# Discourse Akismet **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337 **Category:** Plugin **Tags:** akismet, official **Created:** [February 18, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337 "2019-02-18T05:32:17Z") **Posts on this page:** 12 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![Discourse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/discourse/32/148734_2.png) [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse) #### Post date: [February 18, 2019, 5:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/1 "2019-02-18T05:32:17Z")
| | | | | --- | --- | --- | | :discourse2: | **Summary** | **Discourse Akismet** allows you to fight spam with [Akismet](https://akismet.com/), an algorithm used by millions of sites to combat spam automatically. | | 🛠 | **Repository Link** | [https://github.com/discourse/discourse-akismet](https://github.com/discourse/discourse-akismet) | | 📖 | **Install Guide** | [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157) | > [@](#): > > :discourse2: As this is an #official plugin maintained by the Discourse team, #Support, #Contribute > Bug, #Contribute > UX, and #Contribute > Feature requests can be made in the respective categories here on Meta, and tagged with the appropriate plugin tag. Click on a link below to get one started. 👍 > > [❓  **Support**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=6&body=%3E%20Before%20asking,%20did%20you%20search%20first%3F%20Press%20%F0%9F%94%8D%20at%20the%20upper%20right%20to%20search.&tags=akismet "Ask for support on configuring and using Discourse Akismet") [🐛  **Bug**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=1&tags=akismet "A bug report means something is broken, preventing normal/typical use of the plugin") [👀  **UX**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=9&tags=akismet "Discussion about the user interface of Discourse Akismet, and how features are presented (including language and UI elements)") [💡  **Feature**](https://meta.discourse.org/new-topic?category_id=2&tags=akismet "Discussion about how existing Discourse Akismet features can be improved or enhanced, and how proposed new features could work") ### Features #### What does it do? Akismet helps keep your site free of spam by automatically scanning all posts from new users. Scanned posts that Akismet flags as spam are immediately removed from the site and added to a queue for review. Site staff can then review the posts to confirm spam, or restore if the posts are not spam. Akismet learns as staff confirm or restore spam posts, improving its spam detection and decreasing false positives. #### Spam sucks, Fight it with Akismet Akismet is a well known service that trains a Bayesian filter for detecting spam specific to your domain. Akismet is NOT free for commerical use, but can be for personal use. To use this plugin you will need an Akismet API key, you can get one [here](http://akismet.com/plans/). #### How it works The plugin works by collecting info about a new post’s HTTP request. Every 10 minutes, a background job runs that looks for new posts. All new posts are sent to Akismet to determine if they are spam or not. If a post is deemed spam, it is deleted and placed in a moderator queue where staff can take action against it. ### Configuration For sites that are on our hosting, the Akismet plugin is pre-installed and enabled for you. For self-hosted sites, follow our [Install a Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-a-plugin/19157) howto, using `git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse-akismet.git` as the plugin command. Once you’ve installed, add your akismet key under site settings by searching for `akismet`. Alternatively, you can also add it using a `DISCOURSE_AKISMET_API_KEY` environment variable. After enabling the plugin, you can find the moderator queue by visiting `/review` or selecting Review from the Hamburger menu. ![Screen Shot 2020-02-11 at 2.31.07 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/5/9/5991b4251bce741cc0e6bc4a879bb564d8d8b6de.png) From the review queue you can then filter for Akismet flags ![Screen Shot 2020-02-11 at 2.35.45 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/e/6/e63ecc641377fa21ddd6cfa594997f4c67d91575.png) * * * ![Screen Shot 2020-02-11 at 2.54.10 PM](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/d/1/d1cac6d9fa1022f93cee0f68a6c0e280032164b3.png) | Action | Result | | --- | --- | | **Confirm Spam** | Confirms the post as spam, leaving it deleted, and tells Akismet that it was spam. | | **Not Spam** | Akismet thought something was spam but it actually wasn’t. This undeletes the post and tells Akismet that it wasn’t spam. Akismet gets smarter so it hopefully won’t make the same mistake twice. | | **Ignore** | Confirms the post as spam, leaving it deleted, but doesn’t notify Akismet. | | **Confirm Spam & Delete user** | It will delete the user, their posts, topics and block their email and IP address. | #### What data is sent to Akismet? | Field Name | Discourse Value | | --- | --- | | **Author** | User’s Name | | **Author Email** | User’s verified email (can be disabled with the `akismet_transmit_email` site setting) | | **Comment Type** | “forum-post” | | **Content** | Post’s raw column (including post’s topic title if first post) | | **Permalink** | Link to topic | | **User IP** | IP address of request | | **User Agent** | User agent of request | | **Referrer** | HTTP referrer of request | #### Testing Once you have the plugin installed, let’s do a quick test to make sure everything is working. Login as a non admin user and create a new topic and post. Use the following info: ```plaintext title: Spam test - Will this plugin do what it says! post: love vashikaran, love vashikaran specialist,919828891153 love vashikaran special black magic specialist hurry hurry love now ``` Now, go to `/sidekiq/scheduler` and find the `CheckForSpamPosts` jobs and trigger it. Now, as a staff member, view the moderator queue by going to `/review` or by using the Hamburger menu. You should see the post with some additional info about it. > Last edited by @JammyDodger 2024-06-18T15:18:24Z > > > **Check document** > > > > Perform check on document: ---
### Author: ![8ixrnqer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/58956e/32.png) [@8ixrnqer](https://meta.discourse.org/u/8ixrnqer) #### Post date: [March 26, 2024, 8:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/43 "2024-03-26T08:26:20Z")
> [@rishabh](#): > > trains a Bayesian filter Akismet charges around $10 for 500 posts, for a bayesian trained by users data. Wish there was a self-hosted alternative like Rspamd or spamassasin. Makes discourse less attractive to make the switch. ---
### Author: ![hhf.technology](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hhf.technology/32/465129_2.png) [@hhf.technology](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hhf.technology) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/44 "2024-10-21T12:00:33Z")
![This image shows a white background with black text displayed in a bold, sans-serif font. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/8/b/c8b07d9983651a79eb37a01ed894c266472e072a.png) plugin is not showing up. discourse version- ` v3.4.0.` ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/45 "2024-10-21T12:25:23Z")
Did you install the plugin? ---
### Author: ![hhf.technology](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hhf.technology/32/465129_2.png) [@hhf.technology](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hhf.technology) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/46 "2024-10-21T12:34:19Z")
yes sir. i did. but not showing up ---
### Author: ![hhf.technology](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hhf.technology/32/465129_2.png) [@hhf.technology](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hhf.technology) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/47 "2024-10-21T12:43:06Z")
![This image displays a text-based list of various target and checklist options, likely related to software development or project management. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/0/a/8/0a83c7fabee945ce6dbd1dc910621c79062e2878.png) ![The image shows a computer screen displaying a long list of text which appears to be a table with various columns and rows, likely representing some sort of data or configuration settings. (Captioned by AI)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/4X/c/e/1/ce19544407067871b9fbbf8b02a9dcb3449afba6.png) ---
### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/48 "2024-10-21T12:58:47Z")
Ghirardelli you add the environment variable? If so, it won’t show up in the ux ---
### Author: ![hhf.technology](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hhf.technology/32/465129_2.png) [@hhf.technology](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hhf.technology) #### Post date: [October 21, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/49 "2024-10-21T13:00:33Z")
no, i didn’t add env variable ---
### Author: ![hhf.technology](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/hhf.technology/32/465129_2.png) [@hhf.technology](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hhf.technology) #### Post date: [October 22, 2024, 6:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/50 "2024-10-22T06:39:30Z")
any insights ---
### Author: ![Saif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/saif/32/318253_2.png) [@Saif](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Saif) #### Post date: [March 13, 2025, 3:12pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/51 "2025-03-13T15:12:54Z")
Akismet plugin is officially removed, see below for more details > [@Discourse AI spam detection replaces Akismet plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-spam-detection-replaces-akismet-plugin/354602): > > Starting today, we will be removing the [Discourse Akismet](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337) plugin and will instead enable [Discourse AI - Spam detection](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-ai-spam-detection/343541) by default for hosted customers on Pro and Standard plans. Why are we making this change? Over the past few weeks, we’ve found our AI spam detector to deliver a superior performance over Akismet. We’ve had over 126 sites extensively using it and within Meta, we’ve personally seen over 96% success rate in detecting spam. On top of the performance, the setup would now be a defa… ---
### Author: ![Saif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/saif/32/318253_2.png) [@Saif](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Saif) #### Post date: [March 13, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/52 "2025-03-13T15:14:05Z")
---
### Author: ![Saif](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/saif/32/318253_2.png) [@Saif](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Saif) #### Post date: [March 13, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet/109337/53 "2025-03-13T15:14:09Z")