Sounds sort of like "GOTCHA" which would probably a more appropriate title. In case you don't know Captcha is WORD VERIFICATION. WV is that aggravating window that pops up after you make a comment on someone's blog. Because automated spammers can't read, by requiring you to read and write the barely legible letters and fuzzy numbers you prove you aren't spam to Blogger and your comment gets through.
I hate this stuff. I don't use it on this blog. In the years I've been blogging, I think since 2008, I think I have plucked and deleted 3 spammers from my comments. I can handle that. Don't make my visitors go through this misery, Mr. Blogger, Please!!!
When I go to a blog, make pithy responses, and then am asked to read the Captcha to make my comment go through lots happens. First I stare at the damn thing and shrivel as I think, "here we go again". Once my fury subsides I squint. Is that a c or an e? Is it upper case or lower? Is it totally foggy at the home with that address number being hijacked for verification? I type it in. BUZZER buzzzzzz as in wrong answer! I don't like those buzzes in my brain. What I said is really important, at least to me so let's try again. Click the little twirly for a new Captcha. This one is worse than the last. I swear this is getting very aggravating. Try again, fail again. I don't know about you but three times you out in my world. One more try, often on the third try the dummy's Captcha seems to come up, a little clearer, less letters, no spaces. I might make it this time. Damn! This sucks, I flunked the test. I got it wrong again. I quit, leave your blog and begin cursing. You did want to know what I had to say, right? I mean you are asking for comments so please let me comment and not leave your blog in frustration. Is anyone else with me on this?
If you would like to disengage word verification, AKA, Captcha, go to your blogger page and click on the little clipboard drop down next to your blog, next to the one you use to start a post. Click on overview. On Overview on the left, click on Settings. On Settings click on Posts and Comments. Where it says "Show Word Verifications" click no and shut that sucker down. I guarantee you there will be a lot more commenting on your blog! If you see a spam commentor, just delete them. It won't hurt.
There has been much written in blogland about Captcha. From what I've read most don't like it and disengage it once they know how. I hope you are one of those. I so want to comment on all the wonderful things you are sewing, give advice when asked, and sometimes just tell you that you brought a smile to my face. Pretty please........Bunny
I totally agree with you on this! Captcha is annoying! I have never been able to leave a comment on blogs which use Captcha. Despite trying several times.Thanks for highlighting this.
ReplyDeleteJoy
Well said and thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Bunny. For some reason I get quite a bit of spam so I just have the comments wait for my approval, but with no verification. JillyBeJoyful has done 2 posts on this subject. I think that most people just don't realize that it can be turned off.
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly another good option. Thanks for bringing that up, Rhonda.
DeleteI couldn't agree more!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely with you. I tried to make a comment recently on a blog that still has this and gave up after 4 times trying. Promised to myself that I either will not comment any more when this pops up or just try it once. Time is to valuable to spend guessing what word or numbers are displayed so vaguely.
ReplyDeleteI like making comments but I too get frustrated with all the protection some bloggers have on their site. Often I lose the words I have just written due to going backwards and forwards and I end up leaving the blog without saying anything.
ReplyDeleteGood news! I heard on the Kim Komando show the other day that captchas are on the way out and the wave of security will be almost game-like, where you have to do things like plant a seed and water a flower.
ReplyDeleteLove me Kim Kommando!
DeleteYES! I hate hate hate it. Did you know that CAPTCHA is an acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart? I didn't mind captcha when it was easy-ish to read, but it's gotten ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThat's some acronym. Leave to our computer expert, Shams, to let us all know that piece of trivia. You need to go on Jeopardy, Shams!
DeleteLol the name is so funny for such annoying widget
DeleteOh, I wanted to add. Like Rhonda, I have been getting an AH-MAZING amount of spam recently. I know I"m not alone because Carolyn (of handmadebycarolyn) has mentioned it recently, too. I moderate all comments on posts older than 30 days old and that catches most of it. But I think a list has been posted somewhere for spammers and I'm on it.
ReplyDeleteAahh another reason I love reading blogs, the useful information is so very appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI second what Shams wrote, lots of spam lately.
ReplyDeleteI hate those things. They have gotten so much worse to read in the past few months. I've only had a few spam comments, and they went to the spam file.
ReplyDeleteI have also given up several times trying to comment, and when I do get through, I try to let the blogger know how hard it is.
Great post!
I am SO with you on this. As Rhonda mentioned, I've written about this twice, with detailed instructions and alternatives for those on Blogger who would like to know how to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Jilly Be's instructions I took captcha off my blog ages ago. Blogger neatly caught all the spam for me until yesterday when one slipped through. Hope it's an anomaly? Or are these beasts getting even more annoying than usual? Grrr...
ReplyDeleteBTW, did you know captcha isn't case sensitive - doesn't matter if the letters are upper or lower case as long as you get them right. Still hate it though. I think it's getting even more hard to read if that's even possible. I just keep reloading it until I get one that seems a little more decipherable.
Thank you Bunny and Jilly Be for voicing the need to change this aggravating step to prove I am human. BTW I fail every time I take the blank test (I mean posting step).
ReplyDeleteThanks again
Thanks Bunny! I usually try to do very thoughtful posts and I can never figure out those stupid things, so get my comments deleted cause I tried too many times. The voice is even worse IMO. I appreciate that someone who is well thought of in our little world has taught people to do this.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks.
I totally agree with you and glad you brought this subject matter up!!!
ReplyDeleteI join everyone's hate of this function too and decided to turn it off my blog. But like some of the others I have been getting quite a bit of spam lately and just delete them.
ReplyDeleteI detest Captcha but was getting a lot of spam. So I opted to use Discus to moderate comments. So far there has been zero spam and I haven't seen any posts about people hating Discus. I hope it's better for my readers!
ReplyDeleteOops! That's Disqus with a "q". (Shows you how tech savvy I am not!)
DeleteThanks for letting us know about Disqus, Clie. I am going to look into it.
DeleteJust to let you know that disqus will only allow comments from certain browser versions and it is very limited. It's actually prevented me from commenting on blogs I used to comment on regularly.
DeleteAbsolutely with you - HATE it. I wouldn't mind it if it wasn't so hard to work out the letters. If robots can't read then why can't the letters and numbers be clearer??
ReplyDeleteA big problem is that you won't know if you have it on your blog unless you check. I was blissfully thinking my blog was verification free as when I left comments in reply on my blog - no verification came up. Apparently you have log out of Google / blogger / or other so that it doesn't recognise it is you and then it asks for verification.
When I started getting heaps of SPAM (so much it was driving me mad) I selected only to receive comments from registered users - ie - no anonymous users - which is a bit of a shame - but got rid of the SPAM.
Bunny:
ReplyDeleteI'm with you all the way about Captcha. Thank you for NOT having it.
Lynn B
Great post, Bunny. I can always depend on you to "call'em as you see 'em". Your candid thoughts are refreshing!
ReplyDeleteYou've "captha'd" me, Ellen! I do call 'em as I see 'em. It's something I have only achieved in my later years and I love it.
DeleteI prefer captcha to having to log in. If I don't get it right the first time I always get the second one.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bunny, for this public service post. LOL. I do mean it, though. After I started my blog, a kind reader let me know that my word verification was on, and she gave me instructions to turn it off. Which I did right away. So now, I do the same for newish blogs. You are reaching a much wider audience by posting this, so thank you! I'm going to send a friend who has a new blog this post so that she can see her options. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you don't use that Bunny! Like you, I give up most times on blogs because it's just too difficult and annoying to try and comment. :) So glad that you don't have much spam to deal with. I so enjoy your blog and this is yet another reason! Carry on!
ReplyDeleteThanks for not using Captcha! One of my favorite blogs uses it and I stopped even trying to comment because I got so frustrated. I sent the blogger a private email and let her know how frustrating it was and she understood but said she was inundated with spam and felt she had to do it. I just read and don't comment anymore. I noticed she gets far less comments than she used to, but I guess as long as her number of hits didn't go down, she doesn't care (her blog is connected to her pattern business, so comments aren't her main thing.)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is EXACTLY how I used to feel about CAPTCHA! i really, really struggle to read them. I started using a CAPTCHA bypass browser extension program called RUMOLA to read and fill them in for me. It works really well and I would recommend giving it a go to all you CAPTCHA haters!
ReplyDeleteWhite feather, i agree that the level of comments on a blog really drops with CAPTCHA. Everyone hates it!
That is great information here, Ally. I will look into it. We are gathering some great info here and great input as well. Thanks, everyone.
DeleteI have a love/hate with CAPTCHA. I detest it on blogs, and sometimes I'll just decline to comment if see I have to use it. I use comment moderation on my own blog, but I also am Wordpress based, and they have a good spam filter for comments. OTOH, we implemented CAPTCHA on my business site for people setting up accounts, because there was some bot setting up bogus customer accounts. They couldn't do anything, and there's no access to any sensitive information on the site, but it was annoying to see them filling up customer names. They were all from the same IP address, in China.
ReplyDeleteCatcha drives me bananas. I try my best to comment but after 3 times I give up.. It's sad because I feel the person deserve the comments...
ReplyDelete