Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Commenting on Blogs

Most of us who have our own blogs also like to leave comments on other blogs. Sometimes, this is a easy as clicking on the comment line and simply typing it in. Of course, this gets abused by spammers who infiltrate your blogs with phony comments that lead to their page. They often look something like this:













I'm not giving any more attention to their stupid web site than they've already managed to get. But I love the broken English with the ending, "A hug."

There are ways to prevent this. The best way is to not allow any comments without your approval. The only drawback here is that people have to wait until you approve their comments before they are posted. This is how I run my blog comments and it works for me.

Many of my blog friends try to weed out the automatically generated comments (like the one above) by using the blog verification option. Basically, you'll see a series of letters that are pushed together and warped in a way so as to make it difficult for a software program to automatically detect them. The commenter simply enters the letters in a separate box after his or her comments and then they are posted. My guess is that the hackers are getting better and better at detecting these verification letters so the blogosphere is making them more difficult to detect. For instance, what do you do when you see this?












I suppose a special prize is in order for the first person that can figure it out. Whoever wins get a VERY IMPORTANT AWARD from me.

11 comments:

Elephantschild said...

I noticed that Blogger's CAPTCHA tests were getting harder to decipher, making the ones Typepad spits out look quite easy by comparison.

I've recently turned off the CAPTCHA; since I get an email in my inbox for every comment, it's been easy to just delete the spam comments when they come in - so far it's only been a couple per week. Might get worse as time goes on.

Here's my guess at your code:
RjlH69q

Melynda said...

Hello I just entered before I have to leave to the airport, it's been very nice to meet you, if you want here is the site I told you about where I type some stuff and make good money.

That one is my favorite.

I think your code spells g-r-a-v-y.

scott said...

I'm pretty sure I saw that in a fortune cookie, actually. It's Cantonese for "Where is the bathroom?"

MSM said...

Well, THANK YOU. Just yesterday I was arguing with the teenager about the google/blogger verification words getting ridiculous.

My few examples weren't convincing to him; and he doesn't blog, so what does he know??

Your code:

inagalaxyfarfaraway

Randy Spradlin said...

Rog,

I don't mind the word verification. Actually it's a good thing. But, they don't have to make it so cryptic! I've been noticing this more and more.

Plus, like you, I do comment moderating as well. Sure, those who comment have to wait for approval. However, it weeds out those "anonymous" commenters who just want to cause trouble. If a person is serious about commenting, they will have a Google email or Blogger account.

Very good post my friend.

Randy

Unknown said...

PEEISUSEFUL

Hunny Bee said...

RaJIuH69q is my guess. I'm thrown off by that little looptie-loo off the top of the first character. I don't have anything funny to add. Or it could be: voteforcatping

Unknown said...

Yep, I've had to copy my comment and start over a few times to get a new captcha because I couldn't quite make out what the letters were...then when I get one I can understand I paste my comment in the box. LOL
Yours: RjluH69q

Toni said...

"If possible gives a last there on my blog..."

I know exactly who penned these words. Miss Teen South Carolina!!!
Mystery solved.

A hug,
~Toni~

Mayhem And Miracles said...

Hmmmm. Is it "Doofus is a beer snob." Nah. Too obvious. And you're right. That's not obvious.

Uvulapie said...

Methinks the code is: Garden Gnomes