CAPTCHAs Gone Wild!

I received quite a shock when I went to send out the notices for being included in our [Sites ToSee #419].  For by the time it was all over with, there was only five out of the original ten remaining.

You see, I just cannot abide with the hated word-verification spam-protection thingy being engaged.  It is for this reason that I leave comments beforehand to check if it is (because some have it to where the insidious monster does not show itself until after an attempt to leave a comment is made) so that a site can be included in the series.  Lo and behold, there was the CAPTCHA box now clearly in-place on five of the ten.  Therefore, I was legally-obligated to remove the offenders from the lineup.

Oh, but the fun I was having was not to end there.  For when I went to leave comments on [Adullamite’s] and [Ann’s] respective sites, there was the hated word-verification thingy clearly in-place!  Now, I could understand why Adullamite might do this.  For he is the epitome of a cantankerous ol’ (rather ancient, actually) true Scot, but Ann has expressed her hatred for CAPTCHAs at least as much I have.  So, what was going on?

I still don’t have a definitive answer, but the great increase in word-verification engagement seems to be coming from Google/Blogger.  For after I contacted Adullamite via email about the problem, he told me that he had not put it there and instructed me to go ahead and leave the comment without completing the CAPTCHA requirement.  Since he says a lot of things on a regular basis, I was somewhat skeptical, but after I went ahead and hit the publish button (without completing the CAPTCHA requirement) the comment went through.  The same thing happened when I went to again leave a comment on Ann’s.

Now, for all of you who insist upon being anti-social, Google/Blogger has made it mandatory for all anonymous commentators to have to successfully decipher a CAPTCHA code.  This went into effect several weeks ago, and I have not received a spam comment since.  Whereas, I was receiving dozens almost every day beforehand.

Okay, there are some spammers willing to actually register a screen-name (albeit fake).  So, it might not be a bad idea to still have comment moderation in-place, if you are so inclined.

Alas, I recently asked someone to change to comment moderation to make it easier for me to leave comments, and he insisted that he did not have the time to sort through the good and bad.  Please forgive me for saying so, but that is nonsensical.  For when I was receiving dozens upon dozens of spam comments a day, 99.9% of them went into the spam folder automatically.  Since mistakes are bound to happen, I would highly recommend checking to see if an alleged spam comment really is one before deleting the contents of the spam folder.  That is, unless you really could not care less about interacting with your readers and possibly developing a relationship with them, of course.

P.S.: It appears that only sites with their comment location set as a pop-up window have been effected by the current Google/Blogger word-verification glitch.  For this site has not had a problem, and I have it set to “embedded” while both Adullamite and Ann have it as a pop-up window.  So, if you would like to find a fix as soon as possible, go to your Google Dashboard>Settings>Posts and Comments.  At the top of the Comments section, you will see where you have several options for “Comment Location.”  If you now have yours set on “Pop-Up Window,” change it to “Embeded,” and that should do the trick until the current glitch is corrected (hopefully).

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