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Word Verification


If there's such a thing as speed bumps online, it would be the word verification feature in the comment section of blogger blogs. I guess I'm not really sure why people use them. They're more annoying then anything else and I fear that they only discourage people from making comments. On both of my sites, eatsalem.com and salemites.com, the feature is turned off and I've never had trouble with automated comments appearing online. As I understand it, word verification is supposed to certify that an actual human being is writing the comment. I do have the comment moderation feature turned on and that has been helpful in weeding out comments with vulgar language and nasty links. But I can't recall ever seeing a comment that I thought was automated. There must be a purpose to this feature and I would like to hear from someone that uses it, explain how it has helped their site.

Another word verification application called reCAPTCHA, that is used on sites like Craigslist and Ticket Master, actually has an interesting second purpose. Check out the story on NPR.

8 comments:

  1. You know I didn't have it on my site when I first started but the spam comments got so bad I was spending so much time dealing with that. I probably don't need it now since I have askismet on my blog, but I just haven't deactivated it yet.

    I'm surprised you don't get more spam on eatsalem. That blog has pretty good traffic.

    Hmmm....I just went to post this comment and the word verification feature popped up. You have it on here.

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  2. testing to see if I actually have word verification.

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  3. Interesting point. I never really thought about it. I do have comment moderation turned on, so I suppose I don't need word verification as well. (and it really IS a pain to deal with when leaving comments)

    Anyway, I've turned it off. (I think!)
    Cheers, Cindy

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  4. Interesting story and now I understand why some of those verification words are tough to make out.

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  5. Without word verification, I do receive quite a few spam comments (mostly for male enhancement products or in a foreign language). Lucky me!

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  6. If you're a WordPress user you can use Akismet, which keeps a network of blacklisted spammers to protect your blog without putting users off from making a comment.

    I've outsourced my comment system to IntenseDebate, and their system is good at defeating spam and engaging users.

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