Open Source Extras Akismet Akismet Snippet

The Akismet snippet can be used as a hook (in FormIt) or preHook (in Register and QuipReply).

You need to instruct Akismet what fields to use. For this, add properties prefixed with akismet to the FormIt or Register snippet call.

Akismet works better the more information you provide. So look through the list of properties below and, if your form has a matching field, provide its name so it can be provided to Akismet.

The snippet already automatically provides the IP, user agent, referrer, URL, etc.

Table of Contents

All Properties

  • &akismetAuthor - The author’s name.
  • &akismetAuthorEmail - The author’s email.
  • &akismetAuthorUrl - The author’s URL if they provided one.
  • &akismetContent - The message content.
  • &akismetType - The type of form submitted. Available types include comment, forum-post, reply, blog-post, contact-form, signup, message, and more. Read more here.
  • &akismetUserRole - The type of user e.g. visitor, or member. If set to Administrator, the form will never be blocked.
  • &akismetTest - Set this to 1 while developing so the AI knows it is just a test submission.
  • &akismetHoneypotField - If you use a hidden honeypot field in your form, set the name of it here.
  • &akismetRecheckReason - If you have a form where the same submission needs to be checked more than once, include the reason for it here.
  • &akismetError - The error message to set when the form failed the spam check. By default, this will use the akismet.message_blocked lexicon, which you may edit via System > Lexicon Management > akismet (select in the namespace dropdown), or you can provide the snippet property with a different message entirely.

For example, if you have a contact form that has input fields like this:

<input type="text" name="sender" value="[[!+fi.sender]]">
<input type="email" name="sender_email" value="[[!+fi.sender_email]]">

Then you need to set at least the following properties:

[[!FormIt / Register?
    &hooks=`Akismet,email,redirect`
    ...
    &akismetType=`contact-form`
    &akismetAuthor=`sender`
    &akismetAuthorEmail=`sender_email`
    ...
]]

Use with FormIt

Add the snippet to the hooks:

[[!FormIt?
    ...
    &hooks=`Akismet,email,redirect`
    ...
]]

If you use other anti-spam or validation measures (like Recaptcha or CSRFHelper), you can decide in which order to place them. As Akismet may see repeat submits as spammy, you’ll usually want to put other checks first.

Also add as many of the snippet properties that matches your form names, for example a form with a name, email and text field, a hidden nospam honeypot field:

&akismetType=`contact-form`
&akismetAuthor=`name`
&akismetAuthorEmail=`email`
&akismetContent=`text`
&akismetHoneypotField=`nospam`

See a full FormIt example

Use with Register

On your register resource, add the Akismet snippet to the &preHooks on the Register snippet call:

[[!Register? 
    ...
    &preHooks=`Akismet`
    ...
]]

Also add as many of the snippet properties that matches your form names, for example a form with a username, email and fullname field, a hidden nospam honeypot field, and while testing:

&akismetType=`signup`
&akismetAuthor=`username`
&akismetAuthorEmail=`email`
&akismetContent=`fullname`
&akismetHoneypotField=`nospam`

If you have split name fields, you can provide them as a comma separated list:

&akismetContent=`firstname,lastname`

See a full Register example

Use with Quip (v1.1+)

On your QuipReply snippet call, add the Akismet snippet to the &preHooks:

[[!QuipReply? 
    ...
    &preHooks=`Akismet`
    ...
]]

Also add as many of the snippet properties that matches your form names, for example a form with a username, email and fullname field, a hidden nospam honeypot field, and while testing:

&akismetType=`reply`
&akismetAuthor=`name`
&akismetAuthorEmail=`email`
&akismetAuthorUrl=`website`
&akismetContent=`comment`
&akismetHoneypotField=`nospam`

See a full Quip example