Everyone has an opinion as to what WordPress needs and Dev4Press recently shared theirs on what they believe WordPress needs with regards to features. Any time I read a post like this, it’s as if I can hear the core team in my head yelling out “patches welcome“. But you know, just because you dedicate time to produce a patch that includes the functionality you would like to see in core that works flawlessly with WordPress does not guarantee that the functionality will end up within the core of WordPress. So in that sense, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Of course, there is always the plugin route.
I agree with Dev4Press when they mention that the built-in search functionality in WordPress sucks and needs a major overhaul. It’s something that many users have requested for over two years. Unfortunately, due to complexity or lack of resources, we have yet to see any overhaul on this part of WordPress. There are plugins that enhance this ability but nothing within the core that makes it better. The other issue I wanted to address with the post on Dev4Press concerns their request that Akismet be removed from the default WordPress package as they think it’s a commercial plugin and thus, unfair to commercial plugin authors. In my opinion, as long as Akismet has the free option, it’s not a commercial plugin. However, I’d still like to see it and all other plugins removed from the default installation package just to tidy things up.
Akismet has started an experimental partner program. Based on the information presented, it looks like this is aimed more at consultants who deal with clients and instead of possibly using their own Akismet API key, they’ll now be able to refer them to Akismet via a special link which indicates the three plans that users can choose from. What caught my eye regarding the different account levels is how they have been structured.
Pro ($59/yr or $5/mo)
For individual sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo.
Enterprise ($550/yr or $50/mo)
For multiple medium size sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo (total).
Corporate ($3950/yr or $395/mo)
For corporate sites, up to 300,000 comments/mo with key monitoring, priority service and annual invoicing.
What constitutes a comment? Are we talking about all comments in general that need to be filtered or 80,000 legitimate comments? A little clarity on that part would be good. Those who are chosen to be part of this strictly invitational program only, will receive $24.00 for Pro subscriptions while Enterprise subscriptions will net them $240.00. I’m very hesitant on calling this a referral program because of the following text presented on the page:
This partner program is intended for use with your existing clients. Linking to your referrer code on the internet, or in any way promoting it to people that aren’t your customers is prohibited, and will result in your being removed from the program. The plan here is to have less spam, not more!
If you’re interested in being a guinea pig for this program, you can sign up here but keep in mind that just because you register doesn’t guarantee you will be accepted. By the way, WPCandy was able to receive 25 openings which may help boost your chances of being accepted.
By far, the most interesting aspect of this entire partner plan is the fact that the links people receive will contain ONLY the plans for which users must pay for. I wonder if this will translate into more paying customers for the service or if users will shy away and either use an alternative anti-spam solution or figure out how to get by using it for free. The only way we’ll know the answer to that is if Akismet shares the data they collected during the beta portion of the program.
Pete Davies of Akismet presented a 31 minute presentation at WordCamp San Francisco detailing the history of spam as well as talking about the creation of Akismet.
If you’re worried about paying for Akismet in the future or are curious as to what some of the alternatives are, check out this plugin roundup via Themergency where Bradvin takes a look at six alternatives. ∞
WebBoy – Episode 1 | WebBoy. Pretty cool comic showing WebBoy has he fights a battle against spam with his trusty sidekick, Akismet. This is one of the coolest uses of the horizontal slider I’ve seen in awhile. ∞
Something that has frustrated me for a long time is trying to figure out where the Akismet Configuration link is. My brain and logical way of thinking always points me to the Settings top level menu only to browse around each area to figure out where it’s at. For some strange reason, the Akismet configuration link is located within the Plugins top level menu. This makes no sense to me. That menu is used to view the plugins page, add plugins, edit plugins but not specifically configure any plugins, except Akismet. It’s with this pet peeve that I request the Akismet Configuration link be moved to within the Settings menu. I don’t think Akismet needs its own top level menu.
If you think the configuration link needs to be moved, let me know where it should go. If you don’t think it should be moved, I want to know why you think it’s a good idea to leave it where it’s at.
The short answer is yes, it’s still free for personal use. However, over the past few weeks, it seems as though many people believe that the free use of Akismet has disappeared and it’s now only a paid service. So in order to understand where this line of thought is coming from, I decided to erase my Akismet key and start the process over as if it were just installed. When my API key was cleared, I clicked on the Get Your Key link from within the Akismet configuration editor. This redirects to http://akismet.com/wordpress/ where on that page, I can read information concerning how cool it will be to use Akismet. One of the first things that are pointed out is that it’s free for personal use while being a bargain for businesses with the following quote afterward:
We’re not trying to make a killing, but we still need to pay our bills.
This is where things get dicey. On the Akismet key signup page, I get to see three specific plans for the service. One for $5.00 a month, $50.00 a month and $100 per month. Below the three plans is the personal site option.
After clicking the personal site option, you’ll need to fill in your details such as a First name, last name, etc. What’s interesting is on this page, there is a slider that asks, What Is Akismet Worth To You? By default, it’s set to $3.00 per month equaling $36.00 per year. The slider can be set to $0.00 as well but then you’ll have to contend with the fact that you made the emoticon show a sad face. By the way, this is a nice touch as I can see some people willing to create a custom price point to match how they feel about Akismet on their site.
After going through the checkout process, the API key was sent to me via email and I was able to use Akismet for free thanks to the personal plan.
Akismet Personal Plan
Conclusion:
I’m happy to report that Akismet can still be used for free but it’s meant for personal sites. One of the biggest changes from a few years ago is that to get access to Akismet, you needed to sign up to WordPress.com, obtain an API key from them, place that API key within Akismet and enjoy the benefits of the service. Now, you must go through a checkout process while choosing a specific plan before you get access to an API key. While Akismet has always been Software as a Service while charging large sites money for anti spam protection, the recent changes have transformed the site and the service into more of a revenue stream for Automattic by opening up lower price points for individuals.
It’s not as if the free or personal option is hidden away on some unknown page within the sitemap which has me confused on why so many people are convinced that you must pay $5.00 to use the service. If anyone else can suggest to me why this line of thought has taken place, I’m interested in reading it in the comments.
Over at the Akismet blog, there’s a new post asking users if they appreciate Akismet. The site is currently going through a redesign and new testimonials will be published when it’s finished. Now I know some of you have had your share of bad experiences with Akismet, especially when it comes to leaving comments on someone else’s site and being labeled as spam but in my own experience, Akismet has served me well with very little in the way of problems. So far Akismet has protected this site from 30,739 spam comments already. I’m interested in hearing what the number is like for your site.
There is a great post over on the Akismet blog talking about some of the newest trends they have noticed in web spam since 2005. Among them are Chinese wholesaler spam, human-posted spam, and malware spam. Considering the large volume of comments running through the Akisemet service, it’s always interesting to see what the trends are. I agree with them that Trackbacks and Pingbacks have been abused or used in the wrong way so much, that many large sites have abandoned using them altogether. Thankfully, Trackbacks apparently are so unpopular that many spammers have abandoned that tactic.
The one thing I’ve noticed on WPTavern.com is a large number of comments that specifically advertises the software that generated them. I’ve also noticed a large increase in the amount of human spam that is what I consider border line legitimate. I’ve even approved one or two by mistake. However, the most annoying aspect of spam is coming from websites that display 10 or more related posts from across the web. Some of these legitimate and illegitimate websites are showing 100 or so links generating a massive amount of pingbacks. I became a victim of a denial of service attack thanks to this method combined with a large splog network.
What are some of the specific trends you’ve noticed on your own site?
What a way to kick off this category of the site, that being the blogging category. Today, I feature a fresh comment just into Akismet where it was obviously a human writing it but there was something about it that struck me as humorous. I’ll let you have a look and maybe you will too.
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Over at the Akismet blog, there’s a 
Akismet Testing Out Partner Program
By Jeffro on November 4, 2011
Pro ($59/yr or $5/mo)
For individual sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo.
Enterprise ($550/yr or $50/mo)
For multiple medium size sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo (total).
Corporate ($3950/yr or $395/mo)
For corporate sites, up to 300,000 comments/mo with key monitoring, priority service and annual invoicing.
What constitutes a comment? Are we talking about all comments in general that need to be filtered or 80,000 legitimate comments? A little clarity on that part would be good. Those who are chosen to be part of this strictly invitational program only, will receive $24.00 for Pro subscriptions while Enterprise subscriptions will net them $240.00. I’m very hesitant on calling this a referral program because of the following text presented on the page:
If you’re interested in being a guinea pig for this program, you can sign up here but keep in mind that just because you register doesn’t guarantee you will be accepted. By the way, WPCandy was able to receive 25 openings which may help boost your chances of being accepted.
By far, the most interesting aspect of this entire partner plan is the fact that the links people receive will contain ONLY the plans for which users must pay for. I wonder if this will translate into more paying customers for the service or if users will shy away and either use an alternative anti-spam solution or figure out how to get by using it for free. The only way we’ll know the answer to that is if Akismet shares the data they collected during the beta portion of the program.
Posted in News | Tagged akismet, comments, services, spam | 5 Responses