Commenter Spy
Know Your Visitors’ Location — GeoMapLookup for WordPress
You sure wondered where all those nice folks come from (geographically; not in terms of referring website) who leave comments on your WordPress blog. The first step to answer this question would be to click on the commenter’s IP address on WordPress’ Manage → Comments page. But who’s interested in basic WHOIS output?
This WordPress plugin uses JavaScript to change the URL used for the IP address displayed next to a comment on your WordPress dashboard to query GeoMapLookup — a service to display the geographical location (geolocation) of the IP address used by your visitor who left the comment. There’s also a link added to the comment moderation and notification e-mails sent by WordPress.
iPhone and iPod touch support
Commenter Spy 2.0 added support for the GeoMapLookup iPhone and iPod touch app available on the App Store.
When using Commenter Spy on an iOS device, the app will launch instead of the website geomaplookup.net. Furthermore a geomaplookup:// link for the app was added to comment notification emails. You can disable this iOS app integration by setting $commenterSpyUseGMLiOSApp to false in this plugin’s source code.
Notes and Requirements
GeoMapLookup uses ; coordinates provided by MaxMind’s GeoLite City. The accuracy may vary but at least this gives you a clue where the visitor’s ISP is located.
I’ve tested Commenter Spy using Safari, Firefox, Opera and IE 6 with multiple WordPress version. Commenter Spy 2.0 is compatible with WordPress 3.0 and above! To use it, just copy the downloaded commenter-spy.php to your blog’s /wp-content/plugins/ folder and activate the plugin. The plugin also supports
Support/Feedback
Please provide feedback via the contact page if you experience any problems using this plugin on your WordPress installation. It should work with localized versions. Please also leave a comment if you know an even better service to display an IP’s location.
Disclaimer
This plugin is provided as is. Though I did my best to produce a plugin of good quality I can’t guarantee that this plugin is safe, secure or error free. Use it at your own risk and always make a backup copy of your blog before trying new plugins or themes! I’m not affiliated with or MaxMind.
Download
↓ Download Commenter Spy 2.0
Release Notes
Commenter Spy 2.0 (April 14th, 2011): changes since version 1.4
- Added support for the GeoMapLookup iPhone and iPod touch app available on the App Store.
When using Commenter Spy on an iOS device, the app will launch instead of the website geomaplookup.net. Furthermore ageomaplookup://link for the app was added to comment notification emails. You can disable this iOS app integration by setting$commenterSpyUseGMLiOSAppto false in this plugin’s source code.
Commenter Spy 1.4 (March 24th, 2009): changes since version 1.3 alpha
- Moved GeoMapLookup to dedicated domain geomaplookup.net.
Commenter Spy 1.3 alpha (May 5th, 2008): changes since version 1.2
- This version is only WordPress 2.5 compatible.
Commenter Spy 1.2 (February 27th, 2007): changes since version 1.1
- Added a GeoMapLookup link to comment moderation and notification mails sent by WordPress.
Commenter Spy 1.1 (November 23rd, 2006): changes since version 1.0
- I’ve started hosting a lookup tool at
http://geomaplookup.cinnamonthoughts.org. - The new URL hosted by me that is used to show the IP’s location is:
http://geomaplookup.cinnamonthoughts.org/?ip=
- Supports Counterize IP URLs
Commenter Spy 1.0 (November 20th, 2006): initial release
November 21st, 2006 at 02:34
[...] WP Plugin: Commenter Spy Geo-locate your commenters using GeoTool and this plugin. Looks like GeoTool is hosted on a cablemodem so its longevity might be suspect. (No Ratings Yet) Loading … tagged commenter spy, geotool, linkyloo and WordPress Plugins If you enjoyed this post from Weblog Tools Collection please Subscribe to the RSS feed. Related Posts from the Past: [...]
November 21st, 2006 at 05:07
[...] Commenter Spy is a cool little plugin for wordpress that uses Geotool to display the geographical location of an IP address using Google Maps. The Commenter Spy Plugin was made by Daniel M. Gattermann, he mentions to “use it at your own risk” as one does with all plugins. For more go > Commenter Spy [...]
November 21st, 2006 at 14:25
[...] Commenter Spy [...]
November 23rd, 2006 at 00:02
[...] You can [...] visit GeoMapLookup to do a lookup for your current IP address [...] My WordPress plugin Commenter Spy now uses this URL for lookups. [...]
November 27th, 2006 at 03:53
Hi,
Sadly not working here. Just uploaded the plugin and enabled. Switched to manage comments page and clicked on the commenter’s IP address. Still uses ws.arin.net…
Thanks anyways,
Will
November 27th, 2006 at 06:35
Which version of WordPress do you use? Please copy and past the URL of the admin page you are no and the full URL to ws.arin-net.
December 1st, 2006 at 07:21
[...] cinnamon blog [...]
December 4th, 2006 at 09:35
[...] Commenter Spy Per geolocalizzare gli autori dei commenti pubblicati sul vostro blog [...]
December 8th, 2006 at 10:50
[...] Commenter Spy – not quite as scary as it sounds, just gives me a shortcut to find the approx. geographical location of a commenter’s IP (or more accurately, their ISP). [...]
December 20th, 2006 at 02:04
It seems to work great! Amazing! I really like this, it makes tracking your visitors so much more vivid…Sigh…
The weblog-thingie I am using it on isn’t online yet, when it is, I will use this amazing plugin to the fullest!
Thanks!
December 20th, 2006 at 02:05
I love the fact I see my Favicon here with my post…Great! Available here somewhere?
December 20th, 2006 at 07:38
Glad you like Commenter Spy!
The favicon plugin is called Favatars. I had some trouble to get this working but after removing two of the three same lines in
super_flush()and removing the two linessuper_flush();sleep(1);
in
favatars_option_page()it worked on my server.January 7th, 2007 at 21:06
That’s so cool! It’s not very accurate, but I like the pictorial representation of where commenters are from.
January 22nd, 2007 at 03:43
[...] ダウンロード：Commenter Spy [...]
February 18th, 2007 at 21:43
For me its kinda accurate, but what the heck.. Its better than just whois lookup! Thx for a great plugin!
March 6th, 2007 at 19:48
[...] Commenter Spy est un plugin qui vous permet d’exploiter cette info afin de géolocaliser cette IP. [...]
March 18th, 2007 at 10:57
I have some problem when implementing the plugins to my site.
My site ( ) is wordpress version 2.1
I dunno why it’s not shown up….
March 18th, 2007 at 12:02
It definitely works with WP 2.1.x. You have to enable JavaScript for this plugin. After activating it the linked URL for commenter’s IP addresses is changed. If you still have problems please send me an e-mail with more details and the source code of the HTML page you have problems with.
March 20th, 2007 at 23:31
[...] I looked at two existing plugins: Paged Comment Editing and Commenter Spy. [...]
April 13th, 2007 at 02:18
Daniel,
I can’t get it to work with 2.1.2 either… :( It worked fine with 2.0.x
*sigh*
No sure where to go from here as I’m not really a coder.
SF
April 13th, 2007 at 06:48
Scudfish,
did you upgrade Commenter Spy to the latest version? If so, please e-mail me the exact URL of the page showing comments and this page’s source code. I’ll take a look at it then.
April 17th, 2007 at 08:10
[...] Commenter Spy Commenter Spy Version: 1.2 License: GPL Description: This plugin changes the URL used for the WHOIS request which is triggered by a click on the IP addresses shown on your blog’s "Manage Comments" page (and Counterize if you use it). This click then queries GeoMapLookup (GeoMapLookup – See Where a Host is Located Geographically) — a service to display the geographical location of an IP address using Google Maps. This way you can find out from which area of the world your comment-leaving visitors are. Change Log: 2 entries Author: Daniel M. Gattermann Plugin Page [...]
April 21st, 2007 at 16:21
[...] Commenter Spy Changes the URL used for WHOIS requests which are triggered by a click on the IP addresses shown on your blog’s Manage Comments page. [...]
May 25th, 2007 at 23:56
Wow, that’s cool, thanks!
9
June 3rd, 2007 at 00:44
[...] commenter spy: hogy tudjam a hozzászólások írójáról, hogy honnan is írnak (ezt később integráltam a stat oldalra is. [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 01:15
Nice and useful plugin, keep up the good work.
June 7th, 2007 at 20:51
[...] Commenter Spy by Daniel M. Gattermann
Replaces the standard WHOIS link (click on a commenter’s IP) with a query to display the commenter IP’s geographical location on a map (requires JavaScript). Also adds a link to comment moderation and notification emails sent by WordPress. [...]
June 27th, 2007 at 20:25
[...] in Plugins by admin on June 27, 2007. Commenter Spy Geo-locate your commenters using GeoTool and this plugin. Looks like GeoTool is hosted on a [...]
July 10th, 2007 at 12:57
[...] Visit [...]
July 14th, 2007 at 12:26
[...] Spy را از اينجا دانلود و با انتقال به پوشه /wp-content/plugins/ و فعال كردن [...]
July 18th, 2007 at 11:39
thanks for the plugin, a very usefull solution.
August 30th, 2007 at 22:33
thank you for your usefull plugin!
September 7th, 2007 at 21:49
yap yap
very valuable!
September 21st, 2007 at 14:12
Thats a very usefull plugin. well done. thank you.
September 24th, 2007 at 19:08
great very usefull plug in
September 27th, 2007 at 19:37
I have blog and this plugin is very useful
October 24th, 2007 at 16:33
This is super plugin. Good job.
November 2nd, 2007 at 13:59
Nice and useful plugin, keep up the good work.
January 6th, 2008 at 02:12
It will definitely work with the WP 2.1.x. You only have to enable the JavaScript for this plugin.
January 29th, 2008 at 09:00
it`s very useful, thanks!
February 4th, 2008 at 07:27
will this work for WP 2.3.2 or the soon to be released 2.5?i hope you make one compatible with the new versions. i think this plugin is a great tool.
February 4th, 2008 at 19:51
It works with 2.3.2 and should work with 2.5 too unless the URL an IP links to is changed.
If it is changed and you notice it first just drop me a line.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:23
Excellent plugin. Thanks
February 29th, 2008 at 14:28
[...] Commenter Spy – not quite as scary as it sounds, just gives me a shortcut to find the approx. geographical location of a commenter’s IP (or more accurately, their ISP). [...]
March 1st, 2008 at 01:59
I did’nt know geomaplookup. Nice service.
Thank you for the nice plugin.
March 22nd, 2008 at 23:32
Just tried your suggestion on a new WP install for a client and works great. Thanks.
March 23rd, 2008 at 07:55
Very useful plugin. Thanks a lot.
April 15th, 2008 at 06:07
Thank you for sharing useful plugin.
May 5th, 2008 at 15:40
Great plugin. I don’t know if you are still updating it, but if you are, it seems to be broken for WP 2.5. In WP 2.5, clicking the IP address just filters your comments based on that IP address, it no longer displays WHOIS info. So I am assuming the plugin will need to be updated to change the way the query is called. Thanks again for the plugin!
May 5th, 2008 at 21:43
Thanks for the feedback Josh!
I’ve released the alpha version of a WP 2.5 compatible Commenter Spy.
June 3rd, 2008 at 17:10
I was having the same problem as Josh… will get the new release and see how we go. Thanks.
June 8th, 2008 at 13:36
Fantastic plugin, and I like the geomaplookup demo site as well!
James
June 8th, 2008 at 22:10
Cool – I’ve seen other guys with this and it looks really good. I think I’m keen to check it out. I’ve also seen guys who show a worldmap on their site and then have big red dot where they get visits from – the bigger the red dot, the more visitors they get from that location. I find it helpful when I see that on the site as it helps me understand better where most of the comments are coming from – plus, if I was the owner of the site, I would understand better how to change my content to maybe suit a particular demographic.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:59
This is a very interesting to use plugin and it is nice to see that it has been tested with multiple Web browsers.
June 12th, 2008 at 15:39
that plugin was very helpful bro..keep up
June 12th, 2008 at 17:45
thanks for the awesome post there
June 21st, 2008 at 11:52
That’s so cool! It’s not very accurate, but I like the pictorial representation of where commenters are from.
June 27th, 2008 at 02:01
Thanks for this great plugin! I installed it and hope it works! It looks great!
July 22nd, 2008 at 19:14
This is nice. I like knowing where my visitors come from. I spend a lot of time looking at geographical stats in Google analytics, will be nice to know on a comment by comment basis.
July 24th, 2008 at 05:29
While having the ip address available, I’m not what you could really do with this information other than finding out someone’s geographical location? But sometimes, like road runner, will have you logged into a server several states away, so this wouldn’t apply. Would this be a correct assumption?
September 16th, 2008 at 13:43
Thanks for this plug in, works a treat
September 18th, 2008 at 01:29
Thanks for this great plugin! I will test it out, its great to have these little tricks on the blog administration! Thanks!
October 19th, 2008 at 19:53
While having the ip address available, I’m not what you could really do with this information other than finding out someone’s geographical location? But sometimes, like road runner, will have you logged into a server several states away, so this wouldn’t apply. Would this be a correct assumption?
October 20th, 2008 at 20:06
It is just interesting to know where your visitors come from. It’s not accurate and as soon as somebody uses a proxy you might even get the wrong continent.
April 20th, 2011 at 13:55
This is a great plug-in, it’s really nice to see where the people who visit your blog are coming from. It might be that it’s not really accurate, but it can give a great assumption so why bother? I especially like the pictural view. Thanks for sharing!
June 5th, 2011 at 11:05
This is a great plug-in, it’s really nice to see where the people who visit your blog are coming from. It might be that it’s not really accurate, but it can give a great assumption so why bother? I especially like the pictural view. Thanks for sharing!