installing API key

You need to register at wp.com to get the API key. You don’t need to create a blog there.

They do it this way so that the can plugin can contact the Akismet server when it is checking comments against the spam database.

It’s just a registration, get the key then run off again. If you don’t want to go to wp.com again after this you don’t have to.

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Cornell,

Thanks for this. I finally understood because I talked to someone else since my first posting here, who told me what to do, BUT, I went to WordPress.com and logged in, and apparently received an email, then ended up creating a second login and getting a blog with that one. I received two keys in the emails that I got. I tried plugging both of them into the blog — which as I said in my post above, is actually NOT being hosted at WordPress.com, but through the website’s own hosting company — and neither of the keys worked.

So now I am wondering what this means, and if I can or cannot use the key with that blog. On the API page, it marked both keys as Invalid, when I logged back into the blog site where I tried to insert it. The only explanation I can think is that it is because our blog is not being hosted on WOrdPress. Is this right?

“The only explanation I can think is that it is because our blog is not being hosted on WOrdPress. Is this right?“

I have several blogs not hosted on WordPress all using an API key from wp.com. So no.

If the API keys are not working for you, I recommend:

https://wordpress.com/contact-support/

Absolutely, as Kafka said, hit the URL that he gives and report it. we get these fairly regularly on the wp.com forum and we always suggest feedback. They usually get sorted by Mark (or the gang) fairly quickly. ??

Hi again Kafka and Cornell,

Sorry I have not been able to get back to this for a few days, so hope I haven’t been forgotten on this topic. I am not able to send the support message to ask for help on the WordPress.com site, because my blog site is not being hosted on WordPress.com. They have a message right on the page for the URL you gave me above, that they do not provide support if your blog is not being hosted by WordPress.com. They ask you to enter the URL for your blog, and I did, which is the reason why I cannot submit the message to them. They suggest finding support elsewhere, which is why I am back here again, on www.ads-software.com.

I did buy the WordPress 2 Book by Visual Quickstart, and have read the Chapter on activating Akismet, and it says just what you said above, that you can register for a blog on WordPress.com, and obtain a key, then use it on your blog that is being hosted on another server, so you were right of course, but for whatever reason, each time I have tried to enter either of these two keys that I now have, they are marked invalid in a big red message. Would you recommend trying to obtain a third blog through WordPress.com, getting another key, then trying again?

ja2006, I have dropped this into the wordpress.com support forum, with the hope someone over there (with the power to actually deal with this) can do something for you:

https://wordpress.com/forums/topic.php?id=7092

I would suggest that you ignore the “We only provide support for WordPress.com blogs here” and contact the support anyway. It is the only way that you’re gonna get this resolved. Hopefully one of TPTB at the .com will see Kafka’s thread and do something about the wording or provide a decent method for Akismet users to contact them.

Thanks to both of you for asking over at WordPress.com how to deal with this – I read your posting there, Kafka. The problem is that I am unable to even submit the request through their form, after I enter the URL of my blog, which isn’t hosted as a WordPress.com blog. So I can’t even use the form just to ask the question, without a WordPress.com URL.

Okay, I may have solved the problem. I went back to WordPress.com, and logged in, then tried to register a new blog. I also went into my profile and found a key there associated with the first blog I registered there. I decided to create another blog, and am waiting for a new key, now. I think the problem was that I (stupidly) entered the URL address of the non-WordPress blog, the https://www.kennedy-warren.org/wordpress, which isn’t hosted at WordPress.com, so that is most likely the reason I could not submit a request through their form. I just submitted a request to them to get a second key, or to find out when/if it will appear in my profile over there. It was that I guess I thought I had to enter the URL of the blog I needed the key for, and not the one I had registered at WordPress.com. SORRY for all of the confusion! I hope this will resolve the issue. I guess the only remaining question is do I just use the key that is already in my WordPress.com Profile, now, or do I get a second one with the second blog?

Thanks again – and I’m sorry if I created confusion for everyone about this. Being new, I am just getting used to these interfaces, and it is a bit confusing.

ja2006, don’t worry about any “confusion” here. The purpose was to get you going, and I’m glad you found a solution.

Hi –
Just to let you know – they finally emailed me to let me know I could use the key that I had for the WordPress.com blog, and reuse that same key for more than one blog, as well. So I was able to input the key number, and everything has been solved! I meant to write back to let you know, but I assume you probably figured out that it did get resolved! Thanks again for all of your help.