If you’ve got 14,500 and some pending spam comments in your WP database, I feel your pain. I just transferred a WP site in exactly that state.
Fortunately, you don’t have to scroll through hundreds of pages of the comments moderation que, clicking away to get rid of the junk. A simple line of SQL is all you need to conquer the spam dragon in a matter of mere seconds. Pop this query into something like PHPmyAdmin where you can run SQL statements directly, and you’re golden.
DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = '0'
Ideally, run this on the source database before transfer to make your life easier. Why would you want to move thousands of spam comments anyway, right? As a plus, you may be able to import your database using PHPmyAdmin if you can get your database dump to a reasonable file size via deleting an out-of-control spamfest.
Note: This command will delete ALL unapproved comments. No second chances, review or confirmation. Make sure that’s your goal before you go running SQL statements all willy-nilly. The management is not responsible for outcomes. Use the force wisely, Luke.
photo credit: chotda
