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---
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stage: Ecosystem
group: Integrations
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# Akismet **(FREE)**
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GitLab uses [Akismet ](https://akismet.com/ ) to prevent the creation of
spam issues on public projects. Issues created through the web UI or the API can be submitted to
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Akismet for review, and instance administrators can
[mark snippets as spam ](../user/snippets.md#mark-snippet-as-spam ).
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Detected spam is rejected, and an entry is added in the **Spam Log** section of the
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Admin Area.
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Privacy note: GitLab submits the user's IP and user agent to Akismet.
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NOTE:
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GitLab submits all issues to Akismet.
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Akismet configuration is available to users on self-managed GitLab. Akismet is already enabled on
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GitLab SaaS (GitLab.com), where its configuration and management are handled by GitLab Inc.
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## Configure Akismet **(FREE SELF)**
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To use Akismet:
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1. Go to the [Akismet sign-in page ](https://akismet.com/account/ ).
1. Sign in or create a new account.
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1. Select **Show** to reveal the API key, and copy the API key's value.
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1. Sign in to GitLab as an administrator.
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1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Admin** .
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1. On the left sidebar, select **Settings > Reporting** (`/admin/application_settings/reporting`).
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1. Select the **Enable Akismet** checkbox.
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1. Fill in the API key from step 3.
1. Save the configuration.
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![Screenshot of Akismet settings ](img/akismet_settings.png )
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## Train the Akismet filter **(FREE SELF)**
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To better differentiate between spam and ham, you can train the Akismet
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filter whenever there is a false positive or false negative.
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When an entry is recognized as spam, it is rejected and added to the Spam Logs.
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From here you can review if entries are really spam. If one of them is not really
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spam, you can use the **Submit as ham** button to tell Akismet that it falsely
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recognized an entry as spam.
![Screenshot of Spam Logs ](img/spam_log.png )
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If an entry that is actually spam was not recognized as such, you can also submit
this information to Akismet. The **Submit as spam** button is only displayed
to administrator users.
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![Screenshot of Issue ](img/submit_issue.png )
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Training Akismet helps it to recognize spam more accurately in the future.