So right now my only spam protection is going to be to check all incoming messages against this table, http://www.stopforumspam.com/downloads/, that I have imported into my database, and if the IP is found, their message will not be posted.
We don't really want to hinder usability by having one of those "Type what you see..." or a sort of e-mail confirm system similar to Craigs List.
Will this IP check be enough to get rid of (most) spam comments, or should I really look into adding something else. Maybe there is some free plugin that I haven't found that doesn't hinder usability and will help us out more?
Thanks!
There you go :) http://akismet.com/
There's an API, you send them the comment body and they reply if it's spam or not. This is (maybe the best) spam hunting service, they have large word databases and good self-learning filters.
Additionally, it's free for personal use. I don't know how much it costs for business.
I'm in no way affiliated with them, I just found it by chance a couple of years ago.