Grrr.... anyone know how to reduce comment spam? At least the current trend is to say they love the blog - before pitching the cialis.
I like blogs that use CAPTCHA
for comments. It makes users type the letters they see in an image, cutting down the robots. TYPEPAD, my host, doesn't offer it. Anyone know of a simple third party CAPTCHA solution that I can use with TYPEPAD?
What I don't think I want:
1)to learn how to host the blog myself
2)require user registration - as a blog reader, requiring me to "register" just turns me away, even when I have something pithy to say.
Okay - I just turned on typepad's new "comment approval" setting. I bet I'll get some duplicate comments from people who submit something and it doesn't show up instantly. Anyway, let's see how it goes.
Posted by: Mary | September 22, 2005 at 07:41 PM
Fiona - that's an excellent point about CAPTCHA and people who use screen readers.
Maybe I'll try moderating comments. It would be nice if once someone is "approved" they could post without future moderation. But then of course, anyone could say they were that person. Or perhaps they'd have to register with a password to make future posts pre-approved .. bleck.. LibraryLaw blog gets few enough comments as it is!
I'll have to see how it works with Typepad...but it's worth checking into.
When the spam is really disgusting, I usually stop whatever I'm doing to get rid of it. I've been more inclined to let the new spammers (who tell me how great the site is) stay a little longer so I can clean out in batches. But UCK - that can be even worse...Yesterday I clicked on a commenter's name to check him/her out... The comment was innocuous (tho irrelevant to the site), as was the link. But soon thereafter, my computer started freezing - I ran some anti-spyware software, and I recognized a new "critical object" as coming from that commenter's link.
Lesson to me: If a comment doesn't have something related to this blog, (even if it tells me I'm great!), I should delete without clicking any of its links.
Posted by: Mary | September 22, 2005 at 12:10 PM
One of the big problems with something like CATCHPA and other "type the letters you see in the image" tests is that they are completely inaccessible to someone using a screen reader, or people with vision impairments (eg Dyslexia or even Glaucoma).
I've resorted to moderating comments - I was quite bad at doing it for a while but I'm now in the habit for checking for new comments daily.
Posted by: Fiona | September 21, 2005 at 04:17 AM