The WordPress Akismet Plugin: Configuration, advantages, disadvantages

(Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes)

Ok, so this post is the result of an accident. I meant to take a screenshot of Google Analytics setup. But I didn’t. I took a screenshot of Akismet configuration instead.

So I decided to use this Akismet image later (which is now), for something else… to wit, this article on Akismet.

Configuring Akismet is about as simple as anything you could ever do on the web:

If you don’t have one already, Go get an account on WordPress.com
After you get an account, you will get an API key. Copy that key into the form as shown below.

Akismet configuration is really simple

You’re done.

So what is Akismet and why does it ship with every installation of WordPress anyway? And why yet another post on Akismet.

Great questions!

I’ll answer the last question first: do a Google search on Akismet. See how many results you get dated 2009. I didn’t get too many myself. Mostly articles dated from 2006-2007 time frame. That’s a veritable epoch in internet terms! So it’s time for an up-to-date article on Akismet.

What is Akismet plugin

The WordPress Akismet plugin is an excellent choice for your first line of defense against comment spam.

Akismet evaluates all the comments people leave on your WordPress blog by tapping a database of known spammers. Pop on over to Akismet.com for a moment, then head back here to get the rest of the story. As you can see, there isn’t much on the Akismet website itself. If you found the Akismet blog, there is considerably more information buried in past posts (and the blog is worth subscribing to as well).

Advantages of using Akismet

Akismet ships with every copy of WordPress as a default plugin, which is extraordinary clever marketing on Automattic’s part. As stated above, you don’t have to do very much to use it.

One of the biggest benefits of using Akismet is that it’s an Automattic product. As such, it has a an enormous amount of momentum riding along with WordPress. While there’s no guarantee Automattic will continue to develop Akismet and give it away, they do use it internally. Since fighting spam is very much an arms race, it seems a good bet the plugin will continue to be developed as well.

But the biggest benefit of all is that Akismet pounds the crap out of spam! Once you’ve been open for comments a few months, you’ll get a real warm and fuzzy feeling seeing all the spam Akismet has caught.

What are the disadvantages of using Akismet?

The primary disadvantage of using Akismet is that it’s totally controlled by Automattic, the company behind WordPress. If they decide to boot you off, you’re gone! This is a pretty low risk though, low enough I’ve never heard of it happening… but read the terms of service very carefully just in case.

If Akismet, for whatever reason, isn’t a good match for you, there are other services and other ways to protect yourself against comment spam, so your risk is pretty small.

Operationally, Akismet isn’t perfect, and you will get a few false positives and missed spam.

False positives: Sometimes, Akismet files as spam comments which are NOT spam. Typically, these are comments along the lines of “Great post!” Here’s the deal on that: If you’re a commenter, ensure your comments add to the conversation. “Great post!” doesn’t really add anything. Send an email via a contact form if your so inspired but can’t be bothered to write something that contributes. On the other hand, if you’re running a blog, at some point you may tire of examining the spam queue for false positives. I know I did. Now I just delete everything in the spam queue. I’ve probably caught a couple of legitimate comments there. I’ll take the hit. Unfortunately, this punishes the legitimate commenter as well. There’s no easy answer. So when you comment on blog, make the comment relevant and interesting!

Missed spam: Akismet doesn’t catch them all. Every day I get between 20-30 comments in my spam queue, for each site, a number that’s creeping up over time. I used to carefully check each comment, but it became counter-productive: in the last year or so, didn’t find anything so I have stopped checking.

I’ve used Bad Behavior in the past, and it works really well, but it slowed down my website to an unbearable 30 seconds for loading. And that was on the post editing page!

I’m currently using Sven Kubiak’s NoSpamNX plugin, which seems to stopping a considerable amount of spam from bots that Akismet lets through.

Find out more about Akismet

Here’s some useful links:

Wikipedia on Akismet. I don’t put too much stock in that note about Akismet blackballing users over differences of opinion. It’s almost certainly not true. Even if it were, it’s simple: don’t criticize Akismet, and switch to a competing service if that bothers you.
A great article by Rich Boakes from 2005 entitled “Akismet – Comment Spam Killer.” At Automattic’s invitation, Rich was one of the first people to evaluate the Akismet service, and he reported 1 false positive in 517 responses. That’s pretty good just starting out. You should read this article carefully and pay special attention to the pie chart showing the comment percentages.
Finally, head on back to Akismet.com, and add the Akismet Blog to your RSS feed.

In closing, Akismet is a great choice as a beginning blogger for your first line of defense against comment spam. Later, if you don’t care for Automattic’s policies, there are competitors to Akismet, but that’s the topic of another article.