Akismet
Encyclopedia
Akismet or Automattic Kismet is a spam filtering service. It attempts to filter link spam from blog comments and spam TrackBack
pings. The filter works by combining information about spam captured on all participating blogs, and then using those spam rules to block future spam. Akismet is offered by Automattic
, the corporation which employs most of the main developers of the Free Software
weblog platform WordPress
. Akismet was launched on October 25, 2005. Akismet is said to have captured over 25 billion spam comments and pings as of April 2011.
-hosted blogs. A public Akismet API has resulted in an Automattic sponsored plugin for Movable Type
, and third-party plugins for other platforms. Released under the GPL license, the Akismet plugin is free software
, although the code to the Akismet system itself (and the nature of the algorithm used) has not been released.
The Akismet service is free for personal use. To use Akismet with most blogs, it is necessary to obtain a WordPress.com API key. Bloggers with a Yahoo!
hosting account get a free "pro-blogger" Akismet service (which costs non-Yahoo! users $5/month) due to a deal between the two companies.
plugins are also widely used instead of Akismet.
TrackBack
A trackback is one of three types of linkback methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to their articles...
pings. The filter works by combining information about spam captured on all participating blogs, and then using those spam rules to block future spam. Akismet is offered by Automattic
Automattic
Automattic, Inc. is a web development corporation founded in August 2005.It is most notable for WordPress.com , as well as its contributions to WordPress .-Projects:Other projects include:...
, the corporation which employs most of the main developers of the Free Software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
weblog platform WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
. Akismet was launched on October 25, 2005. Akismet is said to have captured over 25 billion spam comments and pings as of April 2011.
Overview
Akismet was originally developed to integrate with a plugin for WordPress. It is now included by default in all WordPress builds since version 2.0 and activated in all WordPress.comWordPress.com
WordPress.com is a weblog hosting provider owned by Automattic which opened to beta testers on August 8, 2005 and opened to the public on November 21, 2005. It is powered by the open source WordPress software...
-hosted blogs. A public Akismet API has resulted in an Automattic sponsored plugin for Movable Type
Movable Type
Movable Type is a weblog publishing system developed by the company Six Apart. It was publicly announced on September 3, 2001; version 1.0 was publicly released on October 8, 2001. On 12 December 2007, Movable Type was relicensed as free software under the GNU General Public License...
, and third-party plugins for other platforms. Released under the GPL license, the Akismet plugin is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, although the code to the Akismet system itself (and the nature of the algorithm used) has not been released.
The Akismet service is free for personal use. To use Akismet with most blogs, it is necessary to obtain a WordPress.com API key. Bloggers with a Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
hosting account get a free "pro-blogger" Akismet service (which costs non-Yahoo! users $5/month) due to a deal between the two companies.
Criticism
Many bloggers have complained of commenters being wrongfully flagged as spammers. Once a commenter is flagged as a spammer, it becomes difficult to participate on a WordPress blog which uses Akismet filter because comments are sent to the spam queue before approval or deletion.Competitors
There are a number of competitors to Akismet, including Mollom, Defensio, and Typepad Antispam. In addition, image or math CAPTCHACAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing as an attempt to ensure that the response is generated by a person. The process usually involves one computer asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade...
plugins are also widely used instead of Akismet.