I've Got the Commenting Blues


Readers and writers of Blogger blogs can't have failed to have noticed there's a new Word Verification (WV) kid on the block.

A few weeks ago, Blogger opted to use the captcha method: i.e. the one we were grateful we didn't have when reading blogs on other blogging platforms.

I believe it's because quite a lot more spam has been getting though lately and Blogger are trying to make it more difficult for the bots. Trouble is, it's a hell of a lot more difficult for humans too :(

As a result I've been tinkering with the way comments work on Veg Plotting. The WV so many of you hated has gone. So far this hasn't increased the amount of automated spam arriving in my comments. *crosses fingers*

Instead there's been a phenomenal increase in the amount of spam trapped by Blogger's spam filter. I also started getting around 10-30 spam comments per day in my inbox, as I'd opted for forwarding comments to my email.

So last week I switched off that option. Result? I received none of the emails I like to see from genuine commenters, but I still got all the hated ones from all the spam. Not quite what I wanted :/

I then considered what else I could do:
  • Change to Comment Moderation, but I don't like the delay in comments appearing on my blog and the conversation it prevents
  • Disable backlinks, but that would prevent me from seeking out new people who've popped over for a visit
  • Prevent Anonymous comments like Lucy did. She found her spam comments ceased when she stopped allowing these on her blog. However it means genuine regular commenters like my friends Lu and Zoe wouldn't be able to comment
  • Use another comment service. When I raised my Issue on the Blogger Help Forum, re the commenting changes, DarkUFO recommended the DISQUS system. I need to investigate further as Petra over at Oxonian Gardener had some problems with it when she went over to WordPress recently. It would also mean a major hack to my blog template and I need to consider any implications for earlier changes I've made.
So what have I done?

I'm no longer allowing Anonymous comments even though I don't like solutions which may discourage genuine comments. So far it's stopped the spam and I've heaved a great sigh of relief. I was also cheered to see Lu left me a comment yesterday.

It would be good to know if Blogger have any more changes planned because they could negate any solution I'm contemplating. I believe I still have some changes to do, hence my commenting blues.

Increased spam isn't just an issue on Blogger blogs. I've seen a marked upturn on my WordPress ones recently too. One cheekily congratulated me on my blog post, but said it was a little too spammy!

How do you manage your blog to encourage genuine commenters, whilst keeping out the spam?

Update: I forgot to mention I use Comment Moderation on blog posts greater than 10 days old. However, I found this does not stop the spam in its tracks when I removed WV. An email to moderate is still an email to deal with :(

Comments

  1. Diana Studer5 March 2012 at 09:19

    Susan in the Pink Hat uses Disqus, Disqus hates me, so you'll lose my comments. There's also LiveFyre but I hate to have to login to leave a comment.

    Remember the Word Verification we had that was so hard to read?? Now that they have removed that, I have found out WHY it was so hard to read. They were using us as computer fodder to 'read' blurred words that had been scanned in from books.

    I do moderate comments. A reader will complain that her comment disappeared, but my regulars know, they have to wait, till I've read the comment. Also I check the spam folder, because the filters are sometimes too enthusiastic, and those comments really will die alone, if you don't retrieve them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diana Studer5 March 2012 at 09:20

    PS closing comments on older posts would be a way of blocking most spam.

    ReplyDelete
  3. VP5 March 2012 at 09:29

    Hi Diana,

    Thanks for your feedback - my dealings with commenting with DISQUS haven't been good either, hence my reluctance to move over to a commenting system outside of Blogger. It also means some template hacking and I'd need to ensure that didn't affect some of the other changes I've made.

    I've considered comment moderation before, but it's reliant on my clearing the comments. If I'm away then that won't happen. Also it means the commenter can't see instantly whether their comment has gone on OK, or what other people have had to say on the subject.

    I do moderate comments on posts older than 10 days, but that didn't stopped spam getting through. I need to check Blogger's options again - I don't think you can close them???javascript:void(0)

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP5 March 2012 at 09:39

    PS You'll see I'm not using the inline Reply option anymore. I hated the way it dealt with apostrophes in people's names and some people felt it destroyed the conversational feel of the comments.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oxonian Gardener5 March 2012 at 10:04

    Hello there! Interesting post. I do hate those captcha codes as I can't READ them! Understand they are needed but crickey... I find myself constantly refreshing it to get an 'easier' one, that I can vaguely read! In terms of Disqus, we initially used it. Looks nice and worked fine, though need some work to 'fit' the blog. However, biggest problem is that the coding is a bit of a mess, which meant that it is very 'heavy' for upload. We worked hard on the blog to ensure it does not require much upload capacity, which was subsequently ruined by disqus. Also their 'customer service' is terrible. We had a few issues, but no one ever responded, when they did respond, it took weeks. Livefyre was great on email response and very helpful dealing with queries. Surprisingly good. Though, the fact that one needed to have an account, or sign up to leave a comment is not good. Hence, we just used a 'smartened' version of simple wordpress comment system, and Akismet for spam control. So far so good; it's doing what it says on the tin!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oxonian Gardener5 March 2012 at 10:20

    Forgot to mention, we do work with Commentluv, as I was always keen to 'credit' comments, with an enhanced profile, by means of a link to their latest post. I am all for supporting the blogging community and this seems a good way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP5 March 2012 at 11:02

    Petra - thanks for your comments. I believe the setup I have now is about the equivalent of what Akismet gives me over at Wordpress.

    However, that does give me an awful lot of spam to deal with behind the scenes *sigh*

    I like Commentluv too for the same reason as you, but I see it's stopped working on some WP blogs that have it. I'm not sure if it's possible to have it on Blogger blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  8. VP5 March 2012 at 11:32

    This one's from Zoe who kindly emailed to say:

    Hi

    I was leaving you a comment or 2, but have discovered under the new regime, I am no longer able to as you don't support the Name/Url option.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VP5 March 2012 at 11:42

    Zoe - this is the unfortunate side effect of what I've done and I don't like it very much either.

    However I'm getting 2-3 genuine Anonymous commenter per month and 10-30 spam ones per day.

    As you're a WP blogger, the OpenId option I do have for commenting supports WP. If OpenID also has issues I'd like to know about them as this also adds to the discussion.

    I've linked to the OpenID website on my comment form. I was surprised to see how many other 'web presences' are supported by that option.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Carol Michel5 March 2012 at 11:49

    I turned off word verification for a while, but like you, I got all kinds of emails for the spam comments. So I turned it back on while I figure things out. Maybe so many will complaint that the Bloggers folks will come up with a better word verification tool? In the meantime, I may do what you did and no longer allow anonymous comments.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP5 March 2012 at 11:55

    Hi Carol - when I looked at the Blogger Help Forum I was surprised at the lack of issues on there. Nor has there been anything on Blogger Buzz to say why they've introduced this version of captcha.

    The issue I've raised alerts Google to the fact people are turning off WV compltely, which I believe is the last thing they wanted people to do. I've also suggested something gets posted on Blogger Buzz too. I've been told that my comments have been passed onto Google for consideration.

    So everyone - raise an issue on the Blogger Help Forum, or else live with a commenting system which doesn't help you or your readers.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oxonian Gardener5 March 2012 at 13:36

    In terms of Commentluv, he updated the software recently and changed the functionality. That may be why not working on other sites.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rose5 March 2012 at 14:16

    I haven't found a solution to this problem either, VP, but I'm waiting to see if someone more technologically talented than I has a good idea. I can hardly read the new word verifications at times, and in a moment of frustration, I turned mine off. Suddenly, I started getting all this spam--which I didn't before. I didn't notice at first, until I realized they were just repeating comments from other visitors. Apparently, my spammers are parrots:)

    I did enable comment moderation on older posts, which helps. I hope Blogger addresses this--I'm getting a little frustrated, too, with their help section.

    ReplyDelete
  14. VP5 March 2012 at 14:28

    I found this over at Karen's today (she has just installed a maths question on her blog's comment form to reduce the 100s of spam comments she gets).

    Hillwards sheds some light (or lack of it) re the use of OpenId and WP users:

    Regarding the captcha thang, I’ve found on many blogger blogs that if I try and use my wordpress OpenId to leave a comment, I cannot get the word verification right, apparently, after countless tries when it looks right to me, but it works when I use my google account to leave the comment. Very frustrating, as I’d rather use OpenId. Although I think that by selecting OpenId, blogger doesn’t populate the word verification thing properly at all; sometimes I can’t even see it, though I know there is one there preventing my comment from being accepted. Maths is definitely a lesser evil.

    ReplyDelete
  15. VP5 March 2012 at 14:34

    Petra - yes, I saw that :)

    Rose - it IS frustrating isn't it. It looks like there isn't a simple solution. It appears the spammers are getting better at attacking blogs judging by the amount I've seen on my WP blogs, which pales into insignificance compared to the amount Karen (mentioned in my previous comment) gets on her WP blog.

    We won't even go near mentioning what a problem it is on the likes of Twitter...

    I hope you found this post and the comment discussion useful in helping you to decide what else you might do. I moderate comments on posts older than 10 days BTW, but my recent exploration with removing WV proved that that does very little to get rid of my receiving spam comments at all :(

    ReplyDelete
  16. VP5 March 2012 at 15:11

    I've just had a look through the Blogger Help Forum and found:

    The OpenId problem's been raised many times, but it looks like not much has been done to fix it :(

    There's a big call for the Anonymous and the supply Name/URL option to be separated into 2 options along the lines of what WP already has.

    Some of the replies say this won't solve the problem because non-genuine commenters can still use the Name/URL option instead of the Anonymous one. I'd say from my experience so far an option to stop just the Anonymous commenters would be an enormous step forward and would allow my genuine commenters like Lu and Zoe to make valued comments like they've been doing for years.

    Of course none of this will stop the human spammers who use their Google accounts or OpenId to comment and backlink through to their spammy or advert ridden blogs :(

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lu5 March 2012 at 15:40

    Now I've got myself a Google account I'm OK. Thanks for thinking of me while dealing with all that spam!

    ReplyDelete
  18. VP5 March 2012 at 15:47

    Hi Lu - I'm glad you can comment, but sadly Zoe's already been in touch to say she can't :(

    And I know 2 other genuine comments in the last 100 wouldn't have been made. One of them was seriously questioning some points made by Tony Kirkham. It v important they were made.

    At the moment I can't see a solution to this which will make both me and Name/URL commenters like you and Zoe happy.

    And that makes me very unhappy indeed :(

    ReplyDelete
  19. Barks Holiday Cottage5 March 2012 at 16:10

    I have been using WV and it still doesn't completely stop spam comments - but I don't have as many comments as you. Handy that Blogger sends me an email alert so that I can cast a glance at what has been posted.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Karen Hall5 March 2012 at 16:27

    Sigh ... it is all getting so complex now, not you, just blogger in general.
    My open ID is tied to another wordpress account, so I will have to use my google id, which goes to a holding oage on blogger with a link to my self hosted wordpress blog ..... unless you have a workaround for me?
    K

    ReplyDelete
  21. VP5 March 2012 at 16:37

    Hi Karen - Sorry I don't know :(

    I hope someone else reading this might be able to help...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jamie5 March 2012 at 16:38

    sigh, it's all so complicated now. I guess we should all go play a little longer in the garden to relieve the new stress!

    ReplyDelete
  23. VP5 March 2012 at 16:39

    Catherine - sorry I missed you earlier. Oh for simpler times...

    Jamie - welcome and thanks for Following :) Spookily I've just been saying that very thing! It's off to the garden for me...

    ReplyDelete
  24. The bike shed5 March 2012 at 19:19

    I have opted for comment moderation - but so far no-one has left a comment for me to moderate :-(

    ReplyDelete
  25. Flighty6 March 2012 at 07:46

    I sympathise! I certainly don't like it as I have difficulty in reading the 'words'! I also had to swap from using the Open ID to Name/URL recently as the former no longer worked on Blogger blogs.
    I don't think that I've ever had any spam comments appear on my Wordpress blog where thankfully Akisket has stopped over 15,000 from appearing. If they had they would have have swamped the 10,000 plus genuine ones.
    All in all spam in all it's forms is a right pain! Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  26. VP6 March 2012 at 08:22

    The Bike Shed - well, I'll have to come over and rectify that won't I?

    Flighty - thanks taking the trouble to use your Blogger profile to comment :) This OpenId problem is of real concern to me. I'm sure plenty of Blogger bloggers aren't aware of it and so think their WP pals are able to comment, or they're being ignored by them :(

    ReplyDelete
  27. Diana Studer6 March 2012 at 09:37

    The only way I (technically challenged) know to close comments on older posts, is manually, post by post. The amount of spam I get doesn't justify that. I had a pharma wave, now I'm back to the porn wave. But the filters do catch mine!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anna6 March 2012 at 12:13

    Having tried to comment on at least a couple of Blogger blogs this morning desperately screwing my eyes up to read those infuriating letters - not once, not twice but in once case thrice I could scream! Have been lucky enough not to have major spam issues but surely Blogger can come up with something better that would still thwart the spammers. Will be revisiting my comments settings again soon and will get over to the Blogger help forum to raise the issue with them.

    ReplyDelete
  29. BilboWaggins7 March 2012 at 07:21

    Nor has there been anything on Blogger Buzz to say why they've introduced this version of captcha

    Because Google have bought the company who developed it, so my guess it's we're not getting rid of the infernal thing any time soon.

    A couple of weeks ago I turned off WV and moved to 'all comments except Anonymous'. No spam, no complaints from friends, so far no problems. Guess it's the price we pay for a completely free Blogging service, even if we don't like it :{

    BTW, is it me, or does this setting for comments (ie: separate page, no longer under original post) remove the 'subscribe to comments' option?? A nuisance if I've got to physically return to a page a couple of times a day to follow a conversation.

    I like the embedded version because it allows threaded replies.

    ReplyDelete
  30. VP18 March 2012 at 08:39

    Diana - thanks for coming back. I've spotted how you do it now. I've had quite a few comments lately from new readers going through my back catalogue of posts, so I suppose it's a matter of weighing up the pros and cons of doing that...

    Anna - I suspect this business is a 'feature' of the major changes going on behind the scenes to integrate various Google apps. I wish they'd hurry up and do something about this major problem though!

    Bilbo Waggins - yes, the subscribe option has been left out - whether designed or accidentally I can't say :/

    I tried the embedded option for a while but had some comments about it making the conversation side of things harder to follow. I also have a number of commenters with an apostrophe in their ID and it turned that into gobbledegook, making them look awful. It doesn't work for everyone either - whether Google has fixed that problem yet I don't know.

    Thanks for adding your thoughts to the mix :)

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more