TypePad AntiSpam
Development and Programming
This is just a quick post to see if anyone is considering porting TypePad AntiSpam as a module for EE.
I think something very similar in nature to the Akismet module would be fantastic. Having a free, unlimited service that works the same as Akismet would be huge.
I just noticed this on the TypePad AntiSpam site:
Automattic’s popular Akismet platform implemented a dead-simple API for applications to make use of its service, and TypePad AntiSpam is 100% compatible with the Akismet API. This means that if you’ve already developed a plugin for Akismet, your plugin will be compatible with TypePad AntiSpam. And if you’re looking to develop a new plugin, if you develop to the Akismet API your plugin will work with both Akismet and TypePad AntiSpam.
Looks like I may be able to alter the Akismet module to work with this service. I won’t have time until the first of the week, so if someone else has time, please jump on it.
According to a comment over at techcrunch, modifying an Akismet plugin might be easy:
Hey just a quick note in terms of installation: super easy. All I had to do was change three lines in akismet.php and, because the APIs are the same, it worked. There’s also a custom wordpress plugin for those who feel uncomfortable modifying the source.
However, its a quite new beta, so I’d wait some time and see its progress and stabilization before spending too much time in developing an EE add-on.
It’s beta only because this is the first time it’s been opened up to more than just TypePad users. The folks at TypePad have been using it since early 2007. It’s beta the same way that Gmail was beta despite widespread use.
That said I’ll probably end up modifying the Akismet EE plugin to get it to work and try it out. I’m not sure if my site gets enough comment spam to hit the performance limitations the free version of Akismet has, but I’m sure it’s come close a few times.
Les,
I know the development isn’t new, but Anil commented for example at Techcrunch:
[…] This is just a beta, so I’m sure there’s going to be some learning for the system to do as more people join the millions of users already plugged into TypePad AntiSpam, but here’s hoping it makes things even tougher for spammers. […]
and I have read somewhere else that depending on the results of the opening of the API, adjustments on the API might be possible. I didn’t have the impression that they wanted to service to be in beta forever, as Google does with GMail (which still is beta) - but thanks for clarification.
Markus