“Let’s Talk” is something new I’m trying here on Epilogue. It’s basically a time where I can have a heart to heart with all of you awesome people. Hopefully it’ll be a time where we can interact and share are thoughts and feelings!
Over the last two months I have been around to a TON of different blogs whether to join giveaways, participate in a meme, or just because I think they need a little stalking. As I go from blog to blog I notice a common theme that drives me up a wall. Comment. Word. Verification. When I go through a giveaway hop I may hit 40 blogs in a half an hour (okay maybe not quite that many) and on most of the stops a comment is required. Even if its not for a giveaway most memes require a comment and when I'm just coming to stalk your blog I usually like to leave a little love.
It usually takes me around 5 minutes figuring out what to say, how to phrase it, and what emote to include with it before I’m ready to post. I don’t need to spend another 3 minutes trying to decipher what random letters are displayed to “prove that I’m not a robot”. Half the time they have something weird like “Ltepighrn” only it’s italicized and has different font sizes so the “rn” at the end looks like an “m”. Then I have to spend another 3 minutes figuring out the next one! Well maybe you have the word verification turned on for a good reason. Maybe you have been spammed one time to many times and have just had enough? I (grudgingly) accept that. BUT if you just didn’t think to uncheck it, or left it on before you had a spam problem I urge you to reconsider. I know I have a much happier experience when I don’t have to worry about it!
What do you see that gets on your nerves? Do you use or like the word verification feature? Why or why not? Who knows maybe you’ll win me over...
~Lauren
I.Hate.Word.Verification.
ReplyDeleteI spend 5 minutes repeatedly hitting the 'refresh captcha' button just so I can find one that is actually legible. If I have been through too many word verifications in a day I will just not comment on someones blog simply because they have word verification.
Its so annoying. Though I suppose those bloggers are probably annoyed by spammers..
II think it would be supremely easier if word verification was easy to read and 3 digits long at most.
Oh. I. KNOW!!
DeleteAnd when I'm really tired its IMPOSSIBLE! Then I get frustrated and leave :(
I agree if word verification was shorter and with now italicizing it wouldn't be so bad!
I couldn't agree with you more. I loathe word verification!!!
ReplyDeleteIt makes everything take so much longer!
DeleteI think I might have it. I'm ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI don't really mind it, it's just sometimes the words are in Hebrew, and I'm like, I don't have the right keyboard for that...
Don't be ashamed! If you don't need it, fix it :)
DeleteOh I haven't encountered and in Hebrew yet.. that would be BAD!!
I. Hate. Word. Verification. It is extremely annoying for all the reasons you stated. Like you, I understand if the blog has been spammed before. However, turning on comment approval will solve this specific problem. Granted you will get an insane number of emails, but at least you won't have spam comments shown & you won't be annoying the crap out of people who want to post a comment.
ReplyDeleteJust my thoughts! :D
Doodle @ Doodle's Book Blog
Exactly! I forgot you can do the comment moderation! That would be INSANELY easier for the followers. And it's the followers you want to please ;)
DeleteThis is a hot topic right now, your's is at least the 3rd post I've commented on in the last few weeks. Like everyone else who has commented,I think Captcha is a pain in the rear. Before I started blogging I did a bunch of research to make it as easy to access as possible. Everything I read said the same thing. Don't use Captcha if you are serious about your blog. So I immediately turned it off when I created my blog. I haven't gotten to the point where I will not comment if there is Captcha on someone's blog, but I still grit my teeth when I encounter it. It seems to me that most people are not in favor of it, but simply don't KNOW that's activated on their blog. I'm pretty sure a little digging in your settings page will tell anyone how to disable it. Glad to see you addressing this topic Lauren, hopefully it will get the word out to even more people:)
ReplyDeleteExactly I have politely told many people in case they didn't know it was turned on! I would feel bad about abandoning their blog if they simply didn't realize! Besides I would want someone to give me a heads up if the situation was reversed!! Thanks for joining in on the discussion Heather!
DeleteHey, check and see if my word verification is on now, would you?
DeleteYou got it! :) I don't know why it did it if you turned it off, but it has done it ever since I first went there. :/ I'm glad you got it turned off ;)
DeleteI also hate it and often give up when I can't figure out the stupid captcha. Ugh. I choose comment approval instead!!
ReplyDelete- Jessica @ Book Sake
I completely agree! Especially late at night when you are squinting anyway.. its NOT worth it! Lol.
DeleteSo far I haven't encountered any spam comments so for me captcha is not needed, but in the beginning my blog was automatically set to captcha and I didnt even know it! Lauren was actually the one to tell me :P I remember being like "God people with captcha suck" and then I found out I had it! I was like....I guess I suck. Haha. But ya. I used to have a blog on wordpress, and it was constantly spammed, but so far on blogger I've never gotten one. Coicidence? Probably not. I think wordpress sucks :)
ReplyDeleteHaha that's 'cus I'm awesome... you didn't suck... you were just uninformed ;) I will not make a comment on wordpress sucking or not since I have no experience with it. But I'm glad you took it off Bri :D
DeleteI hate it, too. We don't have it on Wordpress. Why can't Blogger figure out a better way of dealing with spam?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure :( At least we can turn it off though, its not mandatory! I did see a really cute spam protector where you drag over a picture to complete a puzzle... it was kindof fun.
DeleteHa! I just did a post on this very topic. I listed two links - one a step-by-step video on how to turn it off.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. I hate Captcha! But, in all fairness, since blogger doesn't require the blog owner to do it when posting on their own blog, people may not realize they have it on. I wouldn't have known to turn it off if my friend hadn't told me to when she was helping me set it up. Great post! Spread the word...
Wow! The part about making a video made my night! :D
DeleteI completely understand about being unawares... that's why I wanted to get the conversation going so people who weren't sure would check! :)
I absolutely hate Captcha. It's such a waste of time, and I rarely comment on blogs that require captcha.
ReplyDeletewww.modernoworld4.blogspot.com
Yeah :( I myself haven't had any spam problems or anything!
DeleteOh man, I couldn't agree more. It's SO annoying trying to decipher those stupid word verification things. I've actually only just turned mine off, not realising it was on since blog owners don't need to verify their comments on their own blog. Oops!
ReplyDeleteAt least you checked and realized! :) It's people who have it on intentionally and for no good reason that annoy me the most!
DeleteI agree- I am not a fan of word verification. I can never read what I am supposed to type and it takes me forever. Sadly, sometimes it stops me from commenting on posts. I think a lot of people have it because they think they need to have it to protect from spammers. I don't use it- and so far so good. If any spam comes through- it is possible to delete it off your blog. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
Exactly! Sometimes no matter how many times I hit "refresh" I cannot decipher what it says! Good point... that's why they created a delete button ;)
Deleteamen sistah lol
ReplyDeletei loathe, hate capcha
thats why i don;t have any more ^_^
Yeah, its such a pain :)
DeleteWord verification used to not bother me but it does now! I do most of my blog surfing via iphone and ipad and lately I haven't been able to leave comments at all because of the two word verification. It's very frustrating because then I either leave or I try to remember to post from my laptop.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing this to light a little!
That would definitely get on my nerves!! :)
Delete