Get Rid of Your Word Verification (and Make All Your Blog Readers Sing with Joy)
You know what pretty much the entire Internet hates?
These word verification forms in order to comment on a blog post. I mean, everyone has always disLIKED them, but then Blogger went and made them unbelievably difficult (adding those ridiculous numbers) and ALSO more people started reading blogs via phones and tablets and such, where it’s even MORE difficult to type out those ridiculous little “words” (could I have used more capital letters in this paragraph? No, I do not think so).
So, everyone should get rid of them, right? Yes.
(Also, I know people worry about spam, but really, I think you shouldn’t worry too much about it. I got rid of my word verification years ago and I’ve gotten only a handful of spam comments in that time (although I do have it set to make comments on posts older than a month get verified by me first). And really, deleting the occasional spam comment is so much better than making your beloved readers type in made-up words and random number sets every time they want to comment).
If you DO have significant problems with spam or are worried about it, might I suggest that you moderate your comments (meaning you push them through to published instead of having them instantly published) instead? Then your readers don’t have to fill out the word verification and you control the spam.
Anyway. . . .
The thing that makes this is a tiny bit tricky is that when you’re signed into your Google account, it won’t make you do a word verification if you comment on your own blog, so you might THINK you don’t have the word verification, even if you actually do.
So. . . you know, you might want to check. Also, it takes all of about sixty seconds.
First, go to your Blogger dashboard and choose the little dropdown arrow next to the picture of some papers:
A bunch of options will pop up. Choose “Settings.”
When the settings page comes up, choose “Posts and comments” from the left-hand sidebar.
And now press ‘Save Changes” in the top right corner and pat yourself on the back.
Well, you’ve just made MY day.
Okay. You've finally given me that little nudge I needed to "just do it!" Done. 🙂
I got hammered with so much spam a few years ago that I clicked yes on the word verification. Just took it off so we will see what happens. I did change one setting last year that comments on old posts need to be verified. Most of the spam that I get these days, now that I am only posting a handful of times per month, is on really old posts. Ad it's easy to delete those spam comments from my dashboard.
I don't have verification on any of my blogs, but I do moderate ALL comments. I had a problem with a commentator in Cybils several years ago and they occasionally pop up again, so I'm a little paranoid. Comments are emailed to me, I approve them, they post. I'm on my email pretty all the time, so it happens pretty fast. I'd also note that blogger's spam filters have gotten better and most comment spam I get goes directly to the spam folder, I never have to see it.
Oh, just did it! To be honest, I didn't even know that my readers got asked for that. So glad for the tip. Thanks Janssen!
YES! Thank you! I hate word verification. I have never had it on my blog because I hate it so much. More people should stop using it.
I think what's really going on here is that you've just figured out how to use some kind of screen capture app and wanted an excuse to try it out. 🙂
Completely agree. I hate any kind of verification since, at least WordPress, has a really good spam filter.
I thought I had disabled them, but you made me paranoid that I hadn't, so I rechecked. I have a super firey hatred for those verifications, so I would have been extra sheepish having it on my own blog.
The one thing that spurred the most spam comments on my blog has been the circumcision discussion. Weird. But I have had very few spam comments in the whole of my blogging experience. Thanks for trying to get everyone to stop using the maddening verifications!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope people do as they're told. I find word verification incredibly annoying and I can only imagine how hard it makes it to comment for people that can't see all that well.
I couldn't agree more. I did this a while ago and have only had one spam comment in months.
Thank you for this. Word verification is the worst! They give me anxiety. Haha. I've never had it on my blog.
So I feel bad about this, but I get a TON of spam comments when I have it turned off. And unfortunately it's an incredible pain to go through deleting them all. I simply don't have time to during the day, and I am just anal enough to let the fact that they are sitting there visible on my blog all day long drive me utterly bonkers.
So. I feel bad.
I turned mine off several months ago and have gotten quite a bit of Spam since then. But since I don't want everyone to hate me I've left off the word verification. (Probably.) But yeah, I disagree with the "you won't get Spam!" comment.
AMEN! (Yes, all in caps). I have a friend who uses comment moderation so controls her comments that way. So much easier on any of us making comments.
Thank you! I don't know if I'm the only one here, but I have trouble even filling out the captcha things. Sometimes they don't even make sense! There may be more spam without word verification, but it's easier on everyone who wants to post.
I turned off word verification because people complained. I've done without, and I've tried just moderating or approving comments. I was immediately bombarded with horrible disgusting spam. Word verification is back on.
I turned it off *crossing my fingers I don't get too much spam!*
You can also (at least in blogger) select who can post on your blog. Requiring some sort of id means anonymous posters can't spam you. Of course, you'll still get spam from people with a Google profile, but you can report them!
Oh, my dear sweet girl, how I wish I could appease you. I turned the verification off a few months ago (after a nudge from you, non-coincidentally), and ironically, it was reader complaints about my spam that had me turn it back on — I got THAT much. So people who opted for "follow-up comments" on posts were receiving the spam, then emailing me saying, "You really get a lot of spam." Yah, I doooo. I think the issue is that the bots detect a change in the registry, and flag blogs who have changed their settings to no longer encode the verification images. Because you've had yours off for a long time, you're not getting flagged for a registry change. If you turned it on for a day, then off again, I think you'd find you suddenly were a spam-magnet. I am talking 10-20 comments a day that were spam. So, my dear, I hope I am wrong, and others can change their settings without repurcussions…but as for me and my house, we are currently bowing to the yuck. /sigh I hate word verification too. I hate that I have it on. But 20?!
AMEN. I hate verification and turned mine off several months ago — and even though I was worried about spam, I haven't received any since then (knocking on wood). I wish everyone would do this! I'll be sharing your post. 🙂
so, I did what you suggested because I have a couple of good friends who read my blog every day but don't comment because of the pain in the ____ that is blogger. However, the very first comment I got was spam. I may have to go back to lock down.
I don't have word verification because I know it bugs, but I get a ton of spam. I have no idea how you don't!!
I turned on word verification a few months ago after never having used it for five years, because I was being TARGETED and getting dozens of spam comments every day. It was killing me. I meant to turn it off after a couple weeks to see if that did the trick, but totally forgot til I saw this post. So! Word verification is off, and now we'll see what happens. Thanks for the reminder!
I just turned on word Verf. 3 days ago. I was personally publishing my comments and easily getting upwards of 60-100 spam comments a day. The more popular my blog gets, the more spam I get!!
YES! Thank you. Gaaah.
xox
Thanks a ton!!!!! 🙂
THANK YOU!! I had no idea mine was on (since it never asked me for verification). But mine is off now.
I tried to follow your advice, but there is no setting for Word Verification in my Blogger Posts and Comments settings. I took a screen shot to show you, but I doubt I can attach the pic here. Any advice?
I thought mine was off and it was on. Thank you.
I did that (turned off word verification) and it is still requiring a CAPTCHA for commenting. If blogger doesn't allow this to be removed, I'm going to explode. Anyone know how to take it off?