GhostTrap

Hey everyone, I want to share something I’ve been working on called GhostTrap. If you’ve ever dealt with spam comments on WordPress, you know how frustrating it can be. GhostTrap is designed to quietly handle that problem without bothering your real users. No CAPTCHAs, no puzzles, just clean comment sections.

GhostTrap was created as a nod to the original Anti-Spam plugin from around 2012. Anti-Spam was acquired and changed into a much broader full-service security suite that is outside the scope of my specific needs, but I really liked the capabilities of the original Anti-Spam, so GhostTrap is based on the original Anti-Spam before its acquisition. I basically rewrote everything from the ground up. The new GhostTrap uses modern techniques to detect spam and works with any WordPress setup, whether you’re on a traditional or Full Site Editing (FSE) theme. The code is almost entirely new, but it keeps the spirit of that original idea: protect your site without annoying your users.

It works in a few clever ways. It can tell if a comment is typed too fast to be human, it uses hidden fields to trap bots, and it even looks for normal browser behavior like JavaScript activity. All of these layers happen behind the scenes, so legitimate users don’t even notice.

The best part is that it’s lightweight, unobtrusive, and respects privacy. It doesn’t slow down your site or track your visitors. For me, it’s been a huge help keeping comment sections clean while letting real people comment without friction. Spammers can try to spam, but it just goes away.

If you want to check it out, GhostTrap is available on the WordPress Plugin Directory. I’d love to hear what people think, and I hope it makes managing comments a little less of a headache. Just like the original Anti-Spam, it just works.