Open Source Extras Akismet
Akismet is an advanced spam protection service that uses AI to analyse form submissions. It learns from spam patterns around the web in real-time, and is extremely effective at blocking spam without hindering the user experience with CAPTCHAs.
Originally developed for Wordpress, this open source package integrates Akismet with the MODX extras FormIt and Login (specifically the Register snippet).
Akismet is free for personal sites or blogs, and requires a paid subscription for use on commercial websites. Learn more about Akismet’s subscription model.
Donations to support our open source work are much appreciated.
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Install Akismet via the modmore package provider.
Sign up for an Akismet account, then copy and paste the provided API Key into the new akismet.api_key system setting.
Next, implement the Akismet snippet as either a hook (FormIt) or preHook (Register, QuipReply) into your form. If you have a custom form-handling snippet, see the standalone instructions.
Personal information
Because personal information is sent to a third party, using the Akismet package touches on GDPR and similar regulation.
As spam protection is a “legitimate interest” its usage does not require specific consent. That said, it’s worth adding a notice in your Privacy Policy, and/or adding a line like this to your forms:
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Learn more about Akismet and the GDPR.
Automatic cleanup (v1.1+)
Spam checks are automatically removed after 30 days. This time period can be adjusted with the akismet.cleanup_days_old system setting; giving it a value of 0 disables the cleanup.
The cleanup does not require a cron job, but runs automatically when form submissions are checked for spam.