Akismet spam filter plugin: Are all spam comments really spam?
Akismet is just one of many plugins for WordPress that can be used to effectively block comment spam within your blog. 95% of comments in blogs are considered spam and therefore a plugin like Akismet will make comments and trackback spam a non-issue and to restore innocence to blogging. Akismet makes it easy, so you never have to worry about spam again, ever. Well almost…
Like with any good piece of equipment, popular software or in this case, WordPress plugin, there are some things you still have to manually take care of.
But first, let’s look at how Akismet works before we look at what it lacks:
When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your blog it is submitted to the Akismet web service which runs hundreds of tests on the comment and returns a thumbs up or thumbs down. The affect is that you’re always protected in real-time (up-to-the-second protection) from the latest dirty tricks of spammers.
According to Automattic, creators of Akismet, there is no maintenance, no upgrading and no hassle. Well, yes and no. I have had Akismet installed on my blog since the first day (it came standard with the installation) and I must say it has removed all spam without me having to lift a finger. That is the beauty of it, it does deliver as promised.
However, you still have to do some finger exercises when it comes to moderating your comments. Akismet captures all the spam for you and neatly lays it out within your Blog’s Admin Dashboard. You can see how well in the screenshot below.
There is however the question of comments being added to the spam list that is legitimate and the possibility of deleting them without even realizing that you have removed a legitimate comment is very real. See the following screenshot as an example of a legitimate comment mixed with the spam comments.
So when next you clean up your comments, carefully go through the spam and select those which should be recovered.
To recover a comment from spam, simply click on the “Not Spam” option box and then on the “De-spam marked comments” at the bottom before you click “Delete All”
Saved !
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Its a great plugin, occasionally you do have to upgrade it manually to stay abreast of the latest greatest version . On my blog it has never picked up any comments other than spam comments.
If i didn’t have it i would have had to manually remove close to 400 comments relating to spam…..
Vat die Spam vas!
Wordpress Trackback Spam On The Increase Akismet Needs To Step It Up…
All with the same 10 drug names over and over. It’s time for Akismet to step it up a notch or for you to remotely allow banning of certain words in trackbacks as a trigger to kill real spam.
A functional, spam-free trackback community is critical…
gMK - The screenshotsI posted are ones that come from my blog, so I had to rescue a few comments in the past. Akismet is great, but you always have to check up on it regularly.
kmf - verseker… wat is spam in afrikaans ?