Wednesday, February 22, 2012

I have taken my life in my hands

...and, after reading Jinksy’s friend Hilary’s post containing some simple instructions, have -- with fear and trembling -- turned off Word Verification on this blog.

I think the Blogger people probably mean well. They are only trying to separate the real human beings from the automatic spammers, but their efforts are having the unintended opposite effect, that of removing real human beings from the process altogether. If something is too difficult, or really isn’t but is perceived to be, or even if it is just a little bit inconvenient, many people simply quit trying.

I say this to our shame.

***Observes a moment of silence here for what strange creatures we humans are***

But since what I’m after is comments, more and more comments from more and more people, I have taken the plunge.

I am now in free-fall mode.

Please be gentle.

13 comments:

  1. It is a brave step to take. Congratulations ;-) If you disable anonymous comments and set a time for comments that you want to moderate, you'll be reasonably safe I think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay!!
    I also opened up the gate and have had 3x spam in as many days, but I just delete it.
    I can't remember, do you moderate the comments before posting? Mine come in my email first. If I don't like 'em, I don't post 'em.

    Guess I'll find out in a minute.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah. You don't moderate. You may find it's worthwhile Robert.

    ReplyDelete
  4. In your comment box please type the following word verification to view my erudite and interesting comment:-
    Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

    ReplyDelete
  5. FROM HE WHO CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS TOOFebruary 22, 2012 at 4:29 PM

    oh boy oh boy oh boy, no restraints of any kind<><>what a day to rejoice, i can curse swear, swoon, be a loon, figure out all the problems of the universese with no restrains and no reprocuxsions, be a democrat all i want tooooo, give a bad time to snow the reprobate, spue all my mormonism on you and without any reprocusions, of course miss spell all i want, all because rhymsee has dropped his standards for what gets into this blog[the always popular PUTZ}}FROM HE WHO CAN DO WANT HE WANTS TOOOOOO

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have not disabled anonymous comments, because a couple of my own children post here from time to time anonymously and I wouldn't want to bar them, of all people.

    Also, all comments go into my email so that I am aware of them even if I haven't checked my blog recently (of course, I have to check my email frequently, so it's six of one and half a dozen of the other). And all comments on posts more than 14 days old go into moderation. Depending on the type and tenor of comments I begin to receive, I may decrease this period or dispense with it completely and moderate everything, but right now I don't want to tie my own hands, so to speak.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Special reminder to Putz the Irrepressible and others of his ilk and unbridled exuberance:

    And at any time I can delete any comment I wish!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well done that man! And may others please follow suit. The latest word verification system from Blogger is painful and it usually takes me two or three attempts to post a comment.

    I've never bothered with it on my WordPress site and apart from the occasional spam from someone calling himself Yorkshire Pudding, it hasn't been a problem.

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  9. I appreciate the inclusiveness of your moment of silence.

    ReplyDelete
  10. , but I can't imagine who Putz might be referring to as "Snow the reprobate." Ha.

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  11. Snowbrush, (a) we aim to please; (b) me neither.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Snowbrush, (a) we aim to please; (b) me neither.

    ReplyDelete

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