---
title: "Matt Mullenweg Explains Genius of Akismet and Appeal of Fast Development Cycles"
date: 2007-02-22
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2007/02/22/matt-mullenweg-explains-genius-of-akismet-and-appeal-of-fast-development-cycles/
---
# Matt Mullenweg Explains Genius of Akismet and Appeal of Fast Development Cycles
[![matt mullenweg](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/mullenweg.jpg)](http://www.brianoberkirch.com/?p=854)[Akismet](http://akismet.com/), the spam-blocking software packaged with WordPress and produced by Automattic (the company behind the open-source WordPress application), is really an ingenius bit of software. Every time you mark a comment as spam in your blog, Akismet updates a central directory that keeps track of IP addresses that send SPAM. As more users delete spam from their blogs, Akismet gets smarter. It's a case of building applications powered by the whole Web 2.0 idea, where users provide the brains of the application.

By the way, on the topic of Spam, WordPress has the upper hand on this issue. Without Akismet, you'd get 50-100 spam comments a day on your blog. Akismet knocks it down to 1-2. Interestingly, Matt said spammers target high-ranking blogs. If your blog is rarely updated or visited, you may not see much spam — such as the following in your moderation queue:

![spam](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/spam.gif)