As most of you know, Blogger's new word verification format has made it increasingly difficult to comment on postings. The two verification words are often unreadable, and multiple attempts are frequently required by those seeking to comment. As a result, some bloggers have disabled the word verification requirement on their blogs, and others have said that they will no longer comment on blogs requiring word verification.
Several days ago, in an effort to make things a bit easier for those commenting on my blog, I disabled the word verification requirement. Unfortunately, the results have not been good. I am receiving 3-5 comments per day from anonymous people and spammers. Many of the undesirable comments are made on articles that were published many months ago. The comments appear to be computer-generated; indeed, I have sometimes received the same irrelevant comment (something to do with Syria) posted on different blogs.
Under the circumstances, I have enabled word verification once again. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes to anyone, but I think the preferable course for me is to live with the situation until Blogger comes up with a solution. Hopefully, that will happen soon. Based upon my research, it appears that the entire blogging world is up arms about the new word verification format.
As always, I appreciate the comments of those who read these postings.
George
You can disable word verification and then disallow anonymous to post. That takes care of the spam for me. Click on settings, then comments and posts, next to 'who can comment?' activate the 'registered user' button. that's basically everyone except anonymous. And even when their spam comes to your mail box, blogger blocks it from the actual post. at least they do for me. I recently allowed anon again and it lasted for two days. although the spam didn't show up on my posts, I got tired of having it in my in box. So no word veri for me and no spam.
ReplyDeleteHey George. It's funny about this spam/anonymous comment business isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI set up my blog with word verification off and anonymous comments allowed at least six months ago, yet I haven't had any spam for months. Any that do come in get caught up in the spam box and are not automatically published.
It's strange how some blogs get really targeted for some reason. I'll never work it out!
I wonder if, as we get used to the new format, we'll get good enough not to be bothered too much by it.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I'm leaving word verification on my blogs.
hello,
ReplyDeletei have found that if i click the box that does 'not' allow 'Anonymous' commenters to leave a comment that i rarely get spam. blogger seems to catch the other junk. So on both my blogs i do not use the word verification.
if that does not make sense, feel free to ask me questions.
Hello George, I couldn't agree more about the new word verification, there are times when it's completely unreadable. It does seem to have improved a little in the last few days but let's hope that Blogger takes notice of the complaints. In the meantime I soldier on with my commenting:)
ReplyDeleteI've had a little spam too, George, but Blogger seems to have caught and imprisoned it all in a 'Spam' folder so far. I just delete the contents of the folder every so often.
ReplyDeleteI think that the word verifications have become slightly easier to read George. So far I have not had spam since I changed but if I do then I shall put it back on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, EVERYONE, for you helpful comments. I think I'm going to try Ellen's suggestion by changing the "who can comment" setting from "anyone—including anonymous" to "registered user." As I understand the situation, this will allow anyone to comment except anonymous.
ReplyDeleteHI GEORGE - no worries - some days are easier it seems - just like life, a challenge :-)
ReplyDeleteLove Gail
peace......
The new word verification is not daunting enough to keep me from leaving a comment. I say do what you feel most comfortable with, but Ellen's method certainly sounds like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to follow Ellen's advice, too. No need to reply to this, George, but I wanted you to know I read every word you write, and even those pesky word verification words that you don't write.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, I'm here to say that after taking Ellen's excellent advice yesterday, I had -zero- Anonymous comments overnight, when normally I would have at least 5-10. I had completely forgotten about this option in the comment settings, so I am really quite grateful that you posted this and Ellen shared her methods.
ReplyDeleteGreat, RUTH. It seems to be working for me as well. Thanks for your comments, RUBYE and GAIL.
ReplyDeleteMargaret Bednar posted the wonderful TED lecture by the author of the CAPTCHA algorithm where he explains why at least half of the word are difficult to decipher:
ReplyDeletehttp://margaretbednar365.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-difficult-captcha-carnegie-mellon.html
I am one who will not mind participating in word verification. I feel good about helping digitize the written word, which I consider to be an essential ingredient in democratizing literacy around the world.
In addition to disallowing anonymous commenters, there is another option that only requires word verification for posts older than x days. I have mine set to seven and I receive very few spam messages. Spammers appear to prefer the shadows of the archives.
I hope you find a solution that works for you and your loyal readers.
Thanks, DUTCHBABY! This is very helpful information. I appreciate your taking the time to share it with me.
ReplyDeleteanother option, which is the one i use is to set comment moderation on posts older than a week...most spammers hit the older posts....and most of the newer ones are caught by the spam filter...just a few suggestions...thanks for popping in today.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions, BRIAN. Most appreciated!
ReplyDeleteWhat I've done is to switch off word verification and switch on comment moderation to come in after 4 days. Blogger is very good at getting rid of spam in the first place and anything that gets through months later ends up in the moderation box and doesn't appear in the comments.
ReplyDeleteTry it, it works for me.
You could also ban Anonymous comments, then they wouldn't get through at all.
Thanks for your helpful suggestions, FRIKO. I have eliminated "anonymous" and disabled word verification. Things seem to be working better now. Again, thanks for your help.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with eliminating Anonymous, for me, is that in the past few months I've received a few comments from people who wished to remain anonymous. Their comments on these older posts were extremely heartfelt as the post really spoke to them at that moment in their lives. I wouldn't want to miss that. It meant something to them, and to me that they responded. Just my thoughts. I got rid of WV, at least I think I did, and have had no spam.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your next post.
Thanks for your helpful comments, TERESA. I will have a new post soon. During the past few weeks, I have been traveling a great deal, mostly for family purposes.
ReplyDeleteThere is a way around this. Put your settings on comment moderation for "Somtimes" and For Posts older than ___ days. (I fill in 7)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I always have comments sent to my email. I have found that all spam so far has been stuck in the "Spam" folder and never made it to my comments page.
Not sure if I made that clear. Either way, I will battle those annoying words here on your post to comment. :)