Word Verification - what are your thoughts??

[Former_Member]

I eliminated the word verification for my blog. It's been so very time consuming to comment on some blogs posted here that after a few word verifications I find myself short on time and have to stop commenting.

What does everyone here thing of word verification?

[Former_Member]

I can't stand word verification, but I had no idea you could turn it off XD I'm going to go and tinker with my blog now ;)

I understand why it is there - to prevent spam &/or, for you to think before you post - but I just find it time-consuming and annoying.

[Maulani]

i never use word verification for my blog but it's okay for me to comment on blog with word verification (although yes it takes time and if i'm very tired i cancel to add comment) . but on the other hand i think it's good to prevent spam comment? maybe...

[Former_Member]

I haven't intentionally used it since I started my blog, and so far, only one post ever got any spam comments... and it was so long after the posting that it didn't bother me too much.

[Former_Member]

It bothers me to comment on blogs that have both comment approval AND word verification. I'm not good at reading those things, so I chose to turn off word verification and keep comment approval on. I do get a decent amount of spam comments, so I would never leave my comments wide open. You only need one: pick one and go with it, says I!

[Former_Member]

I eliminated word verification on my blog too. I don't really mind if others have it though. It is tedious, but it would never stop me from commenting :)

[Former_Member]

I took off word verification too. Blogger has a spam filter automatically, so I didn't see the need for it anymore. Plus I've heard from big time bloggers that it detours commenter from commenting.

I've had word verification off for 6 months now, and have not had any spammers... yet.

If I go to leave a comment, and there is word verification, 9 times out of 10 I just won't comment. Like you said, it becomes time consuming, especially when I keep getting the stupid letter wrong.

[Former_Member]

I like the fact that it gives you a second chance to edit, or correct mistakes before the comment is actually published.
I had no idea people felt so strongly against the thing —makes me wonder if I should turn it off on my blog!

[justByou]

I got rid of word verification too! It just seems too time-consuming when I have to do it, so I didn't want people to have to go through that extra step when commenting on my blog.

[Former_Member]

I hate word verification. I keep trying to make my blog so that if you post a comment it will just POST, but you still have to click it twice even though you don't have to type a word.

I've always read that if you want people to comment on your blog you need to make it as easy as possible, which means no word verification.

[Former_Member]

Personally, I hate them. :(

BUT I had to add one to my blog because I started getting SO MUCH SPAM! And the word verification took that away, thankfully!

[Former_Member]

AdelynStone and justByou - those were my sentiments exactly but wasn't sure others felt the same. Blogger has a spam filter built in and most online tools use the same filtering system - since my email filters work fine then why fret about my blog? There's a spam "folder" to verify suspect comments before the post. I also noticed larger blogs don't require and figured it might deter others if it sometimes deters me... thanks for confirming!

[ReleaseMeCreations]

I turned mine off recently after realizing how annoyed I was when I had to keep typing in the Capcha words when I wanted to comment on others' blogs. So far no spam :)

[Former_Member]

Feel the same here, turned it off!

[Former_Member]

If people who want to comment don't want to have the trouble to enter the captcha, then maybe they don't really have anything that useful to say.
Yes I'm mean :-)

José

[BubbyAndBean]

I don't use it. I think it's a personal preference, but we as bloggers want to encourage readers to leave comments, and word verification can be frustrating - plus it's an extra step. I get spam comments occasionally but Blogger is good about filtering them. I also have it said so that comments on posts over two weeks old have to be manually approved by me before they're published (it's older posts than tend to attract spammers).

xo,
melissa
bubbyandbean.com

[Former_Member]

It might stop me from commenting, but only accidentally. Sometimes I comment then close the page before it's reloaded to show me that word verification is needed. So I think people lose comments that way.

If you're going to do word verification I say make it so that your comments pop up in a new window that already has the word showing so you just have to click once. It's easy to set up in blogger.

I cancelled word verification when I had my first giveaway because I allowed several entries per person and I knew that would get very annoying. I haven't had more than 1 or 2 spam comments since then (a few months ago) so I don't think it matters much!

[Former_Member]

Word verification drives me crazy! I've had only 1 spam comment in the 2 years I've had my blog. If I was concerned about spam, I would choose comment approval over word verification.

[Former_Member]

I'm with the majority here... hate word verification. It is tedious, and I hate having to wait for the page to reload after entering my comment so I can now enter the capcha. It is time consuming.

I think it is true that the easier it is to comment on your blog, the more comments you will have.

[RiverGirlsSoap]

Facebook has it now when I try to post a link on my page without text prior to the link...i despise it. Half the time the writing is illegible! For this reason I do not have it on my blog. I just have straight moderation.

www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com

[Former_Member]

I don't really like it because it makes it take longer to comment. I've never had problem with spam so it hasn't really been an issue not to have it on my blog.

[Former_Member]

It doesn't bother me too much, but I turned mine off about a week ago after reading a couple articles about how often they discourage people from commenting.

[Former_Member]

Word verification is evil!!!

[Former_Member]

Its a necessary evil through - I have it implemented on one of my Etsy team blogs (on blogger) because before that I was getting WAY too many spam comments. I wish I could do it on my personal blog.

[Former_Member]

*though - not "through" :)