Since I installed it 143 days ago, Akismet has killed 23,683 spam comments on this blog. That’s an absurd 165 pieces of spam per day. And the number is definitely increasing daily at what I consider an astronomical rate. I have no doubt that in the time it takes me to write this post I will have earned another dozen. What’s amazing is that I’ve only encountered 3 “false positives” in all that time. (A “false positive” is a valid comment that Akismet incorrectly identifies as spam.) I am quickly approaching the point where I no longer even bother to review any of what Akismet catches. Be warned: If you’re daring enough to mention a drug for erectile dysfunction, any possible gambling topic, or any type of less-than-conservative sexual practices in a comment to my blog, you can safely assume that I won’t see it because Akismet is going to just kill it for me.
Update: As of 03/27/2008 the number is over 370,000.
Update: As of 02/01/2017 the number is over 1,500,000.
I have averaged 465 pieces of spam each day since I posted this. It’s really getting ridiculous.