Wednesday, February 22, 2012

No More Word Verification and a Few Posts of the Week

As you can see by my very short POTW list, I've still not had much opportunity to visit many blogs, this week. Time seems to have flown these past seven days. Hopefully next week will work out better. Blogging fingers crossed.

One thing I have noticed when commenting some of the blogs I have had an opportunity to visit is Blogger's new "word verification."

It seems to me that about two or so years ago, Blogger went from words which were difficult to type, to words which had a natural rhythm to them, making their "captcha" fairly easy to type.

Not any more.


This is what it looks like now.

Capturewv
(Image stolen borrowed from TexWisGirl who wrote a very well-expressed post on The Run*A*Round Ranch Report, which mirrors my own opinions about WV.)

In the past few days, it seems that Blogger has gone over to a really difficult-to-decipher word verification, and it slows down the process of commenting on blogs considerably. I don't like it, and I'm finding that I'm less inclined to want to leave a comment when I know I'll have to battle the verification process.

I know that some bloggers don't even realize that they have word verification enabled because when they go to the comments sections of their own blogs, it isn't a requirement to identify themselves as a valid visitor in order to leave a comment to themselves. I encourage you all to check your settings just in case you don't realize your word verification is on. You might be surprised to find that it's on. And while there, please consider turning it off.

Some folks are concerned about possible spam. You needn't worry. Blogger is very good at filtering spam. I even allow anonymous comments on my blog. I haven't used word verification for well over fours years and I don't think I've had as many as three spam messages. Most of the spam generated on Blogger is caught by their filters. You can remove word verification from your blog in two short minutes. Please consider it for the sake of the many of us who do not wish to struggle through heavily-guarded blogs just to leave a friendly message.

I'm going to walk you through the process whether you are in the old Blogger interface (as I am) or the new. You'll have to switch back to the old briefly in order to disable word verification.

1) Make sure you are in the old Blogger interface. If you're on the new Blogger Interface, click the cog-like icon in the upper right corner of your blog settings screens. Select "Old Blogger Interface."
Edited to add: Ellen tells me that she can't access the old Blogger interface in the above manner. You can still get to the old Blogger by clicking on your "Settings," select the "Basic" tab, scroll down to "Global Settings" and select "Old Editor." Save your settings.

2) Go into your settings.

3) Select "Comments" tab.

4) Under "Who Can Comment?" I would suggest either "Anyone" or "Registered Users (this one keeps anonymous posters from commenting if you so desire). If you allow anonymous comments, they will be filtered by blogger and not appear in your blog comments. You will, however, continue to get email notices of their existence if you're set up to allow email notifications regarding your comments. They can all be found in the spam filter.

5) Under "Comment Form Placement" I would suggest "Full Page" or "Pop-up" since some folks are having a tough time viewing and commenting on embedded forms.

6) Scroll down the page a bit and look for "Comment Moderation." You might want to allow moderation on posts older than 14 days because very old posts sometimes seem to be spam magnets. Include your email address if you want notifications of comments left on you blog posts which are older than 14 days, if you selected the above option.

7) Under "Show Word Verification for Comments?" Please select NO.

8) Save these changes to your settings.

9) Return to the new Blogger interface, if you wish by clicking on your Dashboard and clicking "Try the updated Blogger interface."

That's all there is to it. After that, you'll probably find an increase in comments as folks won't have to try to read the word verification a few times before giving up and moving on.

Thanks for listening. The choice is yours, of course and I'll understand if you prefer to leave word verification intact. My choice is to refrain from leaving comments while word verification is in this silly state. I hope you'll understand that as well.

And now, without further delay, here are a very few Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.




A GOOD READ


Whistle in the Wilderness
by Betty
at Bossy Betty


FUNNY
A Ticklish Situation
by Sandra
at Add Humor and Faith

JUST PLAIN GOOD


I'm So Sorry..
by Beth
at Be Yourself

Honey Cake Dream
by Cloudia
at Comfort Spiral


Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you.

59 comments:

Linda said...

You convinced me to try turning off word verification. I've seen other bloggers complain about the tricky captchas. I also went to blogger help groups and submitted a question/complaint about captcha.

stephen Hayes said...

I'll be sure to check out these blogs. Thanks.

tattytiara said...

Oooooooookaaaaaaaaay you sold me - I turned it off. I've known for some time that people hated the things, but I'd had a problem with spam on another blog associated with the same account and the capcha did make it disappear. It has been years since then, though, so if the filters are that much better I will very happily do away with the frustrating things. Fingers crossed!

Indrani said...

WV was causing some trouble indeed... I was beginning to doubt my eye sight.

joy said...

I have disabled the word verifiaction on mine as I was finding it really difficult to get the words right on others. I think it was naughty of blogger to do this without prior notification.

Cloudia said...

You have done a public service!
Agree 100% from my blog experience too.

Thanks for visiting, and mentioning my Honey Cake Dream!



Aloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral

>< } } ( ° >

Tabor said...

As you know I also did this a few days ago. I hated going through the mess on other blogs and realized that I also had to make it easier or no one would give me their two cents much less their wisdom.

Laura~Pretty Pix said...

Great post! The new and improved word verification thing drives me bonkers!

Andy said...

Thank you for turning off word verification. I'm at the point of not comment on blogs with it.

nick said...

I turned mine off a while back for the same reason.

Rob-bear said...

I've never used word verification, for a couple of reasons.

1. It's annoying.
2. It's not necessary when using comment moderation.

I use comment moderation because:

1. It gets rid of annoying stuff, and
2. It reminds we to reply to my readers when they leave me a note.

Jinksy said...

Bless you for ever for trying to spread the word about removing the latest Word Verification horror from the face of Blogland! I've been teetering on the brink of having a rant on the subject myself! May well still do one soon....

Sueann said...

Thanks for posting about that word verification process. It is horrible!! I don't use it myself and I hope others will get rid of it.
Hugs
SUeAnn

Leah J. Utas said...

I'll turn it off as soon as I remember. It's very annoying.

Sandi McBride said...

Ok, first I went and turned off damn word verification...thank you thank you thank you...then I went and read and was torn between laughter and tears...again, thank you thank you thank you!
hugs
Sandi

Gary's third pottery blog said...

you said it, the comment verification is a nuisance!

yaya said...

I got rid of my verification a while ago but I rechecked just to make sure. I hate the WV and sometimes I just don't leave comments. Thanks for the reminder and help to do it!

Brian Miller said...

the new word verification is horrible...and some older browsers wont ever let u see the words...so thank you...congrats to the posts of the week

Pearl said...

Thanks so much, Heather. I believe all is well over here again.

Now I'm off to check out your POTWs!

Pearl

TexWisGirl said...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for keeping the anti-word verification message going (and steal any time you like!) ;)

now, off to visit some blogs...

DJan said...

I am happy to see how many people are getting rid of the new Word Verification system. I wonder if that was their intent in the first place? And you're right about their spam filters. They work!

Suldog said...

Yes, the word verification is cumbersome and very hard to decipher lately. Everybody - Please turn it off!

I set my "approval" filter for posts older than 7 days, as opposed to 14 days, but otherwise we match. Good advice!

Doctor FTSE said...

Thanks so much. Blogger thought they could trap us into their senseless inkblots by removing the option to turn WV off on the new interface. So removing it via the "old" then reverting to "new" does the trick?

BTW . . wonder why Blogger thinks the new interface is an improvement? I don't.

Daryl said...

Just explaining how to undo the comment moderation deserves a POTW nod .. so I'm nodding at you ...

Karen said...

I agree, I hate that double word verification! Congrats on the blog winners-will check'em out!

Out on the prairie said...

short and sweet on your POTW.I have left notes to those with those crazy words.

Reena said...

Hoping many get rid of the verification ... these ole' eyes just won't comply! No .. hopping over to read some good posts!

Rita said...

I had to come and applaud you; the Word verification is VERY annoying and since last week; unreal.
Like you I have never used this and have never had problems. I wish everyone could read this post.
Maybe I should just quit following blogger who practice this.
Rita

Dianne said...

Amen to No Capcha!!
and you explained it all so clearly

congrats to the POTWers :)

the Bag Lady said...

I've been meaning to get rid of the WV since they changed it, so thanks for the reminder!

ellen abbott said...

I could not agree more. I hate word verification and this new one is the pits.

beth said...

thanks sweetie....for more information regarding word verification {of which i removed mine last week} and for the POTW award !!.....ox

ellen abbott said...

so, just out of curiosity, and because I thought I would allow anonymous again, I tried to get to the old interface and I can't. It's not an option on the drop down menu when I click on the cog and word verification doesn't show up in the settings for comments on the new interface.

Bossy Betty said...

Hi Hilary!
I was having a bit of a rough day after receiving more legal garbage in the mail. Word of being selected POTW helped lift my spirits and reminded me to have some perspective as well. Thanks so much.

Ruby said...

Wow, a detailed blog on WV turning off. It is off putting to type words we can't even see :) WV off. I have to check out the POTW later due to my limited internet access:(

Anonymous said...

I am so with you about WV!

Maggie May said...

I don't like the new sword verification and have difficulty reading the fancy word. However, I feel safer having it on.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

broken biro said...

Hello! I'm a first timer here, sent over from Napple Notes!

I don't use word verification myself, but I found out on another blog today that it's all part of an international project to digitise books - whenever we do word verifications we're helping to decipher words which computers are struggling to 'read' - fascinating. As seen on Maria Zanini's blog

NitWit1 said...

Thanks loads. I found your directions via Napple Notes. I turned mine off after I endured another blogger, where I had to type in the Captcha 3 TIMES!

I don't mind security but that is a tad overboard. I use all manner of carefully Internet practices and still hnd a web e-mail account totally hijacked. I am still cleaning up the mess and going to close it as soon as I get the info in folders transferred elsewhere.

Anvilcloud said...

Thanks. I just posted on this today but didn't know how to get back to the old interface, so I just edited my post to link to yours for the instructions.

messymimi said...

Thanks, Hilary, this first-cousin-to-a-Luddite didn't know that could be done. It's done now, though.

Jenn Jilks said...

Isn't it a pain!
I get a lot of spammers, but they seem to be better at catching them, too!

Unknown said...

I've never had it on.. haven't had any problems really.
This new version is ridiculous.

and I think my next issue is with bloggers who are noreplytocomment !:) If you give your email on your blog, why not as part of your profile so a person can just flip you a quick reply to your comment on their blog? Easy peasy.

laveta'splace said...

That's interesting about having word verification and not knowing it. I don't think I do but I will check. Yes they have made it too terribly hard on those words. After two tries, I usually give up.

Gary said...

I turned off word verification. Thanks for the heads up.

Sandra said...

Hilary -- Thank you so much for this honor. :)

Lynne with an e said...

I found the new word verification system ridiculous to try to decipher as well and got rid of the setting on my blogs just yesterday. I have to clear out the spam messages on a daily basis from the spam bucket that Blogger/Google has in place but it's worth that little extra bit of time if it makes commenting easier for genuine blog visitors. "New" is not necessarily "improved" and different not always better. Oh...am I stuck in my ways? Hey, if it aint broke, don't fix it, right? Thanks for speaking up and cluing in other innocent bystanders to the sitch.

Red said...

Some of the word verification is almost impossible. for elderly eyes it's worse. My word verification is gone.

Tammie Lee said...

the WV sure has become challenging, i am not sure that anyone likes it. I don't have it on either of my blogs, though once in a while i do. For the most part 'not' allowing anonymous people to comment takes care of spam.

Thank you for the links you have shared. lovely week to you.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

The WV has been driving me CRAZY. Thanks for speaking out and explaining it to the masses of frustrated bloggers.
I have no idea what it looks like to anyone commenting on my WordPress account (where I actually blog, as opposed to my quick and easy identity that I use for commenting). I can only hope it isn't a process of jumping through difficult hoops.

LadyFi said...

I hear you about word verification! I've given up trying to leave comments on some blogs because of it...

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you are getting bloggers to turn off captcha, It has been so frustrating to comment the last few weeks if I even can!

Betty's post was beautiful, thanks for all the links :)

Geraldine said...

Thanks for the heads up on this Hilary. It has been a pain in the past few days, coping with these "word puzzles"

Hope all is well. I'm off to check out your snowy morning above this now!

Hugs, G

www.myreallifereviews.com

Mage said...

That's just the right number of POTW for those of us who are old and slow. THANK YOU for espousing the no captcha security words. I was one of those who truly struggled to see those words. I've been here a while now, and only once did I have to delete a note. Open Diary, the hive site I also belong to, also gives us the opportunity to leave private notes. Sometimes that's a nice addition.

Dave said...

I agree with you about that word verification Hilary. It beats me why Google feel they have to fix something that's not broken. I wish they would survey bloggers before they changed things. It can be maddening when things which were easy to use become difficult because a Google technician decides to change something. Come on Google - if it aint broke don't fix it! - Dave

Nancy said...

You can remove the captcha but if you do get spam and others have asked to have comments from the post forwarded to their mailboxes, THEY get the spam comments even if blogger catches them and sends them to your spam folder. This isn't an opinion. It happened when I removed the word verification. Two other bloggers emailed me and asked why they were getting comments full of spam.

Shrinky said...

I disabled my word verification a couple of years back, too, and have never had any problems with spam. I have no idea why blogger has taken it upon themselves to make this process even more cumbersome, it truly sets my teeth on edge (as it would appear, it does everyone else, too)!

I urge everyone who hates this latest tinker to lodge their complaint about it - who knows, maybe they might listen if enough of us take the time to tell them they/ have got this one wrong.

lime said...

i agree the new word veri is completely obnoxious. i took it off but i had to stop permitting anonymous comments because i was being spammed relentlessly. but i made logging in with some sort of ID without word veri my option and that seems to have stopped the spam.

ScotSue said...

I hate using word verifcation on other blogs and I had no idea that readers of my blog encountered it, until someone pointed it out and referred me to your very helpful instructions on how to remove it. Thank You.