Akismet Setup

[roygore]

Great to have Akismet inlcuded in v20. I have clients who are fed up with receiving spam contact forms.

I obtained a key from Askimet and added it to my contact form. Not sure what the "Fields" are for so left them blank (Also tested filling in the Fields as well). When I attempt to submit the form I get the message:
"This page isn't woprking right now. www.tringu3a.org.uk can't currently handle this request. HTTP Error 500".

Here is a link to my form for information: https://www.tringu3a.org.uk/contact-us.php

As you will see, I am also using the Honey Pot facility and CAPTCHA - however, removing them seems to make no difference.

I've also tried other browsers as well as clearing the browsers cache and cookies, but no change.

Akismet Help Service gave me the following suggestions:
"After looking, I see that the issue you reported with your form crashing might not be with Akismet itself. I was able to submit your contact form here without any issues: https://www.tringu3a.org.uk/contact-us.php.

There may be a browser environment or configuration issue in your builder. Have you tried submitting the form in a different browser or clearing the browser cache and cookies? Sometimes, issues like this can be resolved by simply refreshing the page or switching to a different browser. You can use our guide here to check for local issues like that: https://wordpress.com/support/browser-issues/.

If you're still experiencing issues after trying the troubleshooting steps, you may want to contact the form builders/authors for further guidance on integrating Akismet with their platform."

It's interesting that Akismet Help submitteed my form without any problems!!

Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to what is causing this ERROR 500?

Also what are the "Fields" for and should they be filled in?

Sorry to be so long winded.
Roy

[Pablo]

Akismet Fields cannot be empty. In this section, you will need to specify which of your form's input fields should be used for spam filtering with Akismet.

Name
The name of the person who submitted the form.

Email
The email address provided by the user.

Message
The text / message input field of the form.

If your form uses different field names for name, email, or message, you must update them accordingly.

Related tutorial:
https://www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com/forms_antispam.html

[roygore]

Pablo

Thanks for yor reply

Link to my test page: https://www.rlgconsulting.co.uk/contact.php

I made sure that my Contact Form fields are set to Name, Email and Messages. And I have set the Akismet Fileds as follows:
Name: Name
Email: Email
Messages: Message

When I then published and tested I got the same HTTP 500 error message as before.

So I checked everything and discovered that the Akismet Fields were 'blank'. So I re-enterd everything again and published and tested but got the same error message again.

I've set the Akismet Fields several times and every time when I check the Akismet Fields are 'blank'

I'm confused - what do I enter into the Aksimet Fields please?

Also, according to the Akismet website the API Key can be used many times for different contact forms. However would it be a good idea to obtain a new API Key for each form or at least for different websites?

I appreciate all your help
Roy

[Pablo]

I suggest to start with using one CAPTCHA at a time. Try not do to do much at the same. Keep it simple until you have the basis working

Also, note that names are case sensitive.

If you need further assistance then please share a DEMO project.

[roygore]

Sorry for the delay in getting back.

I've read everything I can find about using Akismewt and have made sure that I am filling in the details corectly. I've also checked with the Akismet website and their Support Team.

However the problem remains - i.e the 'Akismet Fields' panel does NOT retain the Name, Email, and Message inputs, so the form does not work when published. Then when I go back in to check the Akismet Fields, they are blank!

So I need help please.

Sorry to also be thick but I can't find any link to submit a project - how do I submit a project?

Thanks
Roy

[BaconFries]

Sorry to also be thick but I can't find any link to submit a project - how do I submit a project?

Uploading to the the forum is disabled so you can use one of the following methods. Please read the url provided by Pablo about sharing ie remove all extensions, keep it basic only the page with the form.

1: Upload to your own site providing a url to download from.
2: Upload to the likes of "Google Drive" or "Dropbox" if you have either and again provide a url to download from
3: Or Upload to one of the many file sharing hosts/servers such as "Mediafire" and as before provide a url.

[Pablo]

For further details about how to share a project file, please see this FAQ:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=82134

[roygore]

I have made a demo project and uploaded it to a transfer software called WeTransfer.

The demo is called RLG-v4 and the link to retrieve the Demo is: https://we.tl/t-3V53riwiHL

The problem is that the 'Akismet Fields' panel does not retain the 'name', 'email' and 'message' inputs. When I enter the text then exit out of the Forms and publish and test, it does not work. Then when I go back in to check the 'Akismet Fields' are blank.

Thanks for all your help.
Roy

[Pablo]

Thanks for the demo.

The 'blank' field problem has been solved in the latest update (3/3/2025).
Also, I have added some extra error checking to the Akismet script.

I've tested your project on my own website and it works for me. So, all settings seem to be correct.

To find out the exact error, please add ##error## to the error page, as describe here:
viewtopic.php?p=163247

[roygore]

Thanks for the update.

One final question please:

Would you recommend using a seperate Akismet Key for different websites?

Thanks again for all your help.
Roy

[Pablo]

I do not have any experience with this myself.
But from Web Builder's point of view it does not really matter.

[roygore]

Thanks for everything
Roy