It keeps getting worse. From the occasional spam comment getting through (I have all comments set to moderation for new users, so I get e-mails), it's now dozens a day. There was a development version that was a bit better, but then with the latest upgrade, which I assumed had the same fixes, it's just terrible. I keep getting the same messages about network issues, something I never had with Akismet until around a month ago.
[closed] Akismet really sucks now (35 posts)
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kirkmc
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's not Akismet sucking, it's spammers being more aggressive. There's been a recent influx in all sites, WordPress, Blogger, forums, you name it, of spammers :/
You may want to add in something like Cookies for Comments or Bad Behavior to help.
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Posted 1 year ago #I've got a CAPTCHA tool that is supposed to work with Akismet.
And it's not spammers being more aggressive, it's Akismet failing. I see the messages on my Admin page. This has been happening for more than a month, and there are other post here about it.
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Akismet is a learning tool. As more spam comes in, and more people mark it as spam, it LEARNS and gets better. When new, never before seen, kinds of spam comes in, there's a learning curve.
CAPTCHA doesn't work. It's 10% effective and can be hacked. Try the two plugins I mentioned, Cookies for Comments and Bad Behavior.
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Posted 1 year ago #No, sorry, that's not it. Akismet is showing that there are network errors. It's not about learning.
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You're talking about the Server Connectivity area on wp-admin/plugins.php?page=akismet-key-config ?
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Posted 1 year ago #No, I'm talking about the messages that Akismet displays above the comments list:
Akismet has detected a problem. A server or network problem prevented Akismet from checking 1 comment. It has been temporarily held for moderation and will be automatically re-checked in 20 mins.
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I have never seen that in 4 years of running Akismet on a site.
From some guys at Akismet:
Unfortunately, it's hard to tell if the problem is on Akismet's end or your server's end, but I'm reasonably sure that the problem wasn't on Akismet's end (otherwise there'd be quite a few more folks with the problem).
If you're still having the problem, please contact Akismet support directly at http://akismet.com/contact/
Also, make sure you're using 2.5.2 (the latest version).
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Posted 1 year ago #There's at least one other thread (it's hard to find more, as the search feature for the forums is limited) where others are saying they have the same problem. I'd never seen that in more than 4 years, but it started a month or so ago.
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This one: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/akismet-250-serverconnection-problem?replies=40
Yeah, there's SOME complaint, but not the massive amounts I'd expect to see if this was a widespread issue, even taking into account the 10% rule (10% of the people having a problem complain).
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Joseph Scott
Posted 1 year ago #@kirckmc -
Best way to reach akismet.com for help is to contact us directly at akismet.com/contact/
As I've mentioned on other threads, that message is something new starting with version 2.5 of the Akismet plugin. It looks for errors when communicating with akismet.com to check comments for spam. Previous versions of the plugin simply ignored any errors in communication.
There are several reasons when your WordPress install may have had a problem reaching akismet.com. If this is only happening periodically (vs. with every comment) then the most likely reason is small hic-ups in the network connectivity of your hosting provider.
Another thing that you can try, if you are willing to experiment a little bit, is increase the request timeout value. In 2.5.2 we increased the timeout to 15 seconds, which should be more than enough. But if communications are slow from your WP install to akismet.com, you could increase that value (perhaps 30). It is on line 145 of akismet.php.
If increasing the timeout value does help I'd like to know.
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Posted 1 year ago #I've changed the timeout value as you suggested. I'll let you know what happens. Is there any way to log what Akismet does?
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Posted 1 year ago #You can use this plugin - https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/akismet/debug/wp-http-error-log.php - to log all of the HTTP requests made from your WP install, which will include all of the Akismet requests.
There is also a history for each comment as well, which may provide some helpful details.
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Posted 1 year ago #Changing the setting to 30 seconds seems to have resolved the problem (for now). I'll have to wait overnight and see what shows up in the morning.
Perhaps this should be configurable from the plug-in page rather than just in the php file?
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tellyworth
Posted 1 year ago #FYI there's independent third party monitoring of Akismet uptime here.
Other than a 12 minute problem a couple of days ago, there have been no connectivity issues recently.
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Posted 1 year ago #OK, 10:18 French time, just had another one of these. And this is with the 30 second setting I changed yesterday.
Tellyworth, it's not about uptime, apparently, it's about response time.
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Phrase Vices Poet
Posted 1 year ago #Akismet is a learning tool. As more spam comes in,
The problem is that bloggers are mostly amateurs but spammers are professionals.
Akismet is not must to use. And mounting a chain of unreliable tools is deceptive approach.
Akismet dumps some of the valid comments as spam. So, anyway one has to check and umark live comments.
I also had problems with tons of spam until I installed KeyCAPTCHA.
Not a single spam message ever since. I switched off AKISMET, it became completely redundant.CAPTCHA doesn't work. It's 10% effective and can be hacked.
I use only keycaptcha. Zero spam during 3 months.
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Give it a little time and it will be broken.
http://caca.zoy.org/wiki/PWNtcha
Incidentally, Dorogaya, your new forum username contravened the forum's rules regarding the use of the trademark "WordPress". So I have reverted it to your original username.
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Posted 1 year ago #So I have reverted it to your original username
Thanks, though it is not so poetic.
Can you tell me why my website is not linked to my name as I see in other member names?
Give it a little time and it will be broken.
So, what?
Nobody told that something is absolutely unbreakable.The point is that this keycaptcha is changeable on the fly and is paltform for creating captchas.
Its keycaptcha.com site even has online designer for their creation by customers(though it is fee-based, 5USD a month, 20$ a year, basic service is free)It is easily and fast changeable without any need to reinstall previously installed keycaptcha plugin in protected webserver.
I have tried a few before before keycaptcha.
It is the only from known to me captchas that has all the following:- it has never been passed by bot before;
- has plugin for WP (easily installed without the need of messing with any markup or code);
- is changeable (by developers) without the need to reinstall previous plugin;
BTW, already after I started to use it, a new type of keycaptcha - jigsaw puzzle - was released and added to pool; - prevents both automatic cracking and outsourcing to sweatshops for human solving;
- non-text-typing
- in case of incorrect solution the visual appearance and task is not changing, already filled fields are preserved
- funny and cool
It is unrelated to this captcha.
It does not contain passive static images but a code.
And it is never repeated even if it looks so for a visitorEven if forget about it, all graphic elements needed for solution simply are "visible" before their drag&dropping.
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Thanks, though it is not so poetic.
Feel free to change it but please remember that user names must not contain the WordPress trademark or be offensive. Other than that, you can pretty much use what you want.
Can you tell me why my website is not linked to my name as I see in other member names?
You user name is still a link to your web site.
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Posted 1 year ago #@kirkmc -
Check out the link Tellyworth provided again, it includes response time - http://status.automattic.com/9931/136079/Akismet-API
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Posted 1 year ago #I forgot to tell that I do not use for spam prevention anything except KeyCAPTCHA only.
Neither moderation, nor Akismet, nada,
Comments appear immediately, one can chat through commentsIn other blogs, comments do not appear immediately or do not appear at all. Once I had my comment appeared in 3 weeks!
There is no point in such comments. They rather irritate than attract visitors.
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Removed your sig - They're not permitted.
CAPTCHA has a lot of problems. They can be hacked (which actually I like, because it means people are coding better and that's just cool), and they're not accessible to anyone with limited vision OR poor tech skills. Any time you're putting roadblocks between your users and your site, you are hurting them more than a little spam, IMO.
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A little background history: http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/2007/10/06/breaking-captchas/
Captcha issues:
http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/2007/10/04/captchas-shut-out-blind-users/
http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/2007/09/20/yahoo-make-a-boob/
http://blackwidows.co.uk/blog/2008/01/23/disabled-people-want-friends-too/ -
Posted 1 year ago #Hi, esmi,
you have rather skewed preoccupation.
What about ppl without disabilities?
Do you worry about them also?For ex., almost all my comments are always being dumped by Akismet and Disqus.
I even do not try to comment when I do not see any captcha thereAll ip-addresses of my all my ISPs (and I have various at home, a few at work, in library ) are blacklisted by spamhaus
Initially, I tried to figure out why my comments are being dumped but the rules are always changing, only one thing is certain, I am being dumped.
Then, how are you going to protect registration forms with Akismet?
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Posted 1 year ago #Removed your sig - They're not permitted
whose sig? where?
CAPTCHA has a lot of problems. They can be hacked
Everything can be hacked
The point is that KeyCAPTCHA is platform and (monitored) service, for the case of being hacked it has the new type of captcha which is simply never exposed ahead.
I do not know any other captchas which principles of works can be replced without reinstallation.Any time you're putting roadblocks between your users and your site, you are hurting them more than a little spam, IMO
So, what is your choice? One roadblock or a dozen?
I am constantly reading that bloggers are being constantly advised to have a dozen of spam-proofing tools installed.
The result of it is that a visitors write comments just to understand on submission that:
- - it disappeared
- - it was dumped
- - there was an error
- - there was no reaction
- - it is on moderation
- - it is honey trap for stupid humans wasting their times on internet
- - it was all of the above + something more
I prefer having reliable captcha
I even do not try to comment when I smell Akismet/Disqus/Mollom (by absent captcha) and/or moderation. -
Derwood
Posted 1 year ago #If you love captcha so much, why not create your own captcha forum and go advertise for it there.
This part of the forum is for Akismet. Sick of seeing your spam for Craptcha. -
Posted 1 year ago #I do not have any problems with any captchas.
I am sick of Akismet.
It made blogs uncommentable and internet uninteresting -
Posted 1 year ago #Just from curiosity I have been checking and rechecking many times in various different WordPress blogs on internet and even from newly registered for this experiment webmail accounts:
- if I post comment without any URL in body of comment but with link to my blog in Website field (below "Mail (will not be published) (required)" field) of comment,
then my comments silently disappear - if I comment without any URL + without filling Website field - my comment either published immediately or appear with "Your comment is awaiting moderation";
- My comments disappear silently if body of comment contains just one URL or I dunno what but without any URL;
The ubiquitous engagement of Akismet in blogs made commenting (and blogging?) completely senseless and appalling!
Akismet sucks!
I prefer failing at captcha than typing and then see my comments to silently disappear! - if I post comment without any URL in body of comment but with link to my blog in Website field (below "Mail (will not be published) (required)" field) of comment,
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What about ppl without disabilities?
Do you worry about them also?Yes.
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