Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Change to comments

I received a report from a Wordpress account holder, they were forced to solve the Captcha puzzles when leaving comments. Even though I had switched off word verification. I hope by changing the comment format, the puzzles won't be asked any more.

The change I am making, is going from the embedded form (my personal favourite) to the full page comment form, instead.

Can I ask a favour of my readers, to leave a comment here, telling me if you've been asked to solve a puzzle - or just tick the, "I'm not a robot" box? Thank you. :)

UPDATE: I put this question to the Blogger help forum, and was given some new information about my dilemma. It may be a known issue for Wordpress account holders, trying to authenticate using Open ID. It's always interesting to learn how blogs work.

So as a result, I'm reverting back to my original "embedded" comments box. I appreciate the feedback I received, and welcome any further questions or feedback anyone else wants to leave. It may be in relation to your own blog, because as blog authors, we cannot see what others do, in the comments section.

18 comments:

  1. I can see the I'm not a robot thingy there Chris. Why are you changing?

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  2. Thanks for the feedback Emma and Nanna Chel. Were you receiving the prompt to solve a puzzle (ie: type these numbers, words, or click on an image) with the embedded format? Or the one I used previously?

    I actually don't like the full page format, where it takes you to a whole new page in order to comment. Because then you cannot refer back to the post I wrote, if you need to jog your memory. I often do that when replying to other blogs. If I can revert back to my embedded comments, or the ones that stay on the same page as the post, I will.

    Were you guys having problems with answering puzzles before this new (full page) format? I know, someone else did. I like clicking the box that you're not a robot, which I think comes standard with Blogger comments nowadays. But when it asks complicated puzzles, then it becomes tiresome to leave a comment.

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  3. Chris, I just had to tick 'I am not a robot' ...no puzzle. I didn't realise this was standard with blogger. I have never had to tick anything on your blog before. Yes I like to be able to refer to the post too. Do you have the robot box when you comment on my blog by the way?

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    1. I just went to comment on the story about Sally, to refresh my memory. I didn't get a chance to read it before. Your comment format doesn't have any box to tick or puzzle to answer. The comment gets stored, for moderation.

      I think I may have found the answer however, as the person who reported a problem has a Wordpress account, and that had some known issues I've just learned. Anyone using a google profile will not encounter the same difficulties.

      So I will update my post to reflect these new details.

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  4. Chris is the problem that someone with a Wordpress blog can't comment on your blog? I have a friend who I was having coffee with and she showed me what happens when she tries to leave a comment on my blog and she isn't able to. It must be something to do with having a Google profile.

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    1. I haven't heard of not being able to leave a comment at all. This reader of mine, was asked to complete some difficult puzzles, in order to leave comments. Even though I had turned the word verification feature off, for my blog.

      From what I've read, it has to do with the specific "cookies" blogger requires to authenticate comments. Several things can interfere with Blogger accessing the cookies from someone else's computer. It can be a security feature, others have enabled on their browser, or it can be the profile they're using. This only started to happen, when I messed with my template many months ago. I downloaded an old Blogger template, which may have stored an old bug. It wouldn't effect new Blogger templates, which is why this reader didn't always have a problem, commenting on my blog.

      Gosh, I hope that made sense? It's quite technical and involved.

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  5. Hi Chris, was that me you were referring to re commenting to your blog? I'm still finding I have to go through the captcha process, but at least the photos I have to click on have been easier and I get through more quickly now. Even though I'm not doing my blog now, I'm still commenting to other blogs through Wordpress as foodnstuff, because it seemed easier than trying to change and having to set it all up again.

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    1. Yep, it was you. :) I don't mind that you have a Wordpress blog. I just don't want it to be such an annoying experience to comment on my blog. I know it annoys me when I have to complete those puzzles, just to comment. I'm trying to figure out, why it might be doing this.

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  6. Now that's interesting. For the comment above I had to tick 'I'm not a robot', but there were no pictures to select from, it just went through when I clicked 'publish'. However I'm on the iPad at the moment and sometimes that works differently from the laptop.

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    1. Ah-ha! I think we're onto something. Your iPad is specifically made to use cookies. Therefore, Blogger can authenticate your comment by accessing the iPad's cookies easily.

      However, your laptop internet browser, may have a security setting that denies cookies, or makes them harder to read. Which is perhaps why Blogger ups the security clearance, to authenticate your comments?

      Apparently, it's all about minimising SPAM. I'm glad you only had to tick a box, this time. Maybe try commenting to this post again, using your laptop (when you next get the chance) and see what happens. Just write, "testing laptop", then let me know how it responded.

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    2. OK testing laptop.

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    3. Yep...had to select the captcha images on the laptop. Other thing that happens is when I select comment as Wordpress, the laptop already knows I'm foodnstuff and puts it in automatically. On the iPad I had to type it in, but that may be because I've never commented to you before on the iPad. Maybe it will know me now and I won't have to type in my name again. Will try it when I'm next on the iPad.

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    4. I don't have any experience with using an iPad, so I'm not sure if it automatically recognises you. But it's good to know, where some of the issues might be coming from. I suspect you have excellent security features on your laptop, which is great for avoiding viruses, but will limit some website functions.

      Feel free to continue using this comments section, to experiment with. :)

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  7. I haven't had any problems when commenting Chris.

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  8. Chris my friend who can't comment on my blog uses an iPhone. I will ask her if she has a Laptop and try commenting on there.

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    1. Wow, that's interesting. Considering iPads and iPhones are android based, and therefore solely rely on cookies to navigate the web. I didn't realise you could block or limit access to cookies, on an android device? But I've learned a lot of new things, investigating this problem, so it's always possible.

      Let me know if your friend has success, using another device.

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I love reading what you have to share. Gully Grove is a Spam free environment though, so new commenter’s only leaving hyperlinks, will be promptly composted.