Oregon High Desert Museum January 2013
So I put up word verification which cut way back on the number of email notifications but I HATE word verification when I have to use it. It's hard to figure out the letters and even when I am sure I got it right, I often have to do it twice. So annoying. To put it onto my blog means I am subjecting the few who will comment (and most readers do not) to working through those murky letters which likely means even less do comment.
What gets me about it is-- why do spammers do it? Do they actually sell any products that way? Are they paid by the numbers they put out? I am not sure what they think it will accomplish, but I've never even read those links let alone taken the chance of clicking on one and getting some kind of virus or a phony product that likely if I offered to buy I'd find my money disappearing along with the product.
They are clever, the spammers as they often flatter the heck out of a writer as they have gotten quite good at making it sound like they read the blog. But why not put their energy into creating their own sales blogs or something? I mean what are the odds that my blog will sell what they are spamming? For the few times blogger misses one (and it's few), I delete them when I see them.
Once, and only once, I made a catastrophic error when I got to my spam folder where they request we regularly check to be sure all are spam (and for some reason blogger does put one of my readers in there which always amazes me as she might be the only one i know who uses her actual full name to comment). I clicked on the button to check all boxes then clicked on the button to delete the spam and realized too late I'd hit the button that said-- not spam. That meant I had to figure out where those spammers had posted and get there to delete all of them by hand. I am VERY careful to not repeat that mistake.
So for now I am keeping the word verification off but if it reappears, know the reason why-- my email load just can't handle it.
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16 comments:
I have had word verification on my blog on and off. I take it off because I know it's an inconvenience to my readers, but almost immediately the spam begins, so now I have it on permanently. I agree with you as to why they do it. Any reader with an ounce of common sense would never click on those links. But, they must have some success because the spam just keeps coming.
Spam is one of the great frustrations for all of us bloggers. As much as I hate word verification I understand the need for it. hopefully one day some techno-genius will come up with a sure-proof way of easily ridding spam permanently from our blogs.
I don't use Word Verification---I only use Comment Moderation, and that has kept all the spam away....I honestly don't understand why it is different on each blog. Maybe there is some other setting that is also keeping the spam away. As to why spammers do what they do is a total mystery to me....
Something that I have noticed recently is ADS EVERYWHERE!!! I find it soooo annoying and invasive---especially if I have been to a Website like Radio Shack and within 15 minutes something comes up referring to the "last time you visited Radio Shack..."
It's like BIG BROTHER is watching and then stops in for an uninvited visit!!!!! OY!
I don't use word verification but I do moderate the comments. Most of the time the flattery is empty--it doesn't refer to anything specific in any post. I exercise my right to ruthlessly purge such comments and any with links to sales sites. Thankfully I don't feel inundated by the spam. I might change my mind if that changes.
I get at least 10 spam comments for every actual comment. I blog so infrequently that I've decided not to disincentivize the three people who might comment, but I have shortened the period of time each post is open for comment.
I know, like we are really going to click on their goofy links, most of them are barely readable. Oh well, we just have to wade through the garbage to get the good stuff sometimes!
for me comment moderation didn't cut the numbers of spammers coming to my emails but I might try it again if the load gets overwhelming before I put back on the word verification.
What concerns me is my showing up as spam. I tcould have started when I used my son-in-law's computer to comment and make posts to my blog. I thought the problem would go away.
I moderate. I always will. The captcha letters are harder & harder to read.
Rain, I just have to trust you know I’m always a fan whether I post or not. Your words are always on target.
Diane, since I know you will be there, when I get an email saying you commented, I go get it. It's always worth it whether we agree or not on the topic :)
Hey and nice to hear of so many kindred spirits on this topic :)
I use neither moderation nor verification since my blog is closed to search engines (the opposite of SEO!) However, for no known reason, I am sometimes forced to fulfill Capcha requirements in commenting on my own blog which, I assume, means that my blog friends are surely subjected to it too. That really irks me; but, having complained to my provider, I am told that their security protocol is the issue and that I have no control over it. Grrrrrr!
Cop Car
Cross my fingers, I've been lucky in this regard! When the spam really hits is in my email account. Sheesh. And then of course there are the plethora of advertisements that come in the place and also placed in the crack of the front door. Junk, junk, and more junk!
es, it's my email where I hate it, Tara. If I am here, it's not so bad but I had over 20 this morning and another 20 just now. They are all on moderation as they are to older posts; so it won't be helped by that. It was helped by word verification. It simply swamps my email system. By the end of a day I bet I have nearly 100 of them. It's unmanageable but if I didn't use that email for anything but that I guess, it wouldn't be a big deal but I do. And everything else gets buried. They do multiples of the same posts to the same blog topic. I can't see how this can be good for our internet usage when they swamp it that way with garbage.
Since the first of the year, I have been getting spam texts and phone calls on my cell. I do not answer the calls and they almost never leave a message. If they do leave a message it is almost always a hangup. It is a pain since my phone buzzes several times a day sometimes.
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