Will you disable to help the disabled?
You may not know there are a number of active bloggers who live with some form of disability. For example, Carly ~ the human owned by TIA of CUDDLES and CATNIP suffers from blindness, making blog visiting and commenting often difficult. Our own ML ~ who is managed by KC and the SHERWOOD BUNCH has continuing back problems which often prevent her from sitting at a computer for any length of time. And Ann, the Zoolatry Human, has hand tremors which affect her typing ability more often than not. For each of us, and for many others, commenting can be difficult ~ especially if we must also complete "word verification", type in our email address, or type in our blog link ~ all before being allowed to comment.
Once upon a time, in the early days of Google Blogspot, word verification and such were the only controls we all had against "spam". How, Blogspot offers automatic spam control. We're not sure how WordPress or other blog sites work ~ but all in all, it will be a really big help to many of us if you can "disable to help the disabled". Certainly, word verification no longer provides any protection to your blog and could easily be removed from your settings. And perhaps there are other elements that could also be removed. Check it out.
Many of us would love to comment more often, but we are either slowed down, or hindered or stopped entirely by these added controls.
So ~ please take a look at the current settings for your blog. Are they really needed? Please consider updating these settings, if you are comfortable doing so ~ it will help! Thanks!
I agree entirely!!!! Not that I am disabled in any way but all the obstacles you mentioned just slow commenting down and one can visit/comment in as many furriends' blogs as one would like.
ReplyDeleteWe agree. We took away word verification a long time ago because it slows us down when we comment on other blog and because sometimes the verification thingy is really hard to get right the first time.
ReplyDeleteThe Florida Furkids and Angel Sniffie
We agree, and also with Momo that with so many in our reader, word verification stops us visiting as many as we would like to. We only have comment moderation on posts over 2 days old because we were getting so many spam comments a while ago (and still some now)but with Blogger catching them we are going to change it to 7 days and then probably remove it completely. We know CM doesn't make any difference to people leaving comments, but at the moment mum is still restricted to how much time she can spend at the computer before it gets too uncomfortable for her. We told her the less time she takes publishing CM comments, the more friends she can visit.
ReplyDeleteWe think this is an excellent idea. We often find that commenting on blogs can be like trying to leave a message at Fort Knox! Sometimes we type in a security words several times ~ then give up in frustration! So for anyone finding it a struggle this must be awfully annoying! ('cos even mom says bad werds).
ReplyDeleteWe checked to make sure ours was disabled on Alasandra, The Cats & A Dog, and it appears to be. We hopes it is cause we loves getting meows and barks and even words.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well! Many times I run into problems while trying to leave a comment. It can indeed be very frustrating!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Zoolatry for pointing out this problem.
Love, Deb
We don't have word verification either and we think blogger does a good job controlling spam but we still like to moderate our own comments which thankfully doesn't effect other people :-)
ReplyDeleteI just had HH check mine and it's disabled... Easy sliding into the comments section at my place. Now I'm on the way to put up the badge and link it to this post. Very important.
ReplyDeletepawhugs, Max
Makes sense! I check all of my setting and adjust them because I still like to get comments, even though Angel Praline is not actively blogging at this time.
ReplyDeleteI hope to have a BIG announcement in about 4 weeks.
Mom Paula
We will give it a try and as long as those spammers stay away, then it will be a go for us too.
ReplyDeleteWoos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Ours is off. We can understand why people do it, but it slows mom down too....
ReplyDeleteWe have taken away the word verification but if we get many spammers we feel we will have to put it back. We will put the badge up in our side bar. We are so sorry to hear you have a problem - we didn't know.
ReplyDeleteLuv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Excellent idea. I'll change ours now. Recently, I've had a "little taste" of what disability means, although all my life up to about 3 months ago I've been aware of different disabilities people have, but no first-hand experience. Lately, however, I've had to learn to use the computer mouse with ONLY my left hand -- it's been a challenge! But I also know this is nothing compared to what other people deal with.
ReplyDeleteHappily getting rid of word verification ...
Marilynn
We'll check it out, Ann, and see if we can disable (although some of those word verification are most funny and timely!)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Jo
We was informed dat our verification has been a bit difficult lately. Although we is still fighting lots of spam comments despite it so we will give it a try without and sees if it gets worse. We afraid we will has to put it back if it gets worse but maybe it won't.
ReplyDeletePurrrrrrrrrrrrs
Thanks for this post. Blogger has been doing a very good job of filtering spam from real comments for some time and it is so frustrating to keep hitting word verification. We "seconded" this in our post today.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea I disabled my after reading about it at "Cuddles and Catnip" Thank you both for making the rest of us aware of this issue.
ReplyDeleteI changed the settings and put the badge up. This is something that is forgotten about so it is good to remember about the limits of a disability.
ReplyDeleteHello Ann....we agree and understand completely. We try to have an open easy blog for commenters...since we do not wish to miss any over two day old comments...we have moderation on. We publish them right after we read them...this also helps to cut out any spam since we can just trash those all at once.
ReplyDeleteWe struggle to comment often for all the reasons you pointed out...thank you for being such a good public relations servant to all of us on the CB. BIG HUGS and love from the cozy cottage
We are agreeing with you, too!! We have the Badge up!! Thanks for all you do!!
ReplyDelete((((((HUGGGSSSSS)))))) from your TX furiends,
Well stated - i will check things out on my blog.
ReplyDeleteWe disabled our comment verification awhile ago since we wanted to make it easy for kitties to leave us comments. We just added comment moderation after 3 days after a post goes up and we've not any problems with spam.
ReplyDeletePurrrrs,
Cory
Thanks Ann! I never thought about it. Word verification is now off.
ReplyDeletexoxoxo
peggy
We got rid of that right at the beginning. It's too much hassle....
ReplyDeleteOurs has been off for a while thanks to Cowspotdog who has a banner requesting it be turned off. Have not had spam problems, knock wood!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
On Typepad we have the oprion for "Unauthenticated Commenters who don't use their social site ID's to sign in, to
ReplyDeleteRequire readers to enter a randomly generated verification code.... or not.
On reflection, after many years of comfort with the code, Daddy Kiril, & I, are willing to check "Or Not" so as to remove this step, from Meowsings, and his own blog, for this reason:
We have the ability to read the comment before we approve it for posting.
The e-mail requirement will still be there, for now, unless we see that removing it doesn't cause the Spambot to flock to us like Cat flock to a stash of Catnip. ;-D
With 9 years experience blogging on 4 blogs, Daddy & I, learned years ago of the scourge that are the spammers, and even as technology improved in the battle, we just felt comfy with the extra steps because it cut down drastically on the number of spam comments we have to deal with on a daily basis.
In our spam list there are thousands of spam that never reached the stage of our needing to see them, going back several years, yet Typepapd has yet developed a way for us to empty that stash for all time. ;-D
Go figure. ;-D
Wonderful post! I have a dog blog and a kitty blog. It's interesting that most of the dog blogs don't have extra protection features (they are very open and welcoming) but a majority of the kitty blogs have word verification AND they moderate their comments, too (not so welcoming). Could that indicate the temperament of the animals that we love so much has rubbed off on us? Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post! We're off to change the settings on our bloggie so that it works better for ALL. :) >^..^<
ReplyDeleteI've got fibro, chronic myofascial pain, yada yada yada, gnash, gnash, gnash, rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb. I've been doing word verification for so long... but because of this post I double-checked my two blog settings & took down word verification. If I get any spam then I'll go to moderation. XXXOOO!!!
ReplyDeleteStar says, "PS Mom want to know who did the graphic!!"
ReplyDeleteMom thinks you make a good point and she is going to disable hers asap. She understands because of her situation. Mom said to feel free to use her name as one of the handicapped. She also wants to know if she can use your wheelchair with cats picture. It would be a PURRfect match for us! :-)
ReplyDeleteIm gonna have mom check that out! :D
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for addressing this problem. I love to visit the different blogs, and feel that it is important to comment on each (as I love to get comments myself). It often is frustrating, as I'm slowed down by my disability, as well. To have an "open door" to commenting is a big help to my writing!
ReplyDeleteThank you again,
The Mom at Kitty Tales