Changelog

4.1

Release Date – 12 November 2018

• Added a WP-CLI method for retrieving stats.
• Hooked into the new “Personal Data Eraser” functionality from WordPress 4.9.6.
• Added functionality to clear outdated alerts from Akismet.com.

4.0.8

Release Date – 19 June 2018

• Improved the grammar and consistency of the in-admin privacy related notes (notice and config).
• Revised in-admin explanation of the comment form privacy notice to make its usage clearer.
• Added rel="nofollow noopener" to the comment form privacy notice to improve SEO and security.

4.0.7

Release Date – 28 May 2018

• Based on user feedback, the link on “Learn how your comment data is processed.” in the optional privacy notice now has a target of _blank and opens in a new tab/window.
• Updated the in-admin privacy notice to use the term “comment” instead of “contact” in “Akismet can display a notice to your users under your comment forms.”
• Only show in-admin privacy notice if Akismet has an API Key configured

4.0.6

Release Date – 26 May 2018

• Moved away from using empty( get_option() ) to instantiating a variable to be compatible with older versions of PHP (5.3, 5.4, etc).

4.0.5

Release Date – 26 May 2018

• Corrected version number after tagging. Sorry…

4.0.4

Release Date – 26 May 2018

• Added a hook to provide Akismet-specific privacy information for a site’s privacy policy.
• Added tools to control the display of a privacy related notice under comment forms.
• Fixed HTML in activation failure message to close META and HEAD tag properly.
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent Akismet from being correctly auto-configured.

4.0.3

Release Date – 19 February 2018

• Added a scheduled task to remove entries in wp_commentmeta that no longer have corresponding comments in wp_comments.
• Added a new akismet_batch_delete_count action to the batch delete methods for people who’d like to keep track of the numbers of records being processed by those methods.

4.0.2

Release Date – 18 December 2017

• Fixed a bug that could cause Akismet to recheck a comment that has already been manually approved or marked as spam.
• Fixed a bug that could cause Akismet to claim that some comments are still waiting to be checked when no comments are waiting to be checked.

4.0.1

Release Date – 6 November 2017

• Fixed a bug that could prevent some users from connecting Akismet via their Jetpack connection.
• Ensured that any pending Akismet-related events are unscheduled if the plugin is deactivated.
• Allow some JavaScript to be run asynchronously to avoid affecting page render speeds.

4.0

Release Date – 19 September 2017

• Added REST API endpoints for configuring Akismet and retrieving stats.
• Increased the minimum supported WordPress version to 4.0.
• Added compatibility with comments submitted via the REST API.
• Improved the progress indicator on the “Check for Spam” button.

3.3.4

Release Date – 3 August 2017

• Disabled Akismet’s debug log output by default unless AKISMET_DEBUG is defined.
• URL previews now begin preloading when the mouse moves near them in the comments section of wp-admin.
• When a comment is caught by the Comment Blacklist, Akismet will always allow it to stay in the trash even if it is spam as well.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing an error from being shown when a site can’t reach Akismet’s servers.

3.3.3

Release Date – 13 July 2017

• Reduced amount of bandwidth used by the URL Preview feature.
• Improved the admin UI when the API key is manually pre-defined for the site.
• Removed a workaround for WordPress installations older than 3.3 that will improve Akismet’s compatibility with other plugins.
• The number of spam blocked that is displayed on the WordPress dashboard will now be more accurate and updated more frequently.
• Fixed a bug in the Akismet widget that could cause PHP warnings.

3.3.2

Release Date – 10 May 2017

• Fixed a bug causing JavaScript errors in some browsers.

3.3.1

Release Date – 2 May 2017

• Improve performance by only requesting the akismet_comment_nonce option when absolutely necessary.
• Fixed two bugs that could cause PHP warnings.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing the “Remove author URL” feature from working after a comment was edited using “Quick Edit.”
• Fixed a bug that was preventing the URL preview feature from working after a comment was edited using “Quick Edit.”

3.3

Release Date – 23 February 2017

• Updated the Akismet admin pages with a new clean design.
• Fixed bugs preventing the akismet_add_comment_nonce and akismet_update_alert wrapper functions from working properly.
• Fixed bug preventing the loading indicator from appearing when re-checking all comments for spam.
• Added a progress indicator to the “Check for Spam” button.
• Added a success message after manually rechecking the Pending queue for spam.

3.2

Release Date – 6 September 2016

• Added a WP-CLI module. You can now check comments and recheck the moderation queue from the command line.
• Stopped using the deprecated jQuery function .live().
• Fixed a bug in remove_comment_author_url() and add_comment_author_url() that could generate PHP notices.
• Fixed a bug that could cause an infinite loop for sites with very very very large comment IDs.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the Akismet widget title to be blank.

3.1.11

Release Date – 12 May 2016

• Fixed a bug that could cause the “Check for Spam” button to skip some comments.
• Fixed a bug that could prevent some spam submissions from being sent to Akismet.
• Updated all links to use https:// when possible.
• Disabled Akismet debug logging unless WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG are both enabled.

3.1.10

Release Date – 1 April 2016

• Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.
• Fixed a bug that could have resulted in comments that were caught by the core WordPress comment blacklist not to have a corresponding History entry.
• Fixed a bug that could have caused avoidable PHP warnings in the error log.

3.1.9

Release Date – 28 March 2016

• Add compatibility with Jetpack so that Jetpack can automatically configure Akismet settings when appropriate.
• Fixed a bug preventing some comment data from being sent to Akismet.

3.1.8

Release Date – 4 March 2016

• Fixed a bug preventing Akismet from being used with some plugins that rewrite admin URLs.
• Reduced the amount of bandwidth used on Akismet API calls
• Reduced the amount of space Akismet uses in the database
• Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.

3.1.7

Release Date – 4 January 2016

• Added documentation for the ‘akismet_comment_nonce’ filter.
• The post-install activation button is now accessible to screen readers and keyboard-only users.
• Fixed a bug that was preventing the “Remove author URL” feature from working in WordPress 4.4

3.1.6

Release Date – 14 December 2015

• Improve the notices shown after activating Akismet.
• Update some strings to allow for the proper plural forms in all languages.

3.1.5

Release Date – 13 October 2015

• Closes a potential XSS vulnerability.

3.1.4

Release Date – 24 September 2015

• Fixed a bug that was preventing some users from automatically connecting using Jetpack if they didn’t have a current Akismet subscription.
• Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.
• Error messages and instructions have been simplified to be more understandable.
• Link previews are enabled for all links inside comments, not just the author’s website link.

3.1.3

Release Date – 6 July 2015

• Notify users when their account status changes after previously being successfully set up. This should help any users who are seeing blank Akismet settings screens.

3.1.2

Release Date – 7 June 2015

• Reduced the amount of space Akismet uses in the commentmeta table.
• Fixed a bug where some comments with quotes in the author name weren’t getting history entries
• Pre-emptive security improvements to ensure that the Akismet plugin can’t be used by attackers to compromise a WordPress installation.
• Better UI for the key entry field: allow whitespace to be included at the beginning or end of the key and strip it out automatically when the form is submitted.
• When deactivating the plugin, notify the Akismet API so the site can be marked as inactive.
• Clearer error messages.

3.1.1

Release Date – 17th March, 2015

• Improvements to the “Remove comment author URL” JavaScript
• Include the pingback pre-check from the 2.6 branch.

3.1

Release Date – 11th March, 2015

• Use HTTPS by default for all requests to Akismet.
• Fix for a situation where Akismet might strip HTML from a comment.

3.0.4

Release Date – 11th December, 2014

• Fix to make .htaccess compatible with Apache 2.4.
• Fix to allow removal of https author URLs.
• Fix to avoid stripping part of the author URL when removing and re-adding.
• Removed the “Check for Spam” button from the “Trash” and “Approved” queues, where it would have no effect.
• Allow automatic API key configuration when Jetpack is installed and connected to a WordPress.com account

3.0.3

Release Date – 3rd November, 2014

• Fix for sending the wrong data to delete_comment action that could have prevented old spam comments from being deleted.
• Added a filter to disable logging of Akismet debugging information.
• Added a filter for the maximum comment age when deleting old spam comments.
• Added a filter for the number per batch when deleting old spam comments.
• Removed the “Check for Spam” button from the Spam folder.

3.0.2

Release Date – 18th August, 2014

• Performance improvements.
• Fixed a bug that could truncate the comment data being sent to Akismet for checking.

3.0.1

Release Date – 9th July, 2014

• Removed dependency on PHP’s fsockopen function
• Fix spam/ham reports to work when reported outside of the WP dashboard, e.g., from Notifications or the WP app
• Remove jQuery dependency for comment form JavaScript
• Remove unnecessary data from some Akismet comment meta
• Suspended keys will now result in all comments being put in moderation, not spam.

3.0.0

Release Date – 15th April, 2014

• Move Akismet to Settings menu
• Drop Akismet Stats menu
• Add stats snapshot to Akismet settings
• Add Akismet subscription details and status to Akismet settings
• Add contextual help for each page
• Improve Akismet setup to use Jetpack to automate plugin setup
• Fix “Check for Spam” to use AJAX to avoid page timing out
• Fix Akismet settings page to be responsive
• Drop legacy code
• Tidy up CSS and Javascript
• Replace the old discard setting with a new “discard pervasive spam” feature.

2.6.0

Release Date – 18th March, 2014

• Add ajax paging to the check for spam button to handle large volumes of comments
• Optimize javascript and add localization support
• Fix bug in link to spam comments from right now dashboard widget
• Fix bug with deleting old comments to avoid timeouts dealing with large volumes of comments
• Include X-Pingback-Forwarded-For header in outbound WordPress pingback verifications
• Add pre-check for pingbacks, to stop spam before an outbound verification request is made

2.5.9

Release Date – 1st August, 2013

• Update ‘Already have a key’ link to redirect page rather than depend on javascript
• Fix some non-translatable strings to be translatable
• Update Activation banner in plugins page to redirect user to Akismet config page

2.5.8

Release Date – 20th January, 2013

• Simplify the activation process for new users
• Remove the reporter_ip parameter
• Minor preventative security improvements

2.5.7

Release Date – 13th December, 2012

• FireFox Stats iframe preview bug
• Fix mshots preview when using https
• Add .htaccess to block direct access to files
• Prevent some PHP notices
• Fix Check For Spam return location when referrer is empty
• Fix Settings links for network admins
• Fix prepare() warnings in WP 3.5

2.5.6

Release Date – 26th April, 2012

• Prevent retry scheduling problems on sites where wp_cron is misbehaving
• Preload mshot previews
• Modernize the widget code
• Fix a bug where comments were not held for moderation during an error condition
• Improve the UX and display when comments are temporarily held due to an error
• Make the Check For Spam button force a retry when comments are held due to an error
• Handle errors caused by an invalid key
• Don’t retry comments that are too old
• Improve error messages when verifying an API key

2.5.5

Release Date – 11th January, 2012

• Add nonce check for comment author URL remove action
• Fix the settings link

2.5.4

Release Date – 5th January, 2012

• Limit Akismet CSS and Javascript loading in wp-admin to just the pages that need it
• Added author URL quick removal functionality
• Added mShot preview on Author URL hover
• Added empty index.php to prevent directory listing
• Move wp-admin menu items under Jetpack, if it is installed
• Purge old Akismet comment meta data, default of 15 days

2.5.3

Release Date – 8th Febuary, 2011

• Specify the license is GPL v2 or later
• Fix a bug that could result in orphaned commentmeta entries
• Include hotfix for WordPress 3.0.5 filter issue

2.5.2

Release Date – 14th January, 2011

• Properly format the comment count for author counts
• Look for super admins on multisite installs when looking up user roles
• Increase the HTTP request timeout
• Removed padding for author approved count
• Fix typo in function name
• Set Akismet stats iframe height to fixed 2500px. Better to have one tall scroll bar than two side by side.

2.5.1

Release Date – 17th December, 2010

• Fix a bug that caused the “Auto delete” option to fail to discard comments correctly
• Remove the comment nonce form field from the ‘Akismet Configuration’ page in favor of using a filter, akismet_comment_nonce
• Fixed padding bug in “author” column of posts screen
• Added margin-top to “cleared by …” badges on dashboard
• Fix possible error when calling akismet_cron_recheck()
• Fix more PHP warnings
• Clean up XHTML warnings for comment nonce
• Fix for possible condition where scheduled comment re-checks could get stuck
• Clean up the comment meta details after deleting a comment
• Only show the status badge if the comment status has been changed by someone/something other than Akismet
• Show a ‘History’ link in the row-actions
• Translation fixes
• Reduced font-size on author name
• Moved “flagged by…” notification to top right corner of comment container and removed heavy styling
• Hid “flagged by…” notification while on dashboard

2.5.0

Release Date – 7th December, 2010

• Track comment actions under ‘Akismet Status’ on the edit comment screen
• Fix a few remaining deprecated function calls ( props Mike Glendinning )
• Use HTTPS for the stats IFRAME when wp-admin is using HTTPS
• Use the WordPress HTTP class if available
• Move the admin UI code to a separate file, only loaded when needed
• Add cron retry feature, to replace the old connectivity check
• Display Akismet status badge beside each comment
• Record history for each comment, and display it on the edit page
• Record the complete comment as originally submitted in comment_meta, to use when reporting spam and ham
• Highlight links in comment content
• New option, “Show the number of comments you’ve approved beside each comment author.”
• New option, “Use a nonce on the comment form.”

2.4.0

Release Date – 23rd August, 2010

• Spell out that the license is GPLv2
• Fix PHP warnings
• Fix WordPress deprecated function calls
• Fire the delete_comment action when deleting comments
• Move code specific for older WP versions to legacy.php
• General code clean up

2.3.0

Release Date – 5th June, 2010

• Fix “Are you sure” nonce message on config screen in WPMU
• Fix XHTML compliance issue in sidebar widget
• Change author link; remove some old references to WordPress.com accounts
• Localize the widget title (core ticket #13879)

2.2.9

Release Date – 2nd June, 2010

• Eliminate a potential conflict with some plugins that may cause spurious reports

2.2.8

Release Date – 27th May, 2010

• Fix bug in initial comment check for ipv6 addresses
• Report comments as ham when they are moved from spam to moderation
• Report comments as ham when clicking undo after spam
• Use transition_comment_status action when available instead of older actions for spam/ham submissions
• Better diagnostic messages when PHP network functions are unavailable
• Better handling of comments by logged-in users

2.2.7

Release Date – 17th December, 2009

• Add a new AKISMET_VERSION constant
• Reduce the possibility of over-counting spam when another spam filter plugin is in use
• Disable the connectivity check when the API key is hard-coded for WPMU

2.2.6

Release Date – 20th July, 2009

• Fix a global warning introduced in 2.2.5
• Add changelog and additional readme.txt tags
• Fix an array conversion warning in some versions of PHP
• Support a new WPCOM_API_KEY constant for easier use with WordPress MU

2.2.5

Release Date – 13th July, 2009

• Include a new Server Connectivity diagnostic check, to detect problems caused by firewalls

2.2.4

Release Date – 3rd June, 2009

• Fixed a key problem affecting the stats feature in WordPress MU
• Provide additional blog information in Akismet API calls