This sounds really great! I get tired of some of the known spammers and bots out there.
What will really improve things, is when bloggers can do better than "mute" but can actively block certain people from commenting on their blog. Spammers need prey and the prey being able to better defend themselves would be great.
Until then, your efforts to reduce spam are greatly appreciated!
I agree with this. I totally understand why you can't stop people voting or downvoting where the reward pool is concerned, but see no reason that people should need to allow everyone to comment on their posts.
I've had a couple of unwanted bots commenting on my posts. One was that "catfacts" bot who puts useless trivia about cats in the comments of anyone who uses the word "cat" as a tag. (Mute #1 for me.)
The other is the "cheetah" bot which gets some respect from what I have seen, but in my case, all it could do is provide the link I'd already provided in my article! (Mute #2.) Another person I've ended up muting because the guy puts useless comments everywhere. He can still comment on my posts though, which is annoying. I know I'm "preaching to the choir", but I know you understand where I'm coming from.