Word Verification Manifesto

When I decide to "follow" people, I like to visit their blogs faithfully, which means I check out a LOT of posts every day. I read and comment quickly...and that's because I have to in order to touch base with everyone I want to see. I also participate in three or four blog hops every week, and I do my best to stay current with friends there, too.

Maybe that explains why I'm so fed up with word verification! And Blogger has made it even worse now than when I wrote this poem last year:

The Word Verification Rant

©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson

Word verification is not my thing.

No added safety does it bring.

It only takes a lot of time

and makes commenting less sublime.

At first, I had it too, you know?

It took some nerve to let it go.

But others bloggers cheered me on,

and they were glad when it was gone.

The dreadful problems I had feared

without it, never once appeared.

No spam, no weirdos, no remorse...

just lots more comments! So, of course,

I did not turn it off in vain.

Word verification is a pain!

Blogger's diabolical new DOUBLE word verification is even MORE of a pain, and I'm almost to the point where I'm tempted not to comment as frequently on blogs that aren't willing to disable it. Not because I don't want to comment (that is one of my favorite parts of blogging), but because I am losing my mind trying to figure out what the heck those twisty letters even say, let alone reproduce them! And honestly, I don't notice any difference at all in the amount of spam I received before I got rid of the whole captcha thing and the amount of spam I get now. Truly, I have seen no adverse effects from disabling word verification, which is why I am making this plea to all of you to please (if you haven't already), please, please think about disabling that sucker! Have mercy!!

You would make one of your biggest fans very happy...and I'm even going to show you how to turn it off, in case you are unaware.

1. Sign in to your blog.

2. Click on Design or Customize, whichever your version says.

3. Click on the Settings tab.

4. In Settings, click on the Comments tab.

5. Scroll down until you see Show word verification for comments and check NO.

6. If you are really worried about spam comments and want to moderate comments before they are published on your blog, check the Always box next to Comment moderation (just above where you've just turned off word verification), and enter your email address.

7. Click Save Settings.

And that’s all it takes, folks.

If you’re using the new version of Blogger, the option to turn off word verification is not there. You have to click on the setting symbol and change back to the old interface first, then follow the instructions above to turn it off, save it, and then switch back to the new interface.

Come on, guys! You are made of sterner stuff!! You can do it!!!

;)