I was receiving over 75 SPAM messages a day, but I was not taking any steps to stop it. Well, I finally got sick of it, so I took these steps. Here is an update of my SUCCESS!
I have only gotten about 50 SPAM comments since I started using Akismet. This is a dramatic decline in the number of SPAM comments. Akismet has also caught all of the SPAM except for one. It has also allowed all non-SPAM through. I do not know if the spammers were just looking for sites without SPAM blockers, but just activating Akismet has made a world of difference.
I would suggest that everyone activate Akismet as soon as possible. The time saved by not having to search through the countless porn and insurance comments is well worth it.