Which do you prefer? Having to fill out a word verification form so that your comment can be posted right away? Or waiting for the site owner to moderate the comment before it gets posted?
Or should we just track down and kill comment spammers and be done with the whole thing?
Bonus question: Have you ever clicked the wheelchair icon on the Word Verification form and listened to the audio version?
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Followup on Thursday, March 20, 2008:
OK, so death (or misfortune) to comment spammers! It seems like most of us are in agreement on that. :)
No-one seems to hate moderation (as long as the comments get moderated in a timely fashion), but some people passionately hate word verification.
I, personally, was shocked at how obnoxious sounding the audio verification is. I feel for anyone who has to use that.
For those of you who don't like the way Blogger handles comments and wonder why it's not consistent across all blogspot websites, that's because we have a number of administrative options when setting up comments. Here is a screen capture showing a few of the options that directly affect your commenting experience.
What I personally don't like about Blogger comments is that you're taken away from the original post page to do your commenting. I like to be able to see the post in its original context when crafting a comment. Plus, that time spent on the comment page doesn't seem to get counted as time spent viewing my blog.
As an experiment, I've turned off word verification and enabled moderation. I'll probably keep it that way today to see if I like it, but then switch it back because I'll be on vacation next week and probably won't be able to moderate in a timely fashion.
I vote for tracking down the comment spammers and killing them. Maybe even put a few heads on pikes around our blogs for good measure!
ReplyDeleteI actually don't mind doing both. Comment moderation indicates how active a blog writer is and typing in a few random characters isn't such a big deal. That's just me though.
ReplyDeleteShoot the spammers!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind doing the word verification thing when I leave a comment - it's nice to see the comment appear immediately.
That said, on my own Wordpress blogs, I have moderation set but with automatic approval if the commenter has been previously approved. Shame Blogger can't do something similar.
I vote for hunting down the spammers, too. As a commenter, it doesn't really matter to me. As a blog owner, I think I'd prefer the moderation because spammers can find a way past the verification. Not that I moderate my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteI prefer captcha over moderation...and yeah, I have listened to audio captcha because curiosity got the better of me.
ReplyDeleteI am really fed up with word verification. Too many times I have to type that thing in more than once. Sometimes three or more times. I'm not legally blind, just can't seem to read those damn things.
ReplyDeleteOn my own blog I use moderation. It isn't a big deal. As often as I am online I just check my comments. Only takes a minute. I notice a few people post twice, thinking the comment didn't go through the first time. But, I still think it is better than using word verification.
I guess I just get use to it. Although it would be nice if every bloggers comment fields were the same.
ReplyDeleteI hate word verification with a passion, but then I'm not fond of commenting on blogger blogs as I think the system is set up quite badly anyway :(
ReplyDeleteYour example of work verification is easy to read...others not so much. I don't mind waiting for my comment to be moderated. I know you have to do something to block spam, so I go along with what you have selected. On my site I moderate first comments and then you can post freely after that. I do check my comments daily to make sure nothing slips through.
ReplyDeletethat's pretty funny. Never noticed the wheel chair before. What's the point? Kinda like putting braille on an ATM at a drive-up window!
ReplyDeleteVisually competent people have a hard enough time with captcha, so can you imagine how difficult it would be for a visually impaired person to figure out the verification? It's interesting how the different types of captcha will try to obfuscate the audio so that audio recognition programs will have a hard time deciphering the audio verification.
ReplyDeleteBecause captcha can be frustrating to decipher, I use recaptcha on my blog. At least with recaptcha you're helping to digitize books. You get presented with 2 words. One is the valid word that you're being tested against, the other is a digitized word from a book or document that word recogition software was not able to decipher. You're minimizing spam, and promoting books...
I updated the original post with a new image and a summary of what you all said. Thanks for responding.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the word verification screen capture I used was tame, but at that early hour of the morning when I posted the original question, I was too tired to hunt down a nasty example. :)
I'm experimenting with some different commenting options now, just to see what happens.
I moderate my comments more because I make a point to leave a comment in return. Plus I don't get so many comments, so it's an exciting part of my day.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I find annoying is when I have to leave a comment on blogger blogs with my google/blogger logging. We won't even talk about blogs where you have to "register" to comment. I don't care enough about anyone to do that.
Personally, I do not like captcha or word verification. But sometimes, I care about leaving a comment that I suffer through it. It's not a big deal, but it is an annoyance.
ReplyDeleteI also stopped doing moderation because I hardly get any spam these days. When I do get them, I'm usually online often enough to get rid of them. Akismet takes care of the rest. Wordpress(.org) rules!
And yes, I don't even bother with registration to leave a comment.
I am with Debtfree revolution on the killing of spammers. I hate both having to write the letters and waiting to see my comment show up.
ReplyDeleteI came via Kevin at a time and place!
I caught a glimpse of a berner so went to your photo! I am a Berner Mommy. My baby is 9 1/2 years old now....10 in August! Love of my life! My second berner.
Where did you get yours from?
Another Berner mom! And 9 1/2 years old! Take good care of that Berner. We need more longevity like that in the breed.
ReplyDeleteWe got Loki from a local first-time breeder. She'll be 6 in May. Thor, who is 4, came through BARC, which is the Bernese Auction Rescue Coalition.