You may have noticed that I recently removed the word verification from my blog. I, as many of you have, have not been leaving as many comments on blogs since Blogger decided to use CAPTCHA in place of the more user friendly "old" word verification. At first I left my setting so that anyone could comment, with moderation....that means I get an email for every comment, and can publish or not as I see fit. It didn't take five minutes for the spam to begin flooding my email account, so I changed it to not allow comments from "Anonymous". Unfortunately, this also blocks anyone who doesn't have a Google account from commenting. Laura, from The Modern Victory Garden Blog emailed me to let me know she was unable to leave comments now, so I enabled "Anonymous" posting again. Within minutes I was sent a link to see Hillary Duff in the buff (I can't even use the "n**e" word here, or spammers will catch it and inundate me with links). I'm not interested in seeing Hillary, or anyone else, in the buff. Really. So now I'm between a rock and a hard place when it comes to comments. I lose readers if I continue to use CAPTCHA, and I lose readers if I turn it off. Can you tell I'm losing my patience?
February 24, 2012 - Between a Rock and a Hard Place
You may have noticed that I recently removed the word verification from my blog. I, as many of you have, have not been leaving as many comments on blogs since Blogger decided to use CAPTCHA in place of the more user friendly "old" word verification. At first I left my setting so that anyone could comment, with moderation....that means I get an email for every comment, and can publish or not as I see fit. It didn't take five minutes for the spam to begin flooding my email account, so I changed it to not allow comments from "Anonymous". Unfortunately, this also blocks anyone who doesn't have a Google account from commenting. Laura, from The Modern Victory Garden Blog emailed me to let me know she was unable to leave comments now, so I enabled "Anonymous" posting again. Within minutes I was sent a link to see Hillary Duff in the buff (I can't even use the "n**e" word here, or spammers will catch it and inundate me with links). I'm not interested in seeing Hillary, or anyone else, in the buff. Really. So now I'm between a rock and a hard place when it comes to comments. I lose readers if I continue to use CAPTCHA, and I lose readers if I turn it off. Can you tell I'm losing my patience?
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I feel your pain. I turned mine off to since it was such a pain in the butt to use it on other peoples sites. I have only gotten 4 spam messages so far. If it starts to go up to 10+ then I think i will put it back on
ReplyDeleteIt would be nicer if the captcha was actually readable with logical words. Not random gibberish that you have to guess at. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is why I don't blog. It has nothing to do with the fact that I have nothing interesting to say. It has nothing to do the fact that I would have no readers and therefore would be a waste of my time. It also has nothing to do with the fact that I wouldn't have a clue how to start one. Nope. None of those are my reasons for not blogging. I just can't have one more thing in my life to cause me to lose my patience. I have three kids that think it's their life's mission to make me lose my patience, so blogging's out.
ReplyDeleteSorry yours is being tried.
I agree that Blogger has really done a bad thing here. I took off the word ver., but ya have to be a registered user. I also left comment moderation in place. It's a sticky situation, but I would tend more towards getting rid of the word verification---it truly is difficult to decipher it sometimes---by my third attempt at posting a comment, I give up. It's a shame...........
ReplyDeleteYou'll be glad to know that they changed the word verification since I last commented to you about this. Now both words are the easier style to read and you still only have to type the first word.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was just me that couldn't read the script! It really is tedious and I agree with everything that has been written by both yourself and your readers.
ReplyDeleteJohnson
Thanks for doing away with the word verification, but I'm sorry it is making your life such a pain. I did the same recently, but so far haven't had any spam. I'm not sure why. That Captcha is just so hard to figure out.
ReplyDeleteI'm leaving word verification in. I just can't screen through all the spam. I even get spam sometimes with it on. I hate word verification, but it seems the only way to make it work sadly. I wish they kept the old verification. It was pretty easy to see what they were asking me to type.
ReplyDeleteWow. I thought it was only me having trouble reading those phrases. And when you get the sound what are they saying?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you are frustrated, don't give up since you are a very popular blogger! We all love to read your posts......I hate when they change things since I have to figure out the process all over again....hang in there-spring will be here soon:-) robbie
ReplyDeleteWordpress has its issues too. I use the CAPCHA, but many of my 'regular' commenters wind up in the spam queue. At least the spammers are not getting thru (so far).
ReplyDeleteI took off the verification too.
ReplyDeleteThere is a choice between Registered User - includes OpenID &
User with Google Accounts. People with other logins should be able to use the OpenID one. Then, You're only keeping off the anonymous ones. I can probably count the number of anonymous comments I've gotten on one hand in almost two years, so I just kept them off. But, I still use comment moderation.
There are always a few (spammers) who have to ruin the fun for everyone else.
I just started getting some spam and decided to turn on word verification. Then Blogger changed to this awful and difficult to read two word capcha. I turned it off and now sort through and delete the spam each morning.
ReplyDeleteI got rid of word verification after finding out that not everyone could leave a comment. I guess I'm lucky as there has been no spam for me...yet.
ReplyDeleteoh dear. several of my readers have used 'open i.d.' in the past, but it appears Google is tightening the rules on it, too and some have not been able to comment that way so i'm guessing had to set up a Google account.
ReplyDeleteGranny, ditto here. Turned it off last week after I noticed a drop off in comments and realized as I was leaving comments elsewhere how difficult it was. I figured it could be related. Then I read more about it over at The Run A Round Ranch blog and decided to turn it off. For some odd reason, I don't get spam very often. Maybe 2 or 3 per week. I'm not sure what causes one blog to get so many and not another. Maybe the more comments you have in general? I'd gladly take some more spam to get some more comments. It's what helps build a relationship with all of you and have some blog love!
ReplyDeleteHope it works out...perhaps blogger will change their mind with enough people complaining...
I have had mine turned off almost since I started my blog and have never had any spam.
ReplyDeleteThe words have changed? They are still really difficult to read to me.
I've been going back and forth too on this. I know I can't do the anonymous thing because I occasionally have relatives that comment that way mostly because I'm the only blog they look at just to see the family, so I know they won't get a google acct. Ack, here's to hoping Blogger just goes back to the old way!!
ReplyDeleteNow I see the advantage in getting very few comments, ever :-) Of course, that could be related to not having many readers. Maybe.
ReplyDeletedidn't know what the deal was with trying to post to u so glad it wasn't me. i hate those captcha words and always fail. then if i do get thru the deciphering of the "word" then I end up having sent the email ten times b/c it doesn't confirm that u got it right the first nine times.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up though. Google accts is a pretty wide open range of option for peeps to comment but u do lose people who have no google account. I have one and yet use email for my regular mail. I guess it's just a "less hassle" choice. If u want to maintain your invaluable blog, you have to choose the most widely used readership option with high usability for best options for reader.
I do appreciate your considering the reader as well as avoiding hillary duff in the buff. LOL!
LOVE your blog, so don't let the cruddy options get ya down! signing as Amy T however it gets recorded! lol
It is a hassle. I like the word press way that once you approve one that person is "trusted" and they need not verify again.
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything to say, just wanted to see what the big deal is.
ReplyDeleteI turned it off on some of my blogs because it was difficult for some people to post comments... but then... just like you, I started to get the spam comments.
ReplyDeleteSo now, I'm back to word verification. : (
This really is a pain in the patooty. I do not have Open ID accounts (at least that it will recognize and the google account I had is no longer "recognized" because I do not have a web page registered. So I uase the Name/URL option for most Blogger page comment posts. To those of you out there reading this wondering why I never comment on your page - it is likely for that very reason. In the meantime, as much as a pain as it is to read the captcha phrases - it is not impossible so I will be happy to do it so that I may comment on your blog and your blog is not inundated with spam.
ReplyDeleteI find the CAPTCHA thingy sooooo annoying. It's everywhere days. I've always wondered what kind of person would spend the time and energy to program a computer to write annoying spam comments. I would lump them in with lawyers at the bottom of the ocean.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have turned it off. I've even gone one step further in protest: I'm using Yahoo and Bing for my web searches now, not Google.
ReplyDelete