readme.txt 20 KB

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  1. === Akismet Anti-Spam ===
  2. Contributors: matt, ryan, andy, mdawaffe, tellyworth, josephscott, lessbloat, eoigal, cfinke, automattic, jgs, procifer, stephdau
  3. Tags: akismet, comments, spam, antispam, anti-spam, anti spam, comment moderation, comment spam, contact form spam, spam comments
  4. Requires at least: 4.0
  5. Tested up to: 5.3
  6. Stable tag: 4.1.3
  7. License: GPLv2 or later
  8. Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against our global database of spam to protect you and your site from malicious content.
  9. == Description ==
  10. Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against our global database of spam to prevent your site from publishing malicious content. You can review the comment spam it catches on your blog's "Comments" admin screen.
  11. Major features in Akismet include:
  12. * Automatically checks all comments and filters out the ones that look like spam.
  13. * Each comment has a status history, so you can easily see which comments were caught or cleared by Akismet and which were spammed or unspammed by a moderator.
  14. * URLs are shown in the comment body to reveal hidden or misleading links.
  15. * Moderators can see the number of approved comments for each user.
  16. * A discard feature that outright blocks the worst spam, saving you disk space and speeding up your site.
  17. PS: You'll be prompted to get an Akismet.com API key to use it, once activated. Keys are free for personal blogs; paid subscriptions are available for businesses and commercial sites.
  18. == Installation ==
  19. Upload the Akismet plugin to your blog, activate it, and then enter your Akismet.com API key.
  20. 1, 2, 3: You're done!
  21. == Changelog ==
  22. = 4.1.3 =
  23. *Release Date - 31 October 2019*
  24. * Prevented an attacker from being able to cause a user to unknowingly recheck their Pending comments for spam.
  25. * Improved compatibility with Jetpack 7.7+.
  26. * Updated the plugin activation page to use consistent language and markup.
  27. * Redirecting users to the Akismet connnection/settings screen upon plugin activation, in an effort to make it easier for people to get setup.
  28. = 4.1.2 =
  29. *Release Date - 14 May 2019*
  30. * Fixed a conflict between the Akismet setup banner and other plugin notices.
  31. * Reduced the number of API requests made by the plugin when attempting to verify the API key.
  32. * Include additional data in the pingback pre-check API request to help make the stats more accurate.
  33. * Fixed a bug that was enabling the "Check for Spam" button when no comments were eligible to be checked.
  34. * Improved Akismet's AMP compatibility.
  35. = 4.1.1 =
  36. *Release Date - 31 January 2019*
  37. * Fixed the "Setup Akismet" notice so it resizes responsively.
  38. * Only highlight the "Save Changes" button in the Akismet config when changes have been made.
  39. * The count of comments in your spam queue shown on the dashboard show now always be up-to-date.
  40. = 4.1 =
  41. *Release Date - 12 November 2018*
  42. * Added a WP-CLI method for retrieving stats.
  43. * Hooked into the new "Personal Data Eraser" functionality from WordPress 4.9.6.
  44. * Added functionality to clear outdated alerts from Akismet.com.
  45. = 4.0.8 =
  46. *Release Date - 19 June 2018*
  47. * Improved the grammar and consistency of the in-admin privacy related notes (notice and config).
  48. * Revised in-admin explanation of the comment form privacy notice to make its usage clearer.
  49. * Added `rel="nofollow noopener"` to the comment form privacy notice to improve SEO and security.
  50. = 4.0.7 =
  51. *Release Date - 28 May 2018*
  52. * 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.
  53. * 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."
  54. * Only show in-admin privacy notice if Akismet has an API Key configured
  55. = 4.0.6 =
  56. *Release Date - 26 May 2018*
  57. * Moved away from using `empty( get_option() )` to instantiating a variable to be compatible with older versions of PHP (5.3, 5.4, etc).
  58. = 4.0.5 =
  59. *Release Date - 26 May 2018*
  60. * Corrected version number after tagging. Sorry...
  61. = 4.0.4 =
  62. *Release Date - 26 May 2018*
  63. * Added a hook to provide Akismet-specific privacy information for a site's privacy policy.
  64. * Added tools to control the display of a privacy related notice under comment forms.
  65. * Fixed HTML in activation failure message to close META and HEAD tag properly.
  66. * Fixed a bug that would sometimes prevent Akismet from being correctly auto-configured.
  67. = 4.0.3 =
  68. *Release Date - 19 February 2018*
  69. * Added a scheduled task to remove entries in wp_commentmeta that no longer have corresponding comments in wp_comments.
  70. * 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.
  71. = 4.0.2 =
  72. *Release Date - 18 December 2017*
  73. * Fixed a bug that could cause Akismet to recheck a comment that has already been manually approved or marked as spam.
  74. * 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.
  75. = 4.0.1 =
  76. *Release Date - 6 November 2017*
  77. * Fixed a bug that could prevent some users from connecting Akismet via their Jetpack connection.
  78. * Ensured that any pending Akismet-related events are unscheduled if the plugin is deactivated.
  79. * Allow some JavaScript to be run asynchronously to avoid affecting page render speeds.
  80. = 4.0 =
  81. *Release Date - 19 September 2017*
  82. * Added REST API endpoints for configuring Akismet and retrieving stats.
  83. * Increased the minimum supported WordPress version to 4.0.
  84. * Added compatibility with comments submitted via the REST API.
  85. * Improved the progress indicator on the "Check for Spam" button.
  86. = 3.3.4 =
  87. *Release Date - 3 August 2017*
  88. * Disabled Akismet's debug log output by default unless AKISMET_DEBUG is defined.
  89. * URL previews now begin preloading when the mouse moves near them in the comments section of wp-admin.
  90. * 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.
  91. * Fixed a bug that was preventing an error from being shown when a site can't reach Akismet's servers.
  92. = 3.3.3 =
  93. *Release Date - 13 July 2017*
  94. * Reduced amount of bandwidth used by the URL Preview feature.
  95. * Improved the admin UI when the API key is manually pre-defined for the site.
  96. * Removed a workaround for WordPress installations older than 3.3 that will improve Akismet's compatibility with other plugins.
  97. * The number of spam blocked that is displayed on the WordPress dashboard will now be more accurate and updated more frequently.
  98. * Fixed a bug in the Akismet widget that could cause PHP warnings.
  99. = 3.3.2 =
  100. *Release Date - 10 May 2017*
  101. * Fixed a bug causing JavaScript errors in some browsers.
  102. = 3.3.1 =
  103. *Release Date - 2 May 2017*
  104. * Improve performance by only requesting the akismet_comment_nonce option when absolutely necessary.
  105. * Fixed two bugs that could cause PHP warnings.
  106. * Fixed a bug that was preventing the "Remove author URL" feature from working after a comment was edited using "Quick Edit."
  107. * Fixed a bug that was preventing the URL preview feature from working after a comment was edited using "Quick Edit."
  108. = 3.3 =
  109. *Release Date - 23 February 2017*
  110. * Updated the Akismet admin pages with a new clean design.
  111. * Fixed bugs preventing the `akismet_add_comment_nonce` and `akismet_update_alert` wrapper functions from working properly.
  112. * Fixed bug preventing the loading indicator from appearing when re-checking all comments for spam.
  113. * Added a progress indicator to the "Check for Spam" button.
  114. * Added a success message after manually rechecking the Pending queue for spam.
  115. = 3.2 =
  116. *Release Date - 6 September 2016*
  117. * Added a WP-CLI module. You can now check comments and recheck the moderation queue from the command line.
  118. * Stopped using the deprecated jQuery function `.live()`.
  119. * Fixed a bug in `remove_comment_author_url()` and `add_comment_author_url()` that could generate PHP notices.
  120. * Fixed a bug that could cause an infinite loop for sites with very very very large comment IDs.
  121. * Fixed a bug that could cause the Akismet widget title to be blank.
  122. = 3.1.11 =
  123. *Release Date - 12 May 2016*
  124. * Fixed a bug that could cause the "Check for Spam" button to skip some comments.
  125. * Fixed a bug that could prevent some spam submissions from being sent to Akismet.
  126. * Updated all links to use https:// when possible.
  127. * Disabled Akismet debug logging unless WP_DEBUG and WP_DEBUG_LOG are both enabled.
  128. = 3.1.10 =
  129. *Release Date - 1 April 2016*
  130. * Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.
  131. * 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.
  132. * Fixed a bug that could have caused avoidable PHP warnings in the error log.
  133. = 3.1.9 =
  134. *Release Date - 28 March 2016*
  135. * Add compatibility with Jetpack so that Jetpack can automatically configure Akismet settings when appropriate.
  136. * Fixed a bug preventing some comment data from being sent to Akismet.
  137. = 3.1.8 =
  138. *Release Date - 4 March 2016*
  139. * Fixed a bug preventing Akismet from being used with some plugins that rewrite admin URLs.
  140. * Reduced the amount of bandwidth used on Akismet API calls
  141. * Reduced the amount of space Akismet uses in the database
  142. * Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.
  143. = 3.1.7 =
  144. *Release Date - 4 January 2016*
  145. * Added documentation for the 'akismet_comment_nonce' filter.
  146. * The post-install activation button is now accessible to screen readers and keyboard-only users.
  147. * Fixed a bug that was preventing the "Remove author URL" feature from working in WordPress 4.4
  148. = 3.1.6 =
  149. *Release Date - 14 December 2015*
  150. * Improve the notices shown after activating Akismet.
  151. * Update some strings to allow for the proper plural forms in all languages.
  152. = 3.1.5 =
  153. *Release Date - 13 October 2015*
  154. * Closes a potential XSS vulnerability.
  155. = 3.1.4 =
  156. *Release Date - 24 September 2015*
  157. * Fixed a bug that was preventing some users from automatically connecting using Jetpack if they didn't have a current Akismet subscription.
  158. * Fixed a bug that could cause comments caught as spam to be placed in the Pending queue.
  159. * Error messages and instructions have been simplified to be more understandable.
  160. * Link previews are enabled for all links inside comments, not just the author's website link.
  161. = 3.1.3 =
  162. *Release Date - 6 July 2015*
  163. * 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.
  164. = 3.1.2 =
  165. *Release Date - 7 June 2015*
  166. * Reduced the amount of space Akismet uses in the commentmeta table.
  167. * Fixed a bug where some comments with quotes in the author name weren't getting history entries
  168. * Pre-emptive security improvements to ensure that the Akismet plugin can't be used by attackers to compromise a WordPress installation.
  169. * 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.
  170. * When deactivating the plugin, notify the Akismet API so the site can be marked as inactive.
  171. * Clearer error messages.
  172. = 3.1.1 =
  173. *Release Date - 17th March, 2015*
  174. * Improvements to the "Remove comment author URL" JavaScript
  175. * Include the pingback pre-check from the 2.6 branch.
  176. = 3.1 =
  177. *Release Date - 11th March, 2015*
  178. * Use HTTPS by default for all requests to Akismet.
  179. * Fix for a situation where Akismet might strip HTML from a comment.
  180. = 3.0.4 =
  181. *Release Date - 11th December, 2014*
  182. * Fix to make .htaccess compatible with Apache 2.4.
  183. * Fix to allow removal of https author URLs.
  184. * Fix to avoid stripping part of the author URL when removing and re-adding.
  185. * Removed the "Check for Spam" button from the "Trash" and "Approved" queues, where it would have no effect.
  186. * Allow automatic API key configuration when Jetpack is installed and connected to a WordPress.com account
  187. = 3.0.3 =
  188. *Release Date - 3rd November, 2014*
  189. * Fix for sending the wrong data to delete_comment action that could have prevented old spam comments from being deleted.
  190. * Added a filter to disable logging of Akismet debugging information.
  191. * Added a filter for the maximum comment age when deleting old spam comments.
  192. * Added a filter for the number per batch when deleting old spam comments.
  193. * Removed the "Check for Spam" button from the Spam folder.
  194. = 3.0.2 =
  195. *Release Date - 18th August, 2014*
  196. * Performance improvements.
  197. * Fixed a bug that could truncate the comment data being sent to Akismet for checking.
  198. = 3.0.1 =
  199. *Release Date - 9th July, 2014*
  200. * Removed dependency on PHP's fsockopen function
  201. * Fix spam/ham reports to work when reported outside of the WP dashboard, e.g., from Notifications or the WP app
  202. * Remove jQuery dependency for comment form JavaScript
  203. * Remove unnecessary data from some Akismet comment meta
  204. * Suspended keys will now result in all comments being put in moderation, not spam.
  205. = 3.0.0 =
  206. *Release Date - 15th April, 2014*
  207. * Move Akismet to Settings menu
  208. * Drop Akismet Stats menu
  209. * Add stats snapshot to Akismet settings
  210. * Add Akismet subscription details and status to Akismet settings
  211. * Add contextual help for each page
  212. * Improve Akismet setup to use Jetpack to automate plugin setup
  213. * Fix "Check for Spam" to use AJAX to avoid page timing out
  214. * Fix Akismet settings page to be responsive
  215. * Drop legacy code
  216. * Tidy up CSS and Javascript
  217. * Replace the old discard setting with a new "discard pervasive spam" feature.
  218. = 2.6.0 =
  219. *Release Date - 18th March, 2014*
  220. * Add ajax paging to the check for spam button to handle large volumes of comments
  221. * Optimize javascript and add localization support
  222. * Fix bug in link to spam comments from right now dashboard widget
  223. * Fix bug with deleting old comments to avoid timeouts dealing with large volumes of comments
  224. * Include X-Pingback-Forwarded-For header in outbound WordPress pingback verifications
  225. * Add pre-check for pingbacks, to stop spam before an outbound verification request is made
  226. = 2.5.9 =
  227. *Release Date - 1st August, 2013*
  228. * Update 'Already have a key' link to redirect page rather than depend on javascript
  229. * Fix some non-translatable strings to be translatable
  230. * Update Activation banner in plugins page to redirect user to Akismet config page
  231. = 2.5.8 =
  232. *Release Date - 20th January, 2013*
  233. * Simplify the activation process for new users
  234. * Remove the reporter_ip parameter
  235. * Minor preventative security improvements
  236. = 2.5.7 =
  237. *Release Date - 13th December, 2012*
  238. * FireFox Stats iframe preview bug
  239. * Fix mshots preview when using https
  240. * Add .htaccess to block direct access to files
  241. * Prevent some PHP notices
  242. * Fix Check For Spam return location when referrer is empty
  243. * Fix Settings links for network admins
  244. * Fix prepare() warnings in WP 3.5
  245. = 2.5.6 =
  246. *Release Date - 26th April, 2012*
  247. * Prevent retry scheduling problems on sites where wp_cron is misbehaving
  248. * Preload mshot previews
  249. * Modernize the widget code
  250. * Fix a bug where comments were not held for moderation during an error condition
  251. * Improve the UX and display when comments are temporarily held due to an error
  252. * Make the Check For Spam button force a retry when comments are held due to an error
  253. * Handle errors caused by an invalid key
  254. * Don't retry comments that are too old
  255. * Improve error messages when verifying an API key
  256. = 2.5.5 =
  257. *Release Date - 11th January, 2012*
  258. * Add nonce check for comment author URL remove action
  259. * Fix the settings link
  260. = 2.5.4 =
  261. *Release Date - 5th January, 2012*
  262. * Limit Akismet CSS and Javascript loading in wp-admin to just the pages that need it
  263. * Added author URL quick removal functionality
  264. * Added mShot preview on Author URL hover
  265. * Added empty index.php to prevent directory listing
  266. * Move wp-admin menu items under Jetpack, if it is installed
  267. * Purge old Akismet comment meta data, default of 15 days
  268. = 2.5.3 =
  269. *Release Date - 8th Febuary, 2011*
  270. * Specify the license is GPL v2 or later
  271. * Fix a bug that could result in orphaned commentmeta entries
  272. * Include hotfix for WordPress 3.0.5 filter issue
  273. = 2.5.2 =
  274. *Release Date - 14th January, 2011*
  275. * Properly format the comment count for author counts
  276. * Look for super admins on multisite installs when looking up user roles
  277. * Increase the HTTP request timeout
  278. * Removed padding for author approved count
  279. * Fix typo in function name
  280. * Set Akismet stats iframe height to fixed 2500px. Better to have one tall scroll bar than two side by side.
  281. = 2.5.1 =
  282. *Release Date - 17th December, 2010*
  283. * Fix a bug that caused the "Auto delete" option to fail to discard comments correctly
  284. * Remove the comment nonce form field from the 'Akismet Configuration' page in favor of using a filter, akismet_comment_nonce
  285. * Fixed padding bug in "author" column of posts screen
  286. * Added margin-top to "cleared by ..." badges on dashboard
  287. * Fix possible error when calling akismet_cron_recheck()
  288. * Fix more PHP warnings
  289. * Clean up XHTML warnings for comment nonce
  290. * Fix for possible condition where scheduled comment re-checks could get stuck
  291. * Clean up the comment meta details after deleting a comment
  292. * Only show the status badge if the comment status has been changed by someone/something other than Akismet
  293. * Show a 'History' link in the row-actions
  294. * Translation fixes
  295. * Reduced font-size on author name
  296. * Moved "flagged by..." notification to top right corner of comment container and removed heavy styling
  297. * Hid "flagged by..." notification while on dashboard
  298. = 2.5.0 =
  299. *Release Date - 7th December, 2010*
  300. * Track comment actions under 'Akismet Status' on the edit comment screen
  301. * Fix a few remaining deprecated function calls ( props Mike Glendinning )
  302. * Use HTTPS for the stats IFRAME when wp-admin is using HTTPS
  303. * Use the WordPress HTTP class if available
  304. * Move the admin UI code to a separate file, only loaded when needed
  305. * Add cron retry feature, to replace the old connectivity check
  306. * Display Akismet status badge beside each comment
  307. * Record history for each comment, and display it on the edit page
  308. * Record the complete comment as originally submitted in comment_meta, to use when reporting spam and ham
  309. * Highlight links in comment content
  310. * New option, "Show the number of comments you've approved beside each comment author."
  311. * New option, "Use a nonce on the comment form."
  312. = 2.4.0 =
  313. *Release Date - 23rd August, 2010*
  314. * Spell out that the license is GPLv2
  315. * Fix PHP warnings
  316. * Fix WordPress deprecated function calls
  317. * Fire the delete_comment action when deleting comments
  318. * Move code specific for older WP versions to legacy.php
  319. * General code clean up
  320. = 2.3.0 =
  321. *Release Date - 5th June, 2010*
  322. * Fix "Are you sure" nonce message on config screen in WPMU
  323. * Fix XHTML compliance issue in sidebar widget
  324. * Change author link; remove some old references to WordPress.com accounts
  325. * Localize the widget title (core ticket #13879)
  326. = 2.2.9 =
  327. *Release Date - 2nd June, 2010*
  328. * Eliminate a potential conflict with some plugins that may cause spurious reports
  329. = 2.2.8 =
  330. *Release Date - 27th May, 2010*
  331. * Fix bug in initial comment check for ipv6 addresses
  332. * Report comments as ham when they are moved from spam to moderation
  333. * Report comments as ham when clicking undo after spam
  334. * Use transition_comment_status action when available instead of older actions for spam/ham submissions
  335. * Better diagnostic messages when PHP network functions are unavailable
  336. * Better handling of comments by logged-in users
  337. = 2.2.7 =
  338. *Release Date - 17th December, 2009*
  339. * Add a new AKISMET_VERSION constant
  340. * Reduce the possibility of over-counting spam when another spam filter plugin is in use
  341. * Disable the connectivity check when the API key is hard-coded for WPMU
  342. = 2.2.6 =
  343. *Release Date - 20th July, 2009*
  344. * Fix a global warning introduced in 2.2.5
  345. * Add changelog and additional readme.txt tags
  346. * Fix an array conversion warning in some versions of PHP
  347. * Support a new WPCOM_API_KEY constant for easier use with WordPress MU
  348. = 2.2.5 =
  349. *Release Date - 13th July, 2009*
  350. * Include a new Server Connectivity diagnostic check, to detect problems caused by firewalls
  351. = 2.2.4 =
  352. *Release Date - 3rd June, 2009*
  353. * Fixed a key problem affecting the stats feature in WordPress MU
  354. * Provide additional blog information in Akismet API calls