Commenting 101: Technical How-To #1

Welcome back to my Commenting 101 blogging series! If you'd like to start from the beginning, please click here.

I told you that I'd share some blogging technical How-To Tips his week. As I looked over my list, I decided to break it down a little rather than write up one long, enormous post with several topics.

Today's topic focuses one of the biggest pet peeves of established bloggers: Word Verification


(excerpts taken from a post I wrote last year, but Blogger has updated the way they deal with spam)

1. What is Word Verification?

Word Verification is that annoying little "retype these character" message that pops up on a blog's Comment page after you've typed up a whole nice, thoughtful comment on someone else's post. Most annoying to me are the ones that look like the page is refreshing to add your comment...until it tricks you and pops up the WV box.

I can't tell you how many times I've typed a lengthy comment on someone's blog post, hit enter, and exited the site just as I see that annoying pop-up box. I make an effort to do a lot of visiting when I link up to a blog party, but those word verifications are just one more step for a visitor to leave you some feedback, especially when the words are sometimes hard to read or aren't really words but a string of 53 letters.

2. Why do bloggers use Word Verification on their blogs?
I'm not sure if Word Verification is an automatic setting when you set up a blog through Blogger, but I do know that you can change the settings.

Many people think that Word Verification will keep the spam comments off of their blog, but in reality it deters other bloggers from leaving comments. No one likes having to jump through hoops to leave feedback.

You want to encourage people to leave comments on your blog, not discourage them!

When I set Serenity Now up as a brand new blogger, I added word verification because it just seemed like the thing to do. I removed mine in early 2009, after reading a helpful tip from a successful blogger. Afterwards, I noticed that the number of comments on my blog went up bit by bit, and the amount of spam comments I receive is not enough to make me want to turn it back on.

3. How do I get rid of Word Verifcation?

• Log in to your Blogger Dashboard and click on the "Settings" tab
• Click on the "Comments" tab
• Scroll down to where is says, "Show word verification for comments?" and hit "No." (Just do it!) Then save your new settings.

4. Blogger makes it very easy to trash those spam comments! (ie.You don't need Word Verification)

Since Blogger upped their spam "force fields" (I don't know the technical jargon for what they did, but it sure is working!), I rarely if ever receive a spam comment on my actual blog. They all go straight to a "Spam" folder on my Blogger Dashboard.

• To keep track of those comments, you have to log in to your Blogger Dashboard and click on the "Comments" tab at the top:

• You'll notice that the "Spam" file is separate from the "Published" file. Published comments are those that Blogger automatically publishes to your blog. You want to be sure you are in the "Spam" file so you don't delete the good comments!
• Click on "Select All" and then hit "Delete." You may need to do this several times if you have an overload of spam in that file. (This is why it's a good idea to purge regularly.)

• Yes, I realize this causes you to take a few extra steps you normally wouldn't, but isn't it worth it to remove the hassle from your readers and open yourself up to more communication from visitors?

5. How do I know if a comment on my blog is spam or not?

Let's play another round of "Guess Which Comment," shall we?

• Can you pick the Spam Comments out of this group?

If you guessed the first and last comment, you are correct, although I could argue that the second comment is just as spammy and unwanted as the other two.

• Spammers, spambots, robots, aliens...whatever they are that finds your blog and leaves comments...they aren't smart. Those spam comments are easy to pick out. They are often filled with misspelled words, extremely poor grammar, and they read as if a robot typed them. 
• If it seems fishy to you, it is probably spam.
• If it somehow makes its way to your blog, you can easily delete those by clicking on the trash can icon next to the comment and clicking the "delete forever" option.

In short, please, please, from one blogger to another...consider removing word verification from your posts. I don't know one successful blogger who has comment verification enabled on her posts. Coincidence? I think not.

With a little bit of effort on your part (in the form of occasionally deleting the spam comments in your folder), you'll take a big hassle off of visitors to your blog. Watch and see the interaction in your Comments section grow!

I'll be back next week with another How-To Tip related to Commenting.

{Have you removed Word Verification from your blog?}