Tucker_P_Ezoic Hello. Thank you. But I've seen the post several times already, and I've done most of the steps from the link. Actually, the top 10 results from Google for "how to reduce comment spam" - I've checked them all already. 🤣
The content moderation is already implemented. The article you gave me suggests I must use Akismet and Disqus. I do not like to use Akismet (the review says: it is not accurate, blocking even real, not spammy sometimes, and it is paid) nor Disqus (heavy, makes the site slow, even LEAP says it has severe impact).
I want to block the spammers on the IP level - as simple as that. Like, I do not want them to access my site like how security plug-ins do.
With comment moderation enabled, spam comments are instantly trashed.
However, with the increasing number of spam comments being sent to my site, I think they can overwhelm my site sooner. Weird thing, I do not see these spammers accessing my site from Google Analytics. It seems like they are bots using some kind of automated script.
IP addresses can be blocked easily using Cloudflare or cPanel, sadly I have no access to them. I wonder if other publishers have done it without using security plug-ins. :/
If there is no way to do that, then perhaps I have no choice but to clean 10-20 spam comments on trash every day or install a security plug-in once again.