"Official" integration with Akismet

[Senky]

Come to think about it: Wordpress does it the exact same way. It comes shipped with the Askimet plugin, but that's deactivated by default. You must register for an API key, activate the plugin and put the API key in for configuration.
I guess phpBB can handle this the same way...

No, because Akismet provides free key for blogs, but it does not include boards. So if admin of phpBB board wants to use it, he needs to pay for it. And it is a big difference.

[Ger]

I know, but that's the choice of the admin. If he wants the service, he needs to pay for it. I don't think there's anything phpBB can do about that.
If the admin doesn't want to pay, that's his choice and he has to look for alternatives.

[Senky]

phpBB is open-source, free software. This means, it would be rather advertisement to include Akismet to the core, if user is required to pay for this service. Everything included in free software by default should be available for free, too, or considered as advertisement (and phpBB should get payed for it, of course).

[DavidIQ]

If Akismet is going to gain monetarily from our inclusion of an "official" plugin for them then it's not likely we will include such a plugin with the core. Anybody else that wants to create it and distribute it on their own is more than welcome to do so of course. Naturally, we will definitely make it possible to easily do this.

[callumacrae]

If Akismet is going to gain monetarily from our inclusion of an "official" plugin for them then it's not likely we will include such a plugin with the core. Anybody else that wants to create it and distribute it on their own is more than welcome to do so of course. Naturally, we will definitely make it possible to easily do this.

In my opinion, the fact that they will gain from inclusion in the core isn't a valid reason to not include them. It's by far the best anti-spam solution available, and including it in the core might help with the spam situation.

[/a3]

phpBB is open-source, free software. This means, it would be rather advertisement to include Akismet to the core, if user is required to pay for this service. Everything included in free software by default should be available for free, too

Perhaps a different definition of free software?

Also, what about forum permissions? I think it should be decided whether posts made to a private* forum are sent to Akismet or not. Most forums are publicly viewable, so I can't imagine it would be a significant problem either way. But some boards might have some expectation of privacy for private, and might not want those being sent to Akismet.

* Private = not viewable by anonymous users

[EXreaction]

A forum permission sounds like the best option to me. It can be applied to the newly registered users group to take care of a limit based on post count and it could be disabled for specific forums.

[/a3]

A forum permission sounds like the best option to me. It can be applied to the newly registered users group to take care of a limit based on post count and it could be disabled for specific forums.

That sounds better to me. That could also reduce unnecessary calls to Akismet, depending on how the permissions are set.

[Oleg]

Reading akismet's site I don't get the impression that they mean to charge non-personal sites which are not blogs. Perhaps someone could email them and get a clarification.

[RMcGirr83]

I have contacted them concerning the issues brought up in this topic.