Friday, 26 August 2005

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Posted by Nogbad at 15:01:00

10 careful considerations:

Nogbad said...

And now removed again as it was frying my head

Friday, August 26, 2005 8:58:00 pm
Ang said...

What are you doing?!?! LOL

And do you get that many spam comments that you now have added that wordy thing??

Friday, August 26, 2005 9:01:00 pm
Nogbad said...

Yes on the spam, without a doubt! I wanted the haloscan stuff for trackback and thought I could have that without their comments but it seems not. Had enough playing now - off to open a bottle of wine or go to the pub, decisions decisions :-)

Friday, August 26, 2005 9:16:00 pm
kat said...

I've added the word verification to my blog as well. I know it is a bit of a pain but it is less trouble than having to type out your blog address in Haloscan.

Friday, August 26, 2005 10:47:00 pm
bluefluff said...

Doesn't banning anonymous comments achieve the same result more simply? You have statcounter to see where we all come from...

Saturday, August 27, 2005 2:09:00 am
Nogbad said...

Noooooooooo BF! What happens is that they post with a valid name - haven't you seen the one flogging TVs somewhere in Americaland? they appear to arrive in waves - nothing for a while and then a big load all at once.

Saturday, August 27, 2005 9:17:00 am
Nogbad said...

Yo Squidward! I see an additional benefit in the thinking time during the word verification, and the fact that when really, really drunk I'm less likely to make it :-)

Saturday, August 27, 2005 9:19:00 am
Rob said...

I can comment because I can read the word verification thing - but, as another blog points out:
The "word verification" thing that blogger offers is otherwise known as a CAPTCHA (an acronym for "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart"). They're problematic because they're not actually Turing tests. They can be defeated by software which can figure out what the word is. Also, they can be defeated by motivated persons. For example, a script might grab my CAPTCHA image and post it to a pron site, telling a user there to de-scramble the CAPTCHA in exchange for access to naughty images.

In addition to not actually stopping spam, they also weed out real humans who have visual impairment and are thus a huge accessibility issue, to the point that it is surprising to me that they do not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in an ADA-related lawsuit.

I'd invite comment on whether CAPTCHAs are better or worse than making you sign up for a blogger account, but ironically, those most likely to be in favor of the CAPTCHA solution can't actually comment. Blogger should take action to prevent the same IP address from hammering away too many times or too quickly.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 10:35:00 am
Nogbad said...

I must admit that I'm probably going to dump the word verification because I'm struggling to read it! The comments spam seems to run in waves and I've had spam from people with "valid" blogger accounts (but no spam since the word verification was turned on). But I resent the struggle to post comments and more than a few times I have to go round more than once because I've miskeyed the letters.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:17:00 am
bluefluff said...

The one you used was more legible than some. I've sometimes been defeated by similar systems elsewhere & had to call in a family member to decipher the letters for me (& my visual impairment is only slight).
I wonder if the spammers detect "active" blogs? I didn't receive any comments spam during the recent 3 week spell while my blog was dormant, yet that period overlaps with your introduction of Haloscan & word verification, so it wasn't that the spammers were on holiday too... odd.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 11:49:00 am

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)