The Real Blogger Status

This month, we are again seeing evidence of recent security changes by Microsoft . We see signs of continued frustration, in the process of publishing comments - and publishing posts, as part of the Import process. In the process of diagnosing an apparent comment publishing problem, I ventured into the comment publishing experience, yet again.

We're seeing questions about commenting, and identification, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue . Why do I have to click on 3 pictures of steak, to post a comment? This blog reader is not enjoying the new CAPTCHA - and has a problem with using it, repeatedly. When you comment, you now have to identify yourself as a person - not a robotic process (aka "autobot" or "bot"). For most of us, this is not an issue. We login to Blogger (or Google) once a day, and we're done. The "once a day" solution does not work, for everybody.

One of the most easily overlooked details, about Blogger blog content , is that GPT / PTC / PTS Content is not suitable, for Blogger blogs. Blogger Content Policy has a section which describes GPT / PTC / PTS Content, in passing . Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains. Unfortunately, spammers have been imaginatively subtle, in their description of various make money fast programmes - and not so many blog owners think it necessary to contact a lawyer, to interpret the Content Policy document, when planning their new blog.

Much of what we do in life - and what we do when using Blogger - is based upon, and limited by, choice. Some choices we get to make, for ourselves. Other choices are made for us, by people who make their own choices. Some blog owners do not want their readers to have to login to Blogger, to comment on their blogs. Other blog owners do not want their readers to have to solve a CAPTCHA, to comment on their blogs. A few blog owners do not want their readers to have to do either. It seems anyone who wishes to leave a comment, will have to do some form of login, either via Google or a CAPTCHA, to do so! Is there a reason for this, would it not be easier, for anyone to just leave a comment? And the answer here is simple. It would be easier, if neither were required. But reality - involving activity by spammers , and activity to counter spammers - leaves some of us with less choices.

Several weeks ago, Blogger added a security feature to Blogger commenting, to reduce comment spam . Note: Even if you don't have word verification turned on, anonymous commenters might be asked to enter some text. This helps protect your blog from abuse. This change has not pleased everybody. I disabled "prove you're not a robot" for commenting. Why do my readers still have to solve a CAPTCHA, each time they comment? This blog owner is not looking at the bigger picture. This new feature will benefit many blog owners - when Blogger is used, properly.

The new CAPTCHA, added by Blogger last week to restrict spam in anonymous comments, is already showing signs of unwanted effect, with some blogs. Besides making the commenting sequence more complicated, the sequence, in general, is inconsistent. Differences in the sequence, when compared between the three commenting form placement options (embedded, popup, and full page), varied by the original CAPTCHA screening option, and the moderation option, have been noted. And how many readers, commenting on their favourite blog, will think of hitting "Publish" with "Google account" selected, to login and avoid the CAPTCHA? The CAPTCHA form itself will discourage comments, being made by the casual blog reader, against many blogs. And the CAPTCHA, as added to all three comment forms, now makes cookie filtering issues equally critical , for the embedded, popup, and full page forms, alike.

During the past week, I have seen a small handful of mentions of the latest Blogger CAPTCHA form, so I was not surprised this evening when I encountered one, in real life. In this case, where I was privileged to see these real examples, I suspect that the CAPTCHA itself was only marginally involved, as the cause of the problem being discussed, in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken .

We all know that spam is an ever present problem. In our blogs, our email, and online forums, you can't go anywhere without seeing advertisements for something - frequently placed there by criminals, who aren't paying the owner of the host web site anything. Blogger, one of the largest content hosting services in the world, is not immune to this pestilence. So Blogger is trying to do something about the problem. One of the things that they are doing is, supposedly, making it harder for the spammers to publish blogs. The Settings - Publishing wizard, which lets you change the URL of your blog - to another BlogSpot URL, or to a non-BlogSpot URL - is now subject to the word puzzle aka CAPTCHA . For every change made. Re publishing your blog - whether the an external server using FTP, or to a Google server and a custom domain - is subject to stress. Every blogger using custom domain ("Another blog is already hosted at this address", "404 Server Not Found"...

Recently, we've been seeing a lot of complaints from folks who claim that their blogs have been detected as spam. I have to solve a word puzzle each time I post. Help! Don't you just hate that word puzzle, aka CAPTCHA? Every time you setup a new blog, you have to solve one. I capitalise the word "CAPTCHA", because it's an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" . It's there to keep spammers from setting up hundreds of blogs, or email accounts, by simply using automated scripts. And, it's not working .