Akismet

Akismet
Web address akismet.com
Commercial? Yes
Registration Required
Owner Automattic
Launched 25 October 2005
Alexa rank
 positive decrease 4,398 (April 2014)[1]
Current status Online

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 company behind WordPress.com.[2]

Launched on October 25, 2005,[3] Akismet is said to have captured over 100 billion spam comments and pings as of October 2013.[4]

History

The founder of Automattic, Matt Mullenweg created Akismet so that his mother could blog in safety. He was the sole developer until recently.[5] The name was suggested by Matt's sister Charleen.[6]

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.com-hosted blogs. A public Akismet API has resulted in third-party plugins for other platforms.[7] To use Akismet with non-WordPress.com sites, it is necessary to obtain an API key. The API key is necessary in order for the site to communicate with the Akismet servers.

Development and distribution

Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License,[8] 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.

Competitors

There are a number of competitors to Akismet, including Mollom, Cleantalk, and AntiSpam Bee. In addition, image or math CAPTCHA plugins are also widely used instead of Akismet.

References

  1. ↑ "Akismet.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  2. ↑ "Automattic.com". Automattic. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  3. ↑ "Live Live". Akismet. Retrieved 2011-07-01.
  4. ↑ "Akismet blocked its 100,000,000,000th spam today.". Akismet. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  5. ↑ Scott Berkun (10 September 2013). The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-66063-8.
  6. ↑ Akismet FAQ: Who's behind this?
  7. ↑ "Other Application Plugins". Akismet. Archived from the original on 19 January 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
  8. ↑ "Akismet plugin source in GPL WordPress plugin directory".

External links