As some of you know, I am just coming off a two-month blog tour. The first month was to promote my Novella “Paper Wishes”
The second month was to promote my story “The First Day of the New Tomorrow”
Whew! It’s good to be home.
I have a lot of the same thoughts as the last time I was on a big blog tour, so I won’t bore you… but one thing stuck out to me a lot.
Some blogs are really hard to comment on.
I mean it. Really really hard.
Does anyone ever have trouble commenting here? I think I’ve made it as easy as possible. Just type in your name and go. No silly codes to enter, nothing to memorize and type in. Easy Breezy. Right? If I’m wrong, please tell me, and I’ll change it.
You see, some blogs I went to took about three minutes JUST TO INPUT THE CAPCHA INFORMATION — and that’s AFTER I wrote my response to a question. One site I had to do it over and over again to respond to every comment that was posted to me. AWEFUL!
There was one blog that I gave up on after the system told me FIVE TIMES that I inputted the wrong CAPCHA code, when I know perfectly well that I was correct each time. Such a pest.
I know those capcha codes and other things are there to keep spammers away, but if they are also keeping commenters away… that’s bad.
So, just a side thought. If you have a great blog, and you don’t get comments, do a little test. Don’t log in to your blog. Try to comment as a visitor. If you are annoyed by your own security features, imagine what your readers think.
Note: I don’t know how WordPress does it, but I only get one spam comment about every six months or so. The rest are automatically caught by their spam filters. Whatever they do, it’s much better than all that other goggly gook.
Related articles
- Spam Comments What’s The Point? (rolandh31.wordpress.com)
- What’s the Deal with Spam? (greatmindsthinkalikee.wordpress.com)
- Is The Comment Spam Really Needed? (thestingofthescorpion.wordpress.com)
Jennifer M Eaton 
I tend to give up after the first attempt on such a blog (almost always blogspot sites unless I really like the post or blogger and then I’ll try once more. 🙂
I see a Disqus commenting system gaining ground around the blogosphere, but some blogs who use it have no option to simply post as a guest and use your name and email to comment.
That is exactly why I prefer WprdPress to any other blogging system. I don’t think I’ve ever had SPAM comments other than in the SPAM filter. I abhor CAPCHA for all the reasons you mentioned. 🙂
… actually, more annoying!
Capcha – almost as annoying as Java updates!
I can absolutely relate to this CAPCHA nightmare! I wrote a post on it last month. I wanted to take my computer and smash it but was afraid that it wouldn’t think I was human 🙂 Welcome back!
Thanks for suggesting that I double check by attempting as someone else! I thought I’d turned it off, but apparently not. Oops. Thanks again.
Ha! Yeah I’ve had trouble on your site.
Hopefully now it’s fixed.
Capcha is crapa!!
Hmm, I might just have nothing to say.
😉
No problems commenting on your blog, but yes I’ve run into others where it’s darn near impossible. Those CAPCHAs are royal pains in the behind. I’m not sure which is worse—when they say you entered the wrong code and you didn’t, or when the letters and numbers are so distorted you can’t decipher them!
For my WordPress blog, I do have the comment requirements set so that people have to provide a name and email, but nothing else. And after I’ve approved someone’s first comment, any later ones will post immediately. I think that gives me some control over spammers, but doesn’t put too heavy a burden on the readers.
I do wish the different blogging platforms would make it easier to visit, follow, and comment on posts….
I, too, have been foiled in my commenting by the danged CAPCHA, or however it’s spelled. Drives me crazy, so I just give up. Sometimes, I don’t even bother trying if I see they’ve got that type of security set up.
I’ve never had a problem commending on a WordPress blog, though occasionally it asks me to sign in. I often find other sites will not let me comment at all unless I create an account, which usually decline to do. I have too many accounts already!
My spam filter works really well and I delete 6-7 a week unread of course. You make a good point and I will check to see how easy my blog is to comment on. I don’t have all the fancy pass codes on it though.
Hope you take a breather after your two-month tour. 😉
I have trouble with Blogger. I don’t know why I’m kicked out when I know I’ve input the correct information (after I’ve already commented). I feel bad when I can’t leave a comment that well deserved for a great post. Haven’t come across CAPCHA much.
Always easy to comment here. I hate the capcha thing too. Soo annoying.
I had the worst experience with Itunes the other day all because I updated the card I wanted to pay on I had to login numerous times do capchas say over and over again yes I did want to make the purchase, everything seems to becoming so paranoid that the only people who will be able to get through all these barriers will be the spammers and hackers
Jennifer…recently I participated in a fest and so many had word verification and Captcha—a pain in the butt when you’re trying to groove through all the blogs quickly.
Many of the newer bloggers on Blogspot (Blogger) may not know their verification is automatically ON when they start their blogs. I didn’t when I was over there until someone told me. I quickly turned it OFF. And you know what? I didn’t get squat for spam. NONE.
After a few months, I moved over to WP and askimet catches it all. I left my old blog open for a few months before deleting it and finally, ONE spam came through.
My opinion is: turn off the captcha and word verification until you actually start getting spam. More than the occasional one or two. Because, honestly, most of us aren’t big enough to get spammed.
Absolutely hate Capcha. You’re right. I tend not to comment if I have to jump through hoops.
I agree, even the ones without the Capcha requirement can still be annoying if you have to enter a few details each time before commenting. With such limited blog time available, I just want to leave my comment quickly and go!
Dear Jennifer,
As you promised, easy to comment on.
Keep up the good work.
Aloha,
Doug
So true! I’ve read posts that I loved on other blog sites and when I went through that spam rigamaroll and it kept rejecting my comment, I gave up and it’s easy not to follow those anymore because of the frustration. I love WordPress for that reason. I hardly ever get Spam that gets through, and I don’t have to make commenters solve a jigsaw puzzle to say their 2 cents worth of wisdom. Congrats on finishing your blog tour. That sounds fun, but exhausting.