Year: 2020

Happy Birthday Akismet

by Christopher Finke October 25, 2020

 

Akismet was launched 15 years ago today, when Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg announced it on his blog in a post describing what Akismet was and what it could become. Given how much the world has changed in the last decade and a half (back then spammers were pushing cheap flip phones and counterfeit Livestrong bracelets), we thought it would be fun to see whether Akismet succeeded in meeting the hopes and dreams that Matt laid out back in October 2005.

“Akismet is a new web service that stops comment and trackback spam. (Or at least tries really hard to.)”

Fact check: true! Akismet has stopped 500,000,000,000 pieces of comment and trackback spam since October 2005. That’s an average of a thousand spam per second, every second, since before Twitter existed. Plus another thousand in the time it took you to read that sentence. And this one. (And this one.)

“The service is usable immediately as a WordPress plugin and the API could also be adapted for other systems.”

Akismet is still usable as a WordPress plugin, and there are now dozens of Akismet clients for non-WordPress systems, plus countless other implementations for custom platforms. Some people say that Akismet is the most open anti-spam API on the Web. Some people are right.

“If nothing else, I hope this makes blogging more joyful for at least one person.”

According to an informal survey we just performed, Akismet has made blogging more joyful for multiple people. If you’re one of those people, put on a party hat, grab a piece of cake, and join us in wishing Akismet a very happy 15th birthday.

Version 4.1.7 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available

by Christopher Finke October 22, 2020
Version 4.1.7 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:
  • Stops using the deprecated wp_blacklist_check function in favor of the new wp_check_comment_disallowed_list function.
  • Shows the “Set Up Akismet” banner on the comments dashboard page, where it’s appropriate to mention if Akismet has not yet been configured.
  • Miscellaneous text changes.
To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.

Introducing updated Akismet plans

by Josh Smith September 15, 2020

Since Akismet launched nearly 15 years ago, it has blocked 500 billion spam comments. We’re proud to have saved you countless hours of moderation time, reduced frustration for millions of people, and helped make the web a more beautiful place.

Akismet is the most powerful solution on the market for stopping spam, but spammers are continually inventing new ways to get past our filters. Adding new spam detection techniques will ensure we keep Akismet one step ahead of bad actors, but it will require additional investment. We don’t take changing prices lightly. In fact, we haven’t changed the price of the entry-level plan since it was introduced in 2005.

For commercial sites, the price of Akismet will be better aligned to API usage. This means that as you use Akismet more, the cost per API call will decrease.

For those that use Akismet on your personal sites — we’re 100% committed to offer Akismet at a price you can afford. Spam is a menace to the internet and we feel that everyone should have the ability to stop spam on their websites. Even if you’re not making money from your site, we want you to have the best spam filter available. We will continue to provide the option to pay what you can, and we thank you for helping to contribute to this project.

To our current customers, you don’t need to do anything now. Your plan will remain at its original price and API limits at least into 2021. If you’d like to switch plans or start a new account, your plan will start at the new price.

What’s different?

Personal

No changes. For sites that don’t sell anything, advertise, or have affiliate links, Akismet is available for whatever amount you are able to pay.

Plus

Akismet will block spam on one site for up to 10,000 API calls and provide priority support for $8.33 per month billed yearly. The price for monthly billing is $10. That’s equal to two months free for selecting yearly billing.

Enterprise

We’re decreasing the price of our Enterprise plan! Yearly plans will now be $41.66 per month, with the total yearly cost at $500 instead of $550. For monthly billing, the price is staying the same at $50 per month. For enterprise plans, Akismet will block spam on multiple sites for up to 60,000 API calls per month, as well as provide priority support on all sites.

Enterprise Plus

For our largest customers, we’re happy to provide discounted pricing and dedicated support through this new plan. If your sites have more than 60,000 API calls per month, contact us and we’ll be happy to set you up.

Thank you for your continued support of Akismet. If you have questions specifically related to your own Akismet account or API key, then please visit our Support page.

 

Akismet Blocks Five Hundred Billion Spam and Counting

by Christopher Finke July 6, 2020 1 comment

It was happening while you ate dinner. While you were at work. While you were on vacation, going for a walk, or daydreaming. It was certainly happening while you were sleeping. All this time — for nearly 15 years — Akismet has been catching and blocking spam from appearing on websites and forums the world over, and Akismet just reached an important milestone: over 500 billion pieces of spam blocked, and counting.

Saving countless hours for you

Think about that number: five hundred billion spam comments blocked — and not just on WordPress sites! Akismet has been ensnaring spam on other platforms including Drupal, Joomla, and more, saving countless hours of moderation time and frustration for millions of people around the world.

To the future!

If you need spam protection for your website or forum, Akismet is here to help. Free up time spent tweezing spam comments and allow Akismet to catch and block it for you. Here’s to the next 500 billion!

Version 4.1.6 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available

by Josh Smith June 4, 2020

Version 4.1.6 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:

  • Disable “Check for Spam” button until the page is loaded to avoid errors with clicking through to queue recheck endpoint directly.
  • Add filter “akismet_enable_mshots” to allow disabling screenshot popups on the edit comments admin page.

To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.

Version 4.1.5 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available

by Stephane Daury April 29, 2020
Version 4.1.5 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:
  • Based on user feedback, we have dropped the in-admin notice explaining the availability of the “privacy notice” option in the AKismet settings screen. The option itself is available, but after displaying the notice for the last 2 years, it is now considered a known fact.
  • Updated the “Requires at least” to WP 4.6, based on recommendations from https://wp-info.org/tools/checkplugini18n.php?slug=akismet
  • Moved older changelog entries to a separate file to keep the size of this readme reasonable, also based on recommendations from https://wp-info.org/tools/checkplugini18n.php?slug=akismet
To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.

Version 4.1.4 of the Akismet WordPress Plugin is Now Available

by Christopher Finke March 17, 2020 3 comments

Version 4.1.4 of the Akismet plugin for WordPress is now available. It contains the following changes:

  • The plugin will now only redirect to the Akismet setup screen upon plugin activation if the plugin was activated manually from within the plugin-related screens, to help users with non-standard install workflows (like WP-CLI).
  • We’ve updated the layout of the initial setup screen to be more readable on small screens.
  • We’ve reduced the amount of code that runs when no API key has been entered yet.
  • We’ve improved the readability of the comment history entries.

To upgrade, visit the Updates page of your WordPress dashboard and follow the instructions. If you need to download the plugin zip file directly, links to all versions are available in the WordPress plugins directory.