Comments on: Akismet Stops Spam: Some Side Effects http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/ Internet & Technology Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:01:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Gail Gardner http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/#comment-2194405 Gail Gardner Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:32:55 +0000 http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=1096#comment-2194405 You predicted years ago the very problems plaguing bloggers using Akismet today. The false positive levels keep rising and more ane more regular commentators are being flagged as spammers. Akismet makes it easy to be flagged (it appears it only take a few spam clicks to flag you) and really challenging to get unflagged. Some bloggers have tested and even after 20 not-spam clicks they were unable to get a regular commentator unflagged. There is a process to request Akismet to reconsider but any regular commentator will just get flagged again. We have a new anti-spam solution written by Andy Bailey of CommentLuv based on an idea by Phil Hollows of FeedBlitz and improved by a suggestion from Dazzlin Donna. We have tested it in dozens of blogs with no problems to date. It is super simple and working brilliantly. Andy will be uploading it to the WordPress repository soon and anyone who wants a copy now can simply leave a comment in the post linked to this comment and I will email it to them. Akismet treats your readers VERY badly. That white page some see - that is intentional! Drop by and read all my posts about Akismet issues and at least learn how to turn off the "delete instantly" option that few bloggers understand. You predicted years ago the very problems plaguing bloggers using Akismet today. The false positive levels keep rising and more ane more regular commentators are being flagged as spammers. Akismet makes it easy to be flagged (it appears it only take a few spam clicks to flag you) and really challenging to get unflagged.

Some bloggers have tested and even after 20 not-spam clicks they were unable to get a regular commentator unflagged. There is a process to request Akismet to reconsider but any regular commentator will just get flagged again.

We have a new anti-spam solution written by Andy Bailey of CommentLuv based on an idea by Phil Hollows of FeedBlitz and improved by a suggestion from Dazzlin Donna. We have tested it in dozens of blogs with no problems to date.

It is super simple and working brilliantly. Andy will be uploading it to the WordPress repository soon and anyone who wants a copy now can simply leave a comment in the post linked to this comment and I will email it to them.

Akismet treats your readers VERY badly. That white page some see – that is intentional! Drop by and read all my posts about Akismet issues and at least learn how to turn off the “delete instantly” option that few bloggers understand.

]]> By: Dr. Conspiracy http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/#comment-2194212 Dr. Conspiracy Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:46:41 +0000 http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=1096#comment-2194212 All I can say is that Akismet has caught over 32,000 spams on my blog, and it rarely makes a mistake. I could use a captcha, but that makes my visitors do extra work, which is contrary to my goal of fostering discussion. As I write this, the good comment counter is about to hit 60,000. Blogging with Akismet is much better than blogging without it. The spelling of "Automattically" is intentional, according to their FAQ. All I can say is that Akismet has caught over 32,000 spams on my blog, and it rarely makes a mistake. I could use a captcha, but that makes my visitors do extra work, which is contrary to my goal of fostering discussion. As I write this, the good comment counter is about to hit 60,000.

Blogging with Akismet is much better than blogging without it.

The spelling of “Automattically” is intentional, according to their FAQ.

]]> By: jeko http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/#comment-2067897 jeko Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:07:52 +0000 http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=1096#comment-2067897 Hi Elliott, I don't think you ever used akismet. I don't think you ever read what they wrote on their website. I don't think that you really wanted to know whats behind it. Point by Point: >> Trust or not? You allow people to post feedbacks on your website. If Automattic was interested in reading user feedbacks, it googled for it. (Think about it) >> the thing with the "DDOS" and the "queue"... I was using akismet for years never had any situation like the one described above. Sorry. >> Speed & stuff Ok, honestly, akismet does slow down the post process _a bit_. But filling out stupid captchas does the same (ok, akismet does not help people to train their brain cells and eyes. Sorry for that). >> "no idea how it works" Yes, like everyone who does not read the f. manual. They've even got a handy FAQ on their site, very simple to understand. >> "spoof akismet and trick you" Yeah, of course he can. >> "in theory" Automattic only provides the API, what you do in your code is your business. Disable the query in the source if you don't want it. >> "spelling error" Yeah, I hope these pseudo-spelling error don't keep you spending whole night awake in bed. If they do so, you could go on akismet's Website and read the f. FAQ (and be shocked by the knowledge you get in less than 5 seconds; ah yeah, the wisdom that "automattically" isn't misspelled as well.) You're not serious. >> "auth" Please don't make automattic responsible for your security problems. Greetings jeko Hi Elliott,

I don’t think you ever used akismet. I don’t think you ever read what they wrote on their website. I don’t think that you really wanted to know whats behind it.

Point by Point:

>> Trust or not?
You allow people to post feedbacks on your website. If Automattic was interested in reading user feedbacks, it googled for it. (Think about it)

>> the thing with the “DDOS” and the “queue”…
I was using akismet for years never had any situation like the one described above. Sorry.

>> Speed & stuff
Ok, honestly, akismet does slow down the post process _a bit_. But filling out stupid captchas does the same (ok, akismet does not help people to train their brain cells and eyes. Sorry for that).

>> “no idea how it works”
Yes, like everyone who does not read the f. manual. They’ve even got a handy FAQ on their site, very simple to understand.

>> “spoof akismet and trick you”
Yeah, of course he can.

>> “in theory”
Automattic only provides the API, what you do in your code is your business. Disable the query in the source if you don’t want it.

>> “spelling error”
Yeah, I hope these pseudo-spelling error don’t keep you spending whole night awake in bed. If they do so, you could go on akismet’s Website and read the f. FAQ (and be shocked by the knowledge you get in less than 5 seconds; ah yeah, the wisdom that “automattically” isn’t misspelled as well.)
You’re not serious.

>> “auth”
Please don’t make automattic responsible for your security problems.

Greetings
jeko

]]> By: Stacked Stone http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/#comment-178810 Stacked Stone Fri, 08 Sep 2006 05:50:25 +0000 http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=1096#comment-178810 Never knew about this. However I need it badly as some of my sites are getting pounded with spam at the moment and can't keep up. Never knew about this. However I need it badly as some of my sites are getting pounded with spam at the moment and can’t keep up.

]]> By: claus | Bad Kismet http://elliottback.com/wp/akismet-stops-spam-some-side-effects/#comment-18823 claus | Bad Kismet Sun, 08 Jan 2006 22:34:56 +0000 http://elliottback.com/wp/?p=1096#comment-18823 [...] I remember seeing a post on Planet Wordpress a while back (unfortunately I can’t remember by whom it was) about spammers trying to trick stopper software by inserting comments with text and links that don’t contain obvious references to typical spam content, thus undermining the contextual barriers that these tools put up. It was exactly this that made me wary of installing Akismet (apart from the idea that it probably won’t work properly for foreign-language blogs anyway), because I’m a bit skeptical of the whole checking-against-a-centralized-database idea. Some of the problems of the Akismet approach have already been mentioned here and there (and see also this comprehensive post). [...] [...] I remember seeing a post on Planet Wordpress a while back (unfortunately I can’t remember by whom it was) about spammers trying to trick stopper software by inserting comments with text and links that don’t contain obvious references to typical spam content, thus undermining the contextual barriers that these tools put up. It was exactly this that made me wary of installing Akismet (apart from the idea that it probably won’t work properly for foreign-language blogs anyway), because I’m a bit skeptical of the whole checking-against-a-centralized-database idea. Some of the problems of the Akismet approach have already been mentioned here and there (and see also this comprehensive post). [...]

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