I love visiting blogs and, more often than not, I comment on posts. But, for blogs with comment verification, it is becoming harder and harder for me to do so. It seems that the combination of letters and numbers I have to enter "to prove I'm not a robot" are getting more and more difficult for me to read and enter correctly. Recently, Blogger temporarily shut down my blog when I couldn't figure out a combination after several attempts because it deemed my activity to be "suspect." As a result, if I can't figure out the combination after one attempt, I now give up and don't comment. Which makes me a little sad because I love to give (and get) comments. So, I'm wondering how big a problem spam has been for people. Blogger catches most "spam" comments for me, so they don't show up on my blog. And I only get about one every week or so. So, let's talk about spam comments and comment verification . . . what has been your experience with? What's your policy about it?
Edited to Add: Lorri who uses wordpress has an anit-spam filter which is really easy to read. You can see her blog here. I also wanted to add that I do accept anonymous comments because I have a couple of friends who don't have blogs and comment that way occasionally. I do, however, have comment moderation on for comments which are more than a couple of weeks old. I have found that most spam comments fall into that category.
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Let's talk is a semi-occasional series encouraging frank discussion of a topics which might be controversial.
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42 comments:
I took it off and started having a problem with spam but then stopped any anonymous comments and now am not having any problems. I too am finding some word verification nigh on impossible. Good post.
As soon as Blogger changed the verification to numerals and letters I stopped using it. I have to say, I had a LOT of spam and have had to change things around quite a bit.
Any post over two days old will have comments verified and I also stopped allowing anonymous users - which I know is annoying for a couple of family members, but they can cope.
I still get spammed, but not as often - actually, I find I get deliberate human spammers more now days. I don't understand why people feel they need to advertise their post within a comment on my blog or leave their blog address, it confounds me because I can visit their blog through their profile which is left when they comment. Of course, I am not referring to legitimate links that are relevant to the conversation.
I only comment on one blog that has word verification, if I have troubles I email her my comment. I generally don't leave a comment if there is word verification.
Oh, and while we are at it ... I cannot stand it when only part of a post is visible through google reader - I do NOT click through.
Okay - I'm interested in reading some more responses - great topic!
I don't have verification on my blog and I have never ever got a nasty spam, I did have a young man once comment and I just thought it was rather sweet, as he evidently must have known that I was a older grandmother.
I HATE THE NEW VERIFICATION and like you don't bother if I can't get it by the second attempt
What a great post Rinda. I went off verification on blogs when I was part of a DT and left comments for all entries on a challenge. Now with numerals and numbers it is a nightmare! I don't have it on my blog and rarely get wierd comments, if I do I just delete them!
I'm the same..I don't have word verification..my comments are just filtered through moderation..doesn't happen often but I do get the occasional spam comment!' xx
I agree - with the number and letters I often cannot read them and so I am put off from leaving a comment.
I get very few spam comments and just ignore them
And I agree with Amy about only seeing part of the post in reader - I rarely click through
I dont like the harder verification thing either and I have tried to remove it from my blog but with no joy - seems they took away the option when I changed to the new style dashboard.
I received your lovely postcard during the liberate your postcard swap :) thank you I love the image. It made it all the way to Nottinghamshire, England.
I've never used it on my blog (Typepad) and I only get spam every once in a while. I agree with you totally; some of the new verification prompts are nearly impossible to decipher. (I thought it was me!)
I don't like verification and I too find that it is becoming harder to work out what the actual letters are so if I don't get it right first time, I am afraid I give up. After moaning about it a little while ago, I looked in the settings of my blog and found that it had been turn on (not by me!) possibly when blogger updated things. I was so cross! Maybe I ought to check my settings more frequently.
I've only rarely had spam so turning it off hasn't been an issue for me.
I don't like verification either - as far as I know it's not on my blog (I've never set it up) As someone else mentioned I don't allow anonymous comments and touch wood haven't really had any spam issues...... so far!
Thank you, Rinda! I just tried to comment on a blog and verification was rejected six times because I couldn't really see the letters or the number was so fuzzy it was impossible to see it. I thought it was because of my old eyes, but it seems to be a problem for many.
Littlemouse Lilly, you can revert back to the old dashboard and then change the settings as you would have previously - that is what I had to do and I am not sure why we can't do that from the new dashboard?
I have never had word verification on my blog and have only had a half dozen spam over the past 4 years. I set my blog so that comments on posts over two weeks old require moderation and haven't had any spam since. I also have trouble with the new verification. I will try twice - after that I give up.
Oh Rinda, I so agree! I find the new verification so frustrating.... A couple of the blogs I try to comment on regularly do still have it, but oh, it winds me up! The most annoying of all is when you type in your comment and submit it and only THEN are you asked to verify... AAAARGH!!! lol!
As for spam, I do get a fair bit but it always seems to be filtered out by Blogger. I just check and empty the spam folder every so often. Since Blogger improved its filtering I really don't feel the need for verification on my blog, and just wish every blogger I visit felt the same way!
PS Cool journal page :)
I use WordPress and a plug-in called Peter's Custom Anti-Spam. I can choose which words are used for verification and can change them as often as I want. The word verification is right there on the same page as the comment form, so no multiple clicking. The words are digitized just enough to prevent non-humans from reading it, but show up very clearly for legitimate commenters.
when i first started blogging i didnt realize my comment verification was even on. someone kindly brought it to my attention and i removed it -- & have since enjoyed more comments and followers. most spam has been removed by blogger and i've been able to delete the rare nasties that get through. i have the same problem with diffculty deciphering the letters and numbers and wish people would find other ways to protect their blogs. xo
oops, forgot to mention that your journal page is quite lovely! by the way, after learning about it from your blog i signed up for an alisa burke class while the discount was on. thank you! xo
I'm really interested in your experience Rinda, because I have been chuntering to myself about what I myself have felt as the increasing difficulty in getting the verification combinations right - several times recently it has taken me no less that four goes on a couple of blogs to be able to leave a comment, and I don't think I am any less able to do so than a month or so ago. I've had two spam comments only in the several hundred posts I've written ...
yay after reading I was prompted again to see of I could remove it from my blog - woohoo *littlemouse dance* it has gone (fingers crossed)
i also have trouble proving myself to be human! however, i don't think i have comment verification on my own blog... but i'm not sure. i don't get spam comments. rinda, would you let me know if my blog requires verification? if so, i will figure out how to turn it off. thanks!
Lovely page Rinda - as a human I am irritated to have to prove that I am not a robot ... is it mechanist to say that I think the robots should have to prove that they are (not) human?!
WV seems to have become trickier on some blogs recently - the letters are more scrunched up and the number photos fuzzier! Anyone who has issues with spam should just turn Blog Owner Approval on. Anyone who needs both is completely OTT!
I don't allow Anonymous comments and have neither WV nor BOA resulting in just ONE spam message in 2 years - which was deleted as quickly as it was spotted in my Spam folder. More worryingly I have had a couple of friends' comments end up in there!!!
Not keen on recognition stuff either, particularly as my iPad's predictive text means I get it wrong if I am not looking. I also get frustrated when comment forms don't let you correct mistakes and you have to go back though edit mode over and over again! Not had any spam problems, but I don't check that comments I write on blogs of others are published successfully if they don't come up straight away.
It IS irritating, and I don't really get why it would stop unwelcome visitors anyway... can't they read(possibly better than I do)? However it has made me discriminate between who I will comment on, or not. The post has to really make me want to give my opinion...like this one.
I do the same - if I get it wring 1st time I don't bother to try again. I turned mine off quite early on. I've been blogging over a year and have never seen any spam. Great post topic!!
I agree, I tend to not comment on blogs with verification on. Often I cannot decipher the words and have reload the verification several times until there is one that I can read. I do not have it on my blog and 'touch wood' I don't get spam comments.
Great "Let's Talk" topic. I detest the word verification!!! It used to just annoy me but the change has driven me batty on many occasions. The blog I commented on right before reading your post had one I couldn't comprehend. I had it refresh (that little round arrow to the right of the box) SIX times before I could figure it out!!! Believe me if it wasn't a blogger I love I would have given up. And that is the sad thing, I have probably 4 bloggers I adore that use it and I won't stop commenting on their posts because we are connected but when I find a new blog and discover they use it, I know I'll be reading and not commenting.
Hi Rinda. Just popped online to visit a few blogs. I tend to agree with you, after two trys I just give up. I have some people that I love to visit but can't leave comments. Any hooo, have to go, just popped in for a few. Nice piece.
I so agree with you. I am so tired of attempting time and again to get it right/see it clearly and can't after three tries I give up.
I dropped WorD verification a long time ago and have not noticed any spam at all. I too hate to NOT leave comments as I love them myself so much look forward to them, but my eyes and brain often cannot SEE/make out those crazy squished together letters and blurry numbers. I feel like it is an eye test I fail over and over again. that's my 2 cents worth. Just drop it, it's not necessary. Blogger has spam control anyway!
I love commenting on blogs and I love to get comments on mine. That's why I turned off this tool, as it drives me crazy. I hate typing in these combinations, espcially several times, when they are unreadable.On my own blog I have comment moderation on and almost all spam comments get to the spam folder, so no problems here.
Great topic! I'm finding it harder and harder to use word verification too - I never get the combvination right on the first attempt. My record is five - but that was becasue I had taken a lot of time over my comment and wasn't going to let it go lol I wish everyone would take it off - it takes too long and it actually has brought on a migraine on more than one occasion.
I do get the occasional spam comment, but not one has ever made it onto my blog. The spam filter catches them all
I hate it!...I'm never sure whether it's my eyesight or just the ridiculous photos of numbers that they use!
After I took it off mine, I have received very little spam
Alison xx
I hate it too, I thought it was my eyes that couldn't cope with the new two word/digit combination. I copy and paste my comment into an e-mail if I can't read the verification but just this last week I have had to give up I just can't read the thing! My spam filter works really well and I just empty it every couple of days. great post Rinda. Oh and lovely LSNED pennants.
I have comment moderation on to prevent real names/identifying stuff so don't do verification.
Don't have any difficulty - but am not google searchable so wouldn't expect to.
Am about to set up a work wordpress site and so have noted down that plug-in thank you!
Have to confess I rarely have trouble with verification - perhaps it is all the years of reading my Dad's handwriting?
I also find it increasingly harder to leave comments sometimes. I usually sigh when I see verification pop up when I have posted my comment.
I don't have verification and I moderate comments so that I know when they are posted. I never have spam or any problems and am happy with my set up.
An interesting conversation. I have never liked it and when I set up my blog about 18 months ago I turned it off to begin with to see what happened. I have had one spam comment in that time. I am irritated by it and I think Blogger making it harder at the beginning of the year had a good effect in that lots of us were talking about it and got rid of it!
Like most I have found I am having more and more trouble with word verification. I tend to be ok with the numbers, but I often get the letters wrong, esp when they twist and merge together. I tend to give up if I get it wrong on the first attempt unless it is a comment I really want to make. I turned off word verification about 2 years ago and have had less that half a dozen spam comments, most of which were picked up by blogger.
I agree, the comment verification has become much more difficult. I had turned mine off once but started getting spam. I've turned it off again today & will turn on moderation for older post comments (thanks for that idea) and see how it goes. It's a shame there's the issue of spam anyway - wouldn't it be more productive if people spent their time creating? :>)
I find comment verification annoying. Because of that I pay akismet every year to deal with spam on my blog so I don't have to have verification on it. They run every comment through a filter before it publishes and hold the suspect ones so they never make it on the blog for me to deal with. $18 a year well spent to me. I generally give them all two tries when go to leave a comment. If I'm still botching the verification after the second try I just let it go. I want to comment but there is only so much effort I can make.
I turned word verification off about 3 months ago and haven't had a single problem since. I only had 1 spam comment in the first 2 years and 600 post of my blog in the first place, so I hope I am not jinxing myself. I do have to say that my blog is not included in the general internet search, you have to have the url to find it- to that helps to make sure my audience is legitimate. I haven't actually tried searching for my own blog myself lately, so I think that is still the case. I have to say that I personally dislike blog owner approval not as much as word verification, but I like to see that the comment has actually posted. I understand that everyone need to do what makes them comfortable - so I plug through the images 2 or 3 times if needed.
Hate it! I can't read it and hubby has had to endure my frustration a few times. I don't use it anymore and have not had too much spam recently. I enjoyed reading everyone's comments, and loved the topic Rinda :)
I hate using it as it takes so long and I sometimes can't read it!
Well I guess I fall into that beyond 2 weeks - sorry I'm way behind on blog catchup. I don't get spam very often - maybe once every couple of months or so but I do agree those verifications Re getting harder and harder to read. I usually end up giving up as it just adds so much time to my blog reading but I feel bad about not posting comments.
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