Fixing Math Comment Spam Protection Plugin in WordPress 3.0

[chipbennett]

Several people have noticed that the Math Comment Spam Protection plugin stopped working in WordPress 3.0.

I poked around a bit, and found the problem. The fix is simple:

Find Line 211 of math-comment-spam-protection.php:

 if (  ( !isset($user_ID) ) && ( $comment_data['comment_type'] == ” ) ) { // Do not check if the user is registered & do not check trackbacks/pingbacks 
  

The offending code is this:

 ( !isset($user_ID) 
  

Simply change the above to this:

 ( ! $user_ID ) 
  

So that Line 211 looks like the following:

 if (  ( ! $user_ID ) && ( $comment_data['comment_type'] == ” ) ) { // Do not check if the user is registered & do not check trackbacks/pingbacks 
  

Voila! The Math Comment Spam Protection plugin will now work again!

(Cross-posting this, to make sure the fix is readily available. It seems that the plugin developer is no longer supporting the plugin, though I'm going to try to contact him to see if he'll patch the original with the above fix. I really don't want to fork (and support) the plugin for something so simple.)

[Otto]

Using the is_user_logged_in() function there would probably be more appropriate. Checking for the $user_ID global is not particularly forwards compatible.

 if (  ( ! is_user_logged_in() ) && ( $comment_data['comment_type'] == '' ) ) { // Do not check if the user is registered & do not check trackbacks/pingbacks 
  

[chipbennett]

Thanks, Otto!

Updated accordingly.

[masonjames]

Hey Chip,
Any luck contacting the developer? I think this plugin deserves to have this update.

[chipbennett]

Hey Chip,
Any luck contacting the developer? I think this plugin deserves to have this update.

No, not yet. But thanks for the reminder for me to try again!

[Otto]

I really don't want to fork (and support) the plugin for something so simple.)

I can add you as a contributor to the plugin and let you make the changes to it directly, instead of having to fork to a new plugin.

Ran this thought by Matt, and his opinion is that if you've tried to contact the author and gotten no response within a week, then it's probably okay to allow this sort of thing.

Maybe you disagree. Dunno. Might be worth polling the community, get an idea of the proper way to handle defunct plugins with easy fixes like this.

[masonjames]

Otto,

I think this is a good idea. Give the original developer time to respond, but if nothing happens this keeps progress/innovation happening and that benefits the community overall. Some kind of poll/consensus would probably be good. It's nice to feel like you're getting to provide input, ya know?

[chipbennett]

I can add you as a contributor to the plugin and let you make the changes to it directly, instead of having to fork to a new plugin.

Ran this thought by Matt, and his opinion is that if you've tried to contact the author and gotten no response within a week, then it's probably okay to allow this sort of thing.

Maybe you disagree. Dunno. Might be worth polling the community, get an idea of the proper way to handle defunct plugins with easy fixes like this.

I honestly don't remember what effort I put into contacting him. Let me try again, and I'll be more conscientious about it. After that, I'll be happy to add the fix directly.

I'm just not sure about maintaining another plugin. I suppose though, that any effort I can put in will be more than whatever is happening right now, eh?