If you use MT, you can use MT Blacklist. It's a freeware program that filters comments for spam. I'm not entirely sure how it works and I'm not sure if you can use it with a Typepad account (maybe a pro one?) but I have a friend with a popular non knitting blog that swears by it.

IP Banning also works, but only on individual e-mailers. I just rid myself of a host of viagra adds this morning. If you use moveable type, you can just copy the IP address of the offender (shown above their e-mail), and then go to IP Banning in configurations and add the address to your banned list. This is only so effective, but it's one little weapon in the spam war.

The thing I have done which really seems to help is closing my comments. I only leave comments open for the entries you can see on the main page. It gives the spammers fewer places to target. They seem to like to target older posts thinking that you won't find them there. MT has a plug in that will automatically close comments over three weeks old for you, but I will have to look for more info on that. Since I run my knitalongs through old comments, I close everything manually.

I am actually going to post on this issue,too. Like Emma, I've recently begun experiencing the hotlink problem with my images (this baffles me - who wants knitting photos). Also, I know for a fact that some of the new bloggers out there do this inadvertantly and that we need to educate ourselves and them on the problem. All this techie stuff can be a bit much. I think we all need all the help we can get!