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Blog Readers Report Comments Supposedly Posted, Yet Never Moderated Or Published

This week, we're seeing a new flood of complaints from people who report
I posted my comment, but it vanished!
and blog owners, who report
My readers report inability to find their comments after they are published. And no, they are not in my "Spam" folder.
Why are all of these comments disappearing?

When I am able to examine a blog involved in the reported problem, and post a test comment, I find that each blog in question uses the Embedded comment form, with CAPTCHA ("word verification") screening.

In all reported cases, I have been able to leave a comment (in some cases, subject to moderation by the owner), since my computer does not block third party cookies.

These reports are yet new symptoms from people who filter cookies excessively. The browsers are unable to display the CAPTCHA form, required by the blog owner or Blogger, because of filtered third party cookies.

If the CAPTCHA form can't be displayed, the blog reader sits there, looking at the embedded comment form, with the comment unpublished, and seemingly "disappeared".

It's that simple. The CAPTCHA form isn't displayed, the comment isn't published, and another reader thinks that the comment disappeared. And the blog owner looks in both his "Awaiting Moderation" and "Spam" folders - and finds no missing comments.

A new episode of the disappearing comments may involve blogs which don't use the CAPTCHA form - but where the blog readers, wishing to post a comment, are located outside the USA - and where access to the blogs are subject to Country Code Alias redirection. A similar effect will be seen, with blogs published to custom domains.

Once more, I implore you. Stop filtering third party cookies, if you want to post comments to blogs that use the embedded comment form.

Comments

Ms. G said…
Hi nitecruzr. Testing commenting because I'm one of the vanishing folks. I don't have third party cookies blocked so I'm curious to see if this one goes through. It seems to be hit and miss for me. I couldn't comment on my own blog and I don't use CAPTCHA. I have to dig a little deeper I guess. Crossing my fingers.
Tina Koltz said…
I have the same problem. I do not have the CAPTCHA option for my blog and it is still not letting my students comment on my current events blog that I have set up for them. This is a new problem as I've done this for several years and it isn't working.
Tina Koltz said…
Hello. I use the blogger site to do a current events discussion for my students (I teach 11th grade US History) and I have done this for several years. I have never had a problem getting students to comment on my site www.koltzus.blogspot.com until this week. I don't use the CAPTCHA so I'm not sure if it is something I am doing with my settings for something that needs to be fixed by the students. Can you help me please?
Orion said…
You do understand however, nitecruzr, that letting in cookies from any site is not something users are particularly fond of. I know it is necessary at this point, but shouldn't Google be working on a solution that does not force its users to endanger their data?

You can see how many users have a problem with this and surely most of them will have issues with third party cookies.

It feels a bit irrational for Google to ask its users to compromise instead of trying to find some other way.
Nitecruzr said…
Vasia,

Good point. The discussion about the dangers of "third party cookies", being possibly accessed by untrustworthy websites, is constant in some discussion forums.

Oddly enough, the people who argue most strongly against "third party cookies" being allowed never seem to observe that, should you surf to an untrustworthy website - even inadvertently, having cookies read by that website is generally not the most severe danger posed by such a website.

To put it another way, if you are in danger of cookie content being read by "hackerzrus.org", you probably should not surf to "hackerzrus.org". If you think that the main threat from "hackerzrus.org" is having your cookies read, you probably should not be surfing.
Thanks for the offer to test. And thank you for the advice. While I believe I can post comments, my readers have still not been able to within my blog. Testing, 1...2...3
The Crow said…
Thank you for the offer of test comments. One of my followers cannot naviget/post to my blog. With another blogger, I can't post to his comment section, though he can post to mine. These probles are recent (last 3-4 months) development. I changed my comment format to full-page, but still can't post to friend's blog.

The response I received a few moments ago read: "We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
The following errors were found:
Input error: Cookie value is null for FormRestoration"

How do I fix this?
cdm317 said…
Trying to test my comments, as I am also experiencing this problem. Thanks
Linda Starr said…
Try to test my commenting on other's blogs that are moderated, some go through, some do not. This really isn't a test because the blogs I can't comment on don't take me to this page but have the comment embedded. I see the word verfication in this one, on theirs I don't see it.
Unknown said…
testing comments as well
Bungalowgirl said…
Hi, i am having this issue of not being able to post comments on some blogs. I followed your advice and checked and my third party cookes were enabled on IE. Could there be another cause for this? Is it just blogs with word verification and or embedded post comments that are causing this in which case I can do blog post asking people to remove this from their own blogs, or is it something else as well. This has only starte happening in last few days. thanks, mel.
LaniM said…
Hi - thanks for posting this. I'm not a member of blogger.com but I sometimes comment on pages and haven't been abe to see the word verification window so my comment just disappears. I followed your steps to ensure I have third party cookies enabled (which I do) and I am obviously able to comment on this blog! However I went to try another blog (author Nalini Singh) and that I know uses word verification but about a week or so ago I stopped being able to see it, and I still can't see it now. I don't suppose you have any other suggestions?
Bungalowgirl said…
Trouble posting comments
Bungalowgirl said…
Hi, I am also having this problem and checked and my third party cookes are enabled exactly as you instructed. Any other thoughts on why I would still be having problems- only on some blogs? Is it just the ones with word verification or the ones with embedded posts or something else entirely? thanks, mel.
debijackson said…
cookie test djackson1958@hotmail.com
Ford Fam said…
Test. thanks.
John said…
Test for my computer
Kristi said…
I'm having this problem with readers too and decided to take off the word verification option because of it...yet the option doesn't seem to be available in the new blogger interface. Is it hiding somewhere I can't find or is there a work-around to remove word verification? Thanks!
Kristi @ veggieconverter.com
Tarset Shepherd said…
hi, just checking if I can leave a comment after being unable to leave comments on other peoples blogs. Have done the cookie thing and hope the problem is now resolved.
Sauce du Jour said…
Hi, Just checking b/c I'm having the same issue on my blog. Thanx for letting me do a test run, but still can't comment on my own. hmmm...
Julie Kennon said…
Thanks for taking a look at my blog and posting the comment -- I have switched to full page comments and will try to disable the third party cookie setting. I really appreciate the answer and hope it solves the problem!
I have a marketing expert who guest hosts on my blog once a month, and she can't leave a comment. She hasn't been able to for 5 months. She was able to last year. Any ideas?
BetteG said…
My friends currently cannot post on my blog either..

It's becoming inactive with little interaction.. At this point I'm considering shutting it down

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