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Revert "Fix: Register Akismet Anti-Spam as a connector."#11428

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Revert "Fix: Register Akismet Anti-Spam as a connector."#11428
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peterwilsoncc:fix/65012-revert-akismet-connector

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This reverts commit c5627a1.

Reverts Akismet connector registration from WordPress Core in favor of requiring the plugin register the connector.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65012#comment:12

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This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

@peterwilsoncc peterwilsoncc self-assigned this Apr 1, 2026
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Props peterwilsoncc, jorbin, jorgefilipecosta, desrosj.

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* `connectors_{$type}_{$id}_api_key`, with hyphens in the type and ID normalized
* to underscores (e.g., connector type `spam_filtering` with ID `akismet` produces
* `connectors_spam_filtering_akismet_api_key`). This setting name is used for the
* to underscores (e.g., connector type `ai_provider` with ID `my_plugin` produces
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nit: I like that the example is for something that isn't ai_provider as the type since it shows that the API is for more than just AI.

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Good point, back to spam filtering in 12921e9

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For now, Akismet cannot register its own connector that appear on the connectors screen before the plugin is activated. PR #11399 includes the required metadata so the connector appears before activation, just like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. For OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, they even appear before installation, which is not the case for Akismet. Showing Akismet before activation was discussed with the release lead @mtias.

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desrosj commented Apr 2, 2026

Showing Akismet before activation was discussed with the release lead @mtias.

@jorgefilipecosta Can you share a link to where this discussion took place for others to read through so that the goals of this can be better understood? I apologize if I'm missing it, but it's difficult to support a change within an open project when there is no public record of the rationale or how it was tested within the community.

For now, Akismet cannot register its own connector that appear on the connectors screen before the plugin is activated. PR #11399 includes the required metadata so the connector appears before activation, just like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. For OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, they even appear before installation, which is not the case for Akismet.

I'm not clear on why it's desirable for Akismet to be visible as an available connection before being activated. How does this scale? Is the expectation that any installed plugin can add their connection details to this page when they are deactivated? I'm not sure how that scales and I think that will certainly be abused.

It's true that the OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google connectors appear before being installed and/or activated, but these are accompanied by a specific call to action educating the user about the AI plugin and the supported models. Yes, the page is meant to house all API keys, but in my opinion, there should be two types of connections: AI connector plugins and everything else.

Screenshot 2026-04-01 at 7 58 58 PM

As the page sits before r62193, the bottom of the list has a link to "search the plugin directory to see if a connector is available" which searches the connector tag on the directory. Akismet does not show up there because it's not (and should not be) tagged as a connector, which makes it feel even more out of place for me.

@gziolo gziolo requested a review from mtias April 2, 2026 07:35
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Hi @aaronjorbin, @desrosj, @peterwilsoncc, thank you for all the points raised and preparing a revert. I left some comments on the Trac ticket https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65012 answering some of the points being discussed here. I think it would be best to continue the conversation there so it's not split across two places.

@peterwilsoncc peterwilsoncc force-pushed the fix/65012-revert-akismet-connector branch from 12921e9 to 4b2aab8 Compare April 2, 2026 20:58
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4 participants