Akismet Plugin and the API Key

A few days after setting up your Wordpress blog, you’ll start to get you first spam post. Yes, just like email spam, but this is blog spam.

The easiest way to kill spam before they even make it to your comments list is to use the included Akismet plugin. There are more advanced spam filters avalable for Wordpress, but for now Akismet will do the job well.

To install Akismet (Wordpress 2.0+), all you need to do is to go to your Plugins page, and activate it. If for some reason Akisment is not included in your WP installation, you can still get it here: http://akismet.com/download/

Once you’ve installed Akisment, it will keep on nagging you about something called an “API Key”. To get this API key, you need to go here:

http://wordpress.com/signup/

On that page you’ll be able to get a free-hosted Wordpress blog if you want, or you can also just create an account to get the API key.

Check your email, and you’ll see the API key somewhere at the bottom.

Once you have the API key, login to Wordpress and enter it into the Akismet Configuration page.

Now you’re done. Akismet will start putting spam where it belongs – in the trash.

Related posts:

1. Plugin: Ban IPs, URIs, emails or Usernames
2. WP Plugin – Automattic Stats
3. Greasemonkey Script: Neaten Askismet Spam Listings
4. Plugin: Spam Karma Update
5. Defensio – The Real Spam Killer Has Arrived