I'm not the most disciplined of bloggers, I post when the mood takes me, I return comments as much as I can, I browse through blogs I follow. I'm mostly content.
But recently, one thing has begun to get my goat: Google Word Verification.
I read a post that is intriguing, and I have something to say. It takes me a minute to type my comment, look at it again to ensure I haven't made any gaffes, and then I hit publish.
I type it in. No joy.
The word you typed in does not match..blah blah.Refresh, repeat, curse colorfully in all the languages I speak, tell myself to keep calm, persist.
By the time I leave the blog I want to curse Blogger, Word Verification, the poor blogger.
Why the hell can Google not make it a little easier on my poor eyes?
Why can the blogger not have Comment Moderation enabled instead of Word Verification?
Why should I be required to jump through hoops to post a measly comment?
When I hosted the A to Z Challenge last year, I posted a message the first time requesting the participant to remove WV. The next time, if they still had it on, I skipped the blog.
But as a visitor, I think it would be rude of me to do the 'pointing out' to a blogger I'm possibly visiting for the first time.
So. Deep Breath. Onward and forward I go, trying to prove I'm not a robot, making my eyes go blind that much faster.
Do any of you feel this way? Any words of advice?
35 comments:
I think most of us feel this way. Every time I get to a word verification, I ask myself whether it's even worth bothering to post the comment. When I've already written it out & taken the time on that, I really don't want to just give it up and leave. But recently I did give up and not leave a comment on someone's blog, because the word verification just WOULD NOT WORK.
I don't need glasses yet, but even though my vision is good, I still can't read these damn things a lot of the time.
Yes, and I'm with Trisha above, when I've taken the time to think of a comment I'd like to post it, but if I can't read the rotten letters I get annoyed and tell myself never to visit again. I'd love to know ahead of time that WV is on then I wouldn't bother in the first place.
Sue
I very much hate WF. nine times out of ten I get it wrong and by the time one gets to the post I have lost interest.
Glad I'm not the only one.
Yvonne.
Word verification is so annoying. I find it ironic that I have to prove a computer generated device that I am human. I find that just a little offensive :)
Jamie @ Mithril Wisdom
I absolutely detest WV and see no point in having it. When I had a google blog, the spam filter was excellent and nothing got through that shouldn't, so why are people so worried that they put it on. Even if something gets through, it's easily enough removable and we can all see it's spam or rubbish, or whatever. I hate it and it's so great to see a post saying the same because I've been dying to do the same!
Hi Damyanti .. I too think it is a pain. We can always install it for a while .. if we get spam and then undo it again. Most of my spam gets caught - and I'll delete others ..
I also check all my followers to see if they're real, and/or I'm happy with them - I've had one or two I've deleted.
Cheers Hilary
I detest it and can relate to all of the above comments.
But you did ask for advice, right?
Try this, it helps me.
Ctrl and move your mouse. Your screen becomes bigger and 9 out of 10 times I get it the first time.
Good luck.
If that doesn't work, fall in line with Apple and raise Cain!
I have never seen a comment supporting word verification yet and I too hate these things. But sometimes bloggers are not always aware that the thing is on.
I have a couple of blogs I follow that use it but It is a little frustrating and I tend to find I leave a short comment rather than my sometimes rambling gibberish, so maybe its not all bad then?
HATE HATE HATE IT.
I posed that question last week - should we say something to the blogger? The response was an overwhelming YES, let that person know it is on. (But I think it has to be someone you've visited a couple times, or it does sound rude.) So many mentioned they had no idea it was on until someone told them and they were grateful for that.
YES! You just reminded me that I wanted to do a post about it. :-D
I hate too "Robots-Fighters" !!!!
I'm definitively NOT a Robot and don't have to prove it!
The words (?) are more and more difficult and it's much time to enter them than write the comments!
Maybe, the moderation of the comments is enough if someone has problems ?
It's like the "join this blog": more and more only possible with "Google Friends" !!!
I resist at all the "social connections" since many years and don't want to join another system!
The simple "join this site" with my blog's address is sufficient for me and I can easily add the blogs on my blog-roll !!
It seems that the problem is connected with the new blogger interface ....
Phew! I'm not the only one. I don't need Word Verifications to make me feel like an idiot.
I agree with everyone else who has posted on this. Sometimes I only have a few minutes to read someone's blog and I want to leave a comment so they know I've been there - but I don't have time to go through that whole process. I have never had much problem with spam, as someone said the Google spam filters are very good. And the few I've had I simply delete. I've noticed that usually the biggest bloggers do not have it on, and I think that those who have it on tend to have less followers.
I hate it too, Damyanti!! Very frustrating. I know with blogger, you can approve each comment before it is posted, so, there is no need for WV...
YES, I hate it with a passion! It also doesn't do anything extra because even without comment moderation or word verification, Blogger already detects spam post!
Don't get me started on my rant about this issue. there are some blogs that I have come to love who insist upon using Word Verif and it drives me crazy. If I was working full time, I would have to skip many blogs. I get that some of the political posters want/need word verif b/c of the trolls, but I've encountered them on photography and craft blogs and that makes no sense. I've never used it and I have received only a handful of spam comments since I started my blog in 2006.
I got rid of the standard comments. I use Comment Luv.
Jolie du Pre
Precious Monsters
Some of the bloggers I appreciate the most have the dratted verification thingee...blurred jumbled letters and faded numbers. I'm already having the usual age related vision problems. This just makes it worse. I am to the point where I just may have to give up on those bloggers.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I think we need to do something about this, only I don't know what.
As an aside, a few hours after this post went up, it was flooded with comments in Mandarin, with few words like Louis Vuitton in English. Did someone want to teach me a lesson for the above rant? :)
I had to go and delete no less than 6 spam Mandarin comments, which is strange, cos blogger always catches obvious spam like that.
Even with approved comments, which I have to use, a few spams will make it through, but I have the chance to delete them.
I dislike the word verification, yes, but what about blog owners who never reply to their commenters. Isn't blogging about communication?
I hate GWV as much as you do, but if I like the blogger enough and REALLY want to leave a comment, I'll keep at it (sometimes 3 or 4 times - Yep)...
thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com
Damyanti,
I've been frustrated by this, day in and day out. Half the time I leave a post not realizing that my comment hasn't been posted and of course, the other half of the time, I'm getting a workout trying to figure out the bleary numbers and jumbled up letters.
Yep, I feel this way too, and I've started mentioning it in my blog comments to bloggers who still use that darned thing.
On my own blog, I had to disable anonymous comments to compensate because 99 and 99/100 % of those were spam. It inconveniences a couple of my writer friends, but not nearly as many as word verification would.
Patricia Stoltey
A big resounding AMEN to all of the above comments. Jeremy made a call for just never again visitin a blog with it on. I agreed to join him, but with the stipulation that I would leave one last comment telling them why.
Tina @ Life is Good
http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/
P.S If there's anyone out there who can make this 2006 MacBook ((donated when my son drowned my mac) be allowed to use <h ref when leaving comments I'd really appreciate some technical advice. I'm a big proponent of hyperlink signatures because I can get to at least 50% more blogs that way, and now I can't even leave one...driving me NUTS.
I despise WV! If a blogger has it on I will not comment. I never turned mine on, and not a since piece of spam has made it past Blogger's own Spam filter. I have also never lost a good comment to the spam folder..
Seeing as how this post has gotten such a big reaction and anyone who mentions this in a post gets such a strong reaction is a strong indicator of how much most of us despise WV. I usually manage to get through the codes okay, but still. I often leave a message for the blogger because often they don't even know it's on. It is a nuisance that we all probably have to mention now and then.
Lee
A Faraway View
I give it one try and then just skip it...and I wear glasses....in fact, I had just begun a new blog when you left me a comment to disable it...I didn't even know it was on!
Happy Thursday :)
Well I don't like word verification at all but if my blogger friends do have it enabled I will still comment and type the letters and numbers required. What I do is click the little refresh button below the word verification until a comprehendable set of digits appears. That way I will not need to go through the hassle of squinting to make out what's there, typing it in 'wrongly' and having to re-do it all again.
But it would be better if it was turned off!
Hate it. Will try it once and then will throw it away. Depending on the blogger, I will suggest that they ditch the WV - and, in fact, a couple of new to the blogging world people have gratefully heard and accepted that suggestion.
Oh I hate it too.It takes so much time when you read a lot of blogs.I have never had it on my blog and have had about three spam comments which I deleted. Most spam comments are on old posts and you can set your blog to verify them first. Why are bloggers out there not getting the message? New bloggers are also putting it on I've have told so many but they don't listen.
There needs to be a "word verification off" type blog badge so people know ahead of time when going to comment. And maybe spread the word more.
It's annoying when I take the time to type a comment then have to fight with the word verification.
Thanks to Hilary Melton-Butcher who showed me this blog and wrote about the problem of word verification. I switched it off now, and I totally agree with you, that it is annoying to type a code which you can't really see, or doesn't work. I just activated it because I had an other blog before the one I have now, and I got lots of spam comments. So I thought it's a good way to protect my blog from such computer programs which 'writes' so weird comments.
Though I feel the same way about WV like all you guys. Thanks for that blog post.
I agree too, but until this blog challenge, I didn't know I couldn't turn it off. Guess I'll be looking for a new web host.
By the way, it's Webs.com
Blogging A to Z Challenge http://www.shellygoodmanwright.com/apps/blog/show/25373502-d-is-for-distractions
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