WordPress Tips: Alternatives to Akismet, Design Software, and Dummy Content

February 22, 2011   »   5 Replies

WordPress tips

I have three WordPress tip videos for you today.

Alternatives to Akismet for Blocking Spam

Akismet, the plugin that blocks spam and is included in WordPress by default, is not really free if you have any kind of advertising, product or service, or high traffic. In this video, I show you a free alternative: antispambee.

Headway — A WordPress Theme with Design Software

One of the interesting WordPress themes out there is Headway, which allows you to make changes using a design control panel. You don’t have to get into the code at all to make changes to the structure, layout, colors, arrangement, etc. Headway is an impressive theme — check it out if you’re looking for a solution that allows you to bypass coding.

Insert Dummy Content into WordPress

When you’re building a WordPress site, you often need a lot of sample content. You can insert this content using a plugin called WP Dummy Content. It works well to insert a lot of posts and pages with sample content.

For more tips, or to sign up for my WordPress newsletter, see WordPress Tips Newsletter.

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5 thoughts on “WordPress Tips: Alternatives to Akismet, Design Software, and Dummy Content”

  1. Joseph Scott

    In the video you mentioned “Akismet is problematic as a spam blocking plugin”. I watched the whole video and I didn’t see anything further about Akismet not actually working as a spam blocking plugin. Was your only concern with Akismet that it isn’t free for everyone?

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  2. Avatar of Tom JohnsonTom Johnson Post author

    Sorry, I should have been more clear about that. Functionally, Akismet works quite well. It identifies most of the spam and has just a few false positives. The problem with Akismet is the price. $50 a month to block spam is out of my price range.

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  3. chuck scott

    Hi Tom – thanks for heads up with Antispam Bee … your points about Akismet licensing fees is real wake-up call – so thank you! … question about Antispam Bee settings as the documentation is in other language … thus what do you recommend for settings – in particular for a MultiSite Network install with most of sub-sites having comments limited to logged-in registered users ..??.. cordially, chuck scott

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  4. vgv8

    Akismet has a lot of poblems:
    - it is illegal in Europe
    - it frequently blocks legit users. Well, it simly made internet unusable by humans
    - it easily used by balckhat SEO to blacklist competitors
    - it is retroactive, i.e. doomed to always lag behind new spam and bot techniques

    Why to complicate with multi-layer antispam measures/plugins or to manage spam bot feeds with AntSpamBee instead of blocking spam bots?

    Use captcha from keycaptcha.com and forget about spam.
    It has never been passed by any bot
    Those, who installed KeyCAPTCHA, switch off other antispam measures including moderation

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    1. Avatar of Tom JohnsonTom Johnson Post author

      Vgv8, thanks for letting me know about KeyCAPTCHA. I had no idea Akismet was illegal in Europe. The other arguments you made against it I tend to agree with (I didn’t know it is easily used by blackhat SEO to blacklist competitors, though). KeyCAPTCHA looks interesting. The only drawback is that assembling the picture is a little time consuming (but novel). If antispambee starts failing, I’ll try your method instead. Thanks.

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