One way to get around this is to use a clever technique which I discovered over at SpamSpan.com. Instead of entering your email like a normal hyperlink use the code below:

A nifty piece of Javascript is then used to convert this html into a normal mailto hyperlink. Spam bots don't have Javascript enabled so wont register the link. If a visitor to your site have Javascript disabled they will see the link in the form below:
petegraham [at] domain-name.com (Pete's Email Address)

# Pete Graham

I decided to install the Spam Karma plug-in in an effort to thwart the irritating bots that were making these comments. Since installing it (about 2 weeks ago) I think it has successfully caught each spam post to this site, and set it for moderation. It rarely seems to identify real comments as spam (let me know if one of your comments goes missing). As a Spam prevention plugin it works very well.

Spam Karma is incredibly configurable, the downside of this is its interface isn't very intuitive. It does appear to have some options for moderating your existing comments, but after having very limited success with this I decided to delete the offending comments manually. This is just a small complaint thought and if you do start getting Spammed on your Wordpress blog then I would suggest installing this plug-in ASAP.

# Pete Graham