A while ago, "Blogspot" the Google product for blogging which I use, made it more difficult for robot spammers to post comments on its users' blogs. Commenters have to prove that they are not "robots". At first the process was not too difficult. The commenter saw a photo of a house number, and had to type in the number in the photo. Then they upped the difficulty... now there are a series of pictures, and you have to pick out the pictures that belong to a certain category. One of my blogger friends has been complaining about the difficulty of trying to post a comment, especially when trying to comment from his cell phone. On a small screen it's impossible to see the photos.
Well, I think I have found a way around this game. At least it has worked for me when commenting on "Blogspot" blogs. After I write my comment I click on "Preview". Then on the "Preview" window showing my comment, I click on "Publish". The comment is immediately published without going through any photo rigmarole. I guess that "Blogspot" figures that if the commenter wants to preview the comment, he/she must not be a robot.
So if you would like to comment on my blog, but are tired of going through all the hassle, try this method. In fact, right now, I am going to sign out, and then try to post a comment as "Anonymous" to see if it works on my blog.
Thanks!
I am now testing to see if the method described above works.
ReplyDeleteDarn! It didn't work for me. I pressed preview, and I still had to go through hoops by identifying which of a half dozen photos were pictures of ice cream. I wonder if it didn't work because I commented as "Anonymous"???
DeleteWhen I wrote my reply, all I had to do was click on "I am not a robot". Darn if I can figure it out.
DeleteAggravating, isn't it? Especially when they say mark all the _______and then they say its not enough and as far as I can tell there is not another photo of that item.
ReplyDeleteSo, my question is, did you try using the method I suggested above, and were you able to avoid the photo quiz?
DeleteHola Bill! I'm going to try right now. And I'll follow up with the result. The only comment I'll make in advance is this: the "prove you're not a robot" drill is somewhat random anyway. Which is to say that sometimes I only need to tick the box that I'm not a robot, and other times I'm subjected to maddeningly vague food identification schemes. So if your trick works this time, it may not always work.
ReplyDeleteBut here goes....
Saludos,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where so far, no one has taken my suggestions, LOL...
No cigar. I still had to identify "food." And there were several pictures of water, which to some people belongs under the rubric "food," and to others not. And this particular form of vagueness is part of what drives me nuts about the quiz. It's very imprecise, and I commonly have to do more than one.
DeleteAnd the second comment wanted me to identify birthday cakes, despite having done the preview step. And I should also note that adding to the difficulty, the photos jump around while I'm trying to click them.
DeleteSo please.... Disqus or Wordpress.
P.P.S. Also annoying is the fact that one has to *repeatedly* prove one is not a robot, despite Blogger/Google already having your IP address from which you already proved you weren't a robot.
DeleteSame here. Almost every time I comment I have to do something different!
ReplyDeleteLet me give this a try....
ReplyDeleteWell, for me, it worked.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the above comment also worked, and that time I just pressed publish directly.
ReplyDeleteI will echo Kim's suggestion....Disqus. It's pretty easy to install and a much nicer commenting experience. Honestly, it's worth the little bit of effort.The standard Google comments facility has always been Blogger's weakpoint.
Also, with Disqus, I don't have to leave yet one more comment because I forgot to tick the Notify Me box...!
ReplyDeleteHi Gary,
DeleteThanks for your input. I was telling Kim that one thing I didn't like about Disqus is there is no option for a person to comment anonymously. I have a few people who comment anonymously, especially Joan, the champion of the quizzes I post periodically. I didn't want to shut her out. But then I just noticed that Joan was signed in to Blogger when she commented on this post. So I guess that is not such an issue. I shall look into it, but it won't be for a few weeks. My friend Alejandro is coming up from D.F. for a visit, and things are very hectic right now.
¡Saludos!
The other great thing about Disqus is that you can see the replies from any site that has Disqus installed, and you can also reply to the replies from that site, or from your own Disqus home page.
DeleteSeriously. It can't take you more than a half hour to implement Disqus.
I will do some research before I do the switch.
DeleteI am simply commenting any way I can! Anonymous wasn't working so
ReplyDeleteI had to sign into google! Though the preview and publish seem to
alternate for me! That's why it was so funny when someone said jokingly
of course that I must be hacking into your computer, when I feel like I often
have so much trouble just commenting!.
That last comment which miraculously worked with Anonymous
ReplyDeleteagain was from me, Joan!
Whatever works for you, please continue commenting. Your comments are very much valued.
DeleteThank You !
DeleteJoan
This is interesting, I also want to save all this hassle to my readers. Let's see if it works.
ReplyDeleteWell, I tried it and unfortunately I still had to go over the picture thing... Florentino @ elbibis.blogspot.mx
ReplyDeleteHi Tino,
DeleteWhat happens when you comment under your blogger account?
How ironic that a post about "commenting" has produced more comments than any other in my blog's short history.
ReplyDeleteI've done a bit of research about "Disqus", and some of the things that I have read about privacy and security have given me pause. Tino (author of Tinisimo Blogger) just made the switch from Blogger to WordPress yesterday. I think that next month when things are less hectic, I will give WordPress a try.
Until then, be patient, and with a stiff upper lip put up with all the photo game nonsense.
(By the way, my trick of clicking on "Preview" still seems to work like a charm for commenting on Babsblog. I've added 2 comments since I first wrote this post. And for some I never had any problems at all when commenting on Tino's old blog.)
When you have luck with the preview function, are you logged into Blogger/Google? If so, it should presumably already know that you aren't a robot, and so I'd say that such an experience doesn't say much about those of use who don't use the Google/Blogger login.
DeleteYes, I was logged into Blogger. However, even when I AM logged into Blogger, if I don't use the preview function I have to go through the photo quiz when commenting on Babsblog.
DeleteNever had a kaptcha experience with my or other Blogs ..... so just checking it out. Thinking maybe with a Google account it's easier
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. What program do you use with your blog?
DeleteI use Disqus on my main Blog but when I tried it on my Melaque Blog I'm pretty sure Disqus forgot which was which and was sending me notices to non-existent posts.
ReplyDeleteI have a number of Blogs and they all use standard Blogger comments
I just looked at your blog, and noticed that you have added mine to your list of "interesting blogs". Thank you! I just added your blog to my list.
Delete¡Saludos!