... for a limited period, I am going to require verification for all comments. Yes, that means the dreaded Captcha.
I have had a growing spam problem over the last few months. Some posts seem to have been attracting the spammers like flies to a corpse. I have had the Blogger dashboard set to pre-moderate posts older than 14 days, and most of spam comments have been on older posts, so I get notification of the comment and can delete it rather then publish. Kind of, I get to read all the crap so you don't have to. However, recently some sub-14-day posts have been attacked by the semi-literate moronati, and the comments have all made it to the front page. I've had to spend a bit of time tidying things up.
This is not acceptable to me. I run this blog for my own pleasure, and I hope my readers get some kind of twisted amusement out of it too. I do not run it so that unknown wankers can use it to advertise payday loans, online casinos and diet pills. I have turned on comment moderation, but while this means that spam posts can be caught before they get published, I still get notification of them. Currently, I am reading and deleting probably 50 a day. I have to read each one, as I have a couple of valued commenters who only ever post as 'anonymous' for reasons best known to themselves, and I would hate to delete a valid and wanted response because I was too lazy to go through them individually.
The only solution is to re-activate the horrible Captcha filter. It is an abomination, it's true, and I know that it will put people off commenting. It puts me off, so I can't assume my readers will feel any differently. But if I have Captcha in place for a week or two, perhaps the spammers will decide that I'm not worth bothering with. I didn't have a problem a few months ago, and perhaps the situation will revert to the status quo ante.
Some of the blogs I read have a system where the first comment only is moderated, and after that you can comment all you like. I'm not sure if this is a WordPress feature or some other platform, but it seems like a good idea. I know that Blogger doesn't offer this, so if I can't resolve the situation otherwise I will have to consider moving the blog to another platform. This would be an enormous pain in the generative parts, but at the moment I am totally fed up with the spam situation, and I need to sort it out one way or the other.
So, if you do decide to leave a comment, I'm afraid that you will have to get the magnifying glass out and complete the Captcha algorithm before you can do so. I am going to revert to moderating only older posts, so if you can stand to go through the Captcha hoops, your comment will appear immediately. And if your comment does reach the blog page, you will get double points for persistence, and my undying gratitude and respect.
One tip: if you have written a longish comment, before you hit the button do a Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C to copy the comment to your clipboard. It has been known for comments to disappear after 2-3 attempts at Captcha, and it's possibly the most annoying thing that can happen to a thoughtful individual. It has happened to me many times, and most of the time I don't bother re-writing the comment. I just move on. That's not what I want for you guys.
I'd be very happy to have your feedback on this, by the way. Email me at the usual address.
Thank you for your patience.
Sorry to learn of your dreaded intruders, and, the extra hassle it's caused you. Thanks for the warning.
ReplyDeleteLike you, all your readers would prefer your precious time is spent productively.
I've just noticed your new(ish) tag line:
"We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest. - Georg Lichtenberg (d. 1799)"
...... and I'm not too proud to admit that I don't understand it. Most opinions, surely, are fluid?
Understanding is proportional to knowledge & experience which increase over time.
Am I missing something; have I had one-too-many glasses of grape juice; or, am I living proof of his dictum?
I cam across the quote an another blog somewhere (sorry, can't remember which). I took it to mean that we form our basic opinions and views on life at a very early age, and these don't change much over our lifetimes. The problem being that we form these basic stances at an age where our understanding of how the world works is very weak, due to inexperience. Hence most people's opinions are by their very nature based on inadequate information and unexamined habit. How else can you explain the (modest) continued success of the Labour Party?
DeleteIf you constantly modify your views according to an intelligent analysis of your experiences, I would suggest that you are probably in a minority. There's probably half a dozen of us :)
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ReplyDeleteAs the first external 'test-driver' for your Post today, clicking "Publish" didn't instigate the dreaded Captcha mullarky.
ReplyDeleteIt should have done! Blooger seems to be having an attack of the vapours tonight, as I am constantly getting 'sorry cannot complete this request' whenever I try to amend anything. I have the day off tomorrow, and will have a better look at it then. On a proper, non-work computer!
DeleteThanks Joe.
"I have had a growing spam problem over the last few months."
ReplyDeleteOh, me too! I feel your pain... :)
I noticed you had started moderation again. It's a shame, but I hope a temporary thing.
DeleteTrolls and spam were driving me insane.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I moved to WordPress. Now I sleep like a baby.*
*I wake up crying 3 or 4 times a night.
CR.
I'll remember that one :) I have been looking into WordPress, but I'm not sure if I can be bothered with the hassle. I am in no way a professional blogger, or have the need for high levels of customisation, so the hassle and expense are probably not worth it for me. One or two tweaks to the Blogger platform and I would be happy. I might post about this in the near future, and your comments would be welcome.
DeleteIt's the same for me. I now spend a lot of time just looking in the spam box in case somebodies valued comment has been sent there.
ReplyDeleteI do this regularly - I think possibly one comment in a hundred is miscategorised, so the Blogger filter is working, just not well enough or up to date enough.
DeleteAs the content of my blog obviously resembles spam fritters with lashings of Heinz tomato ketchup, nobody bothers to spam it much..
ReplyDeleteOr, having watched Food and Drink, the substance I have learned to call "Tommy K". Yuk.
DeleteSeriously, no spam in Nikos' World? I am amazed.
Spam egg sausage and captcha for me, please.
ReplyDeleteSpam's off
DeleteComin' right up ...
Deleteyes...ive had to turn on the word veri as well. as much as i hate it, word veri has completely stopped my spammers so far.
ReplyDeletePain in the ass/arse, isn't it? I'm glad to hear it has worked for you. I've had WV on for almost 24 hours, and not one spam comment so far (touch wood). Seems to be working for me too.
DeleteThanks to all of you for braving the horrid WV device and making yourselves known. I appreciate it.
ReplyDelete"One tip: if you have written a longish comment, before you hit the button do a Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C to copy the comment to your clipboard. It has been known for comments to disappear after 2-3 attempts at Captcha, and it's possibly the most annoying thing that can happen to a thoughtful individual."
ReplyDeleteOr if you use Firefox, install the "Textarea Cache" Add-on which automatically copies as you type.
Brilliant, thanks. I didn't know about this. I moved to Chrome when Firefox was starting to become too bloated for its own good, but this might make me reconsider.
DeleteYes, they found us... again. Just keep it on and report the spammers. Most of us have the verification on. Without it, we are targets.
ReplyDeleteYes, you certainly feel like a target when they get hold of your URL. Strange thing was that certain posts attracted huge numbers of spam comments and others none at all, seemingly unrelated to post content. I'm going to keep the WV on for a while, and then take it off again and test the water. But so far it has been 100% successful.
Delete