My guess? Akismet is metered, and he submits only the first few posts to lower costs. Once you have some reputation, you can post anything.
So spammers noticed being blocked on account 1, created account 2 with legitimate content, and then started spamming.
New process is detecting spammers on first post but instead of immediately sending them away (or throwing their content into the void), go to some length to pretend the website irreparably broken in subtle ways.
The point is to waste their time before they realise they've been flagged, and have them give up.
> Enter Akismet. This is a spam detection tool by the Wordpress people and is pretty accurate and easy to use.
> Blocking spam on signup worked somewhat, but was easily circumventable by spammers who are well versed in dealing with these kinds of barriers.
But now that I look at Akismet's description, it sounds like Akismet does a lot more than block on signup. Perhaps they use it after signups but apply the frustration loop instead of blocks because it's less accurate there.
In the gif, the user already has a login and is attempting to make a post. I imagine either the user gets flagged as a spammer or each individual post might.
So spammers noticed being blocked on account 1, created account 2 with legitimate content, and then started spamming.
New process is detecting spammers on first post but instead of immediately sending them away (or throwing their content into the void), go to some length to pretend the website irreparably broken in subtle ways.
The point is to waste their time before they realise they've been flagged, and have them give up.