zone. As of May 2007 in order to reduce query load on our servers opm.blitzed.org is pointing at a blackholed nameserver -- queries will take a long time and result in a SERVFAIL.
The SpamLookup service was timing out (based on our observation it waited 20-30 seconds) trying to connect to opm.blitzed.org before the comment was successfully submitted.
I believe this affects all Movable Type blogs (running version 3.2 and above of the software) unless they've disabled Spam Lookup (which is rare), so if you've got a Movable Type based installation open the SpamLookup - Lookups module and remove opm.blitzed.org from the list of services checked.
Once you do that commenting should be back to normal. Pass this along to other sites - their Movable Type installation is most likely broken, whether they realize it or not...
Update: I've confirmed this with the Movable Type developers. I'm not sure if they're planning on making an announcement to their customer base, but given the amount of time I had to spend tracking down the problem and the likelihood that most of their customers are affected, they really should.
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Comments (11)
This should only take a few... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Kevin | May 19, 2007 4:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
This should only take a few seconds to submit...
1. Posted by Kevin | May 19, 2007 4:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 19, 2007 16:29
2. Posted by CGHill | May 19, 2007 9:06 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Muchas gracias. I don't get quite so many comments at my place, but any little increment of speed helps. (I'm running MT 3.21.)
2. Posted by CGHill | May 19, 2007 9:06 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 19, 2007 21:06
3. Posted by mesablue | May 20, 2007 2:46 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Also weird, Akismet started capturing all kinds of non-spam at my blog this week. Including all of MY comments.
It's back to normal, but I had to wade into the cesspool for a bit.
3. Posted by mesablue | May 20, 2007 2:46 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 20, 2007 14:46
4. Posted by Paul | May 20, 2007 6:36 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
On the interwebs, no one can hear you scream.
4. Posted by Paul | May 20, 2007 6:36 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 20, 2007 18:36
5. Posted by Rich | May 22, 2007 1:42 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks for the tip. This was causing problems on our websites as well.
Appreciate the time you took to dig into this.
Rich
5. Posted by Rich | May 22, 2007 1:42 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 22, 2007 13:42
6. Posted by Jay Brewer | May 22, 2007 2:51 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
We are in your debt. Comment submission has been really slow and this fixed it.
6. Posted by Jay Brewer | May 22, 2007 2:51 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 22, 2007 14:51
7. Posted by Carrie | May 29, 2007 3:22 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I have been looking everywhere for a solution to this issue. Thank you thank you!
7. Posted by Carrie | May 29, 2007 3:22 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 29, 2007 15:22
8. Posted by PastaQueen | June 1, 2007 9:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks so much! I thought my comments were slow because I'd just started using a new plug-in. Glad it wasn't because of that.
8. Posted by PastaQueen | June 1, 2007 9:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 1, 2007 21:29
9. Posted by Mia | July 3, 2007 4:18 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks! This solved the problem with comments timing out on my site. Great article!
9. Posted by Mia | July 3, 2007 4:18 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on July 3, 2007 04:18
10. Posted by Brian | August 6, 2007 12:38 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Any other ideas for speeding up comments?
10. Posted by Brian | August 6, 2007 12:38 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 6, 2007 00:38
11. Posted by Thierry | August 10, 2007 2:44 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks. Comments on my blog MT 3.33 and higher stop hanging up indefinitely.
11. Posted by Thierry | August 10, 2007 2:44 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on August 10, 2007 14:44