Home of the Alpha Showdown, and one-stop shop for urban fantasy, paranormal romance and fantasy news and reviews.
A few weeks ago, I removed the captcha feature from the comments section on VBC. If you’re not familiar with the terminology, it’s the wavy numbers or letters you have to enter to prove you’re not a spam robot. There had been significant talk on other blogs and Twitter about readers choosing not to comment because of the captcha validation. And I get that. I read blog posts on my phone occasionally, and entering that stuff on a mobile device is painful. However, it wasn’t really an issue we’d had here at VBC. Other bloggers touted the big influx in comments they received by removing the little code bit.
I’m very thankful we have such a strong, active community on Vampire Book Club. You are fun and have great insight into books and authors. I love reading your opinions on the books we review, the discussions on favorite characters, book recommendations and seeing you interact with your favorite authors here on the blog. So, I ditched the code, because I was worried people were being left out of our community. And I didn’t want that.
However, we haven’t had any more comments than usual, and it’s made quite a bit of work for me. I employ two spam filters on VBC. The first is the fantastic Askimet, which has caught 55,000 spam comments for me in the last year. THOUSANDS. It rules. The second is the built-in WordPress spam filter. Since removing the captcha feature on comments, I have between 200 and 250 comments in the WordPress filter each day. Two or three of those comments are legit. That means, each day I have to go through 10 or more pages of junk comments to make sure those wanting to participate here at VBC are heard.
So, here’s the question, readers: Do you care if VBC uses captcha in the comments? If it truly makes things easier for you, tell me and I will not reinstate captcha. However, if it doesn’t matter one way or another for you, tell me, too. Because when we start Alpha Showdown comments are going to quintuple here, and I want to make sure the extra work is worth it.
Personally I really dislike captchas. I don’t use them on my site and haven’t had many problems with spam (most of it gets filtered out before I see it). Akismet doesn’t catch most of your spam comments?
Some sites have captchas that are less annoying than others, so it really depends on if it’s the super-ridiculous-hard-to-read-kind or the just-moderately-hard-to-read kind.
Blogger captchas drive me nuts!
Askimet catches most of it. I just do very well on search engines, so I get a large of “smart” spam comments, too.
I hate the blogger captchas, too. Mine was a simple 4 character alpha numeric version.
I like not having a captcha.
Personally, I’m not a fan of captchas. Captchas plus autocorrect equals more stress than I care to deal with. Still, as long as the captcha is legible (no Greek letters!), I’m okay with it.
I don’t like captcha. Mostly because I’m not that great at typing, so sometimes my hands go spaz and I write completely the wrong thing. And the captchas can be really hard to read.
I’m not a fan of captcha (who is?), BUT I know how hard to check the spams, so feel free to use it again. 🙂
Thanks!
I should clarify, perhaps, that we’re not talking about the really long, illegible Blogger captcha, but a simple 4 character alpha numeric one.
Also, I know it’s an inconvenience.
My question is if it is bothersome enough to make commenting on VBC not worth it. Lots of people who have told me they dislike captcha (elsewhere) are also people who commented heavily before I removed the captcha.
If we keep the captcha gone, will anyone be bothered if I blanket delete anything in the spam filter without review? That means 20 or so valid comments per week would not get posted.
Your catchpa is the least annoying I’ve encountered. I don’t post a heck of a lot but I don’t actually mind the 4 character alpha numeric. It’s quick & easy to read. But I also seem to be in the minority here.
I second what Teawench says, although I feel like I post here more than any other blog I read and I’ve never been bothered by the catchpa here. And, less going through possible spam for you means more fun vampire-y posts for us!
Also, is it possible to turn the captcha on for some posts you expect to have LOTS of comments like the Alpha Showdown or guest posts (like the recent one by Jeaniene Frost)?
Turn it on, leave it off – I’ll still show up!
That is a great suggestion. I will see if that is an option.
While using my PC, there are time I can’t read the darn things and I have to refresh. While using the phone, sometimes I can’t enter the codes at all.
Overall, I think they are annoying but if it helps the blog owner, I can’ deal with the annoyance.
I have not stopped posting because of the captchas, though.
I think you should keep the captcha. No need to make your job harder.
I work for a large sweepstakes and instant game vendor. We use a very simple, and easy to read CAPTCHA. I understand the annoyance of it, but it does prevent someone from automatically writing a program and messing with your site.
Chelsea – if you’re doing that blanket deleting that you mentioned previously, would that mean that legit entries into giveaways could be affected? I think people might mind the captcha a lot less if they knew their entry for an ARC or free books wasn’t going to vanish.
I never had any problems with the CAPTCHA on this site. I’ve always found it easy to read and use. If it make your life easier, keep it.
I don’t mind one way or the other personally. Do what is best for you. I love your blog!
I have no problem putting in a four letter or number Captcha. If it makes like easier for you…do it.
I personally don’t use it but that’s because I’m on blogger and they’re the bain of my existence there. A shorter one would be no problem to me at all and would save a lot of hassle. I’d probably use it if there was the option to 🙂
Vikki @ V’s Book Life
http://vbooklife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/1-year-blogiversary-giveaway.html#more
Thanks, everyone! Very much appreciating the feedback — both for and against captcha. I want everyone to make the choices that pleases the majority of us!
So, some legit comments are getting dumped into your spam filter? I use Akismet and I wonder if this happens to me? LOL. I never check it. *off to check it*
But I agree, no captchas.
If I want to post a comment I will do it captcha or not! So do what’s best!
Are you open to other kinds of comment plugins that help with spam?
One of the WP blogs I follow has Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin where all you do is check a box to prove you’re not a spammer. She seems to like it, and it’s quicker and easier than any form of captcha.
That is brilliant, Amanda! It may be a great solution for me. Gets around the captcha and reduces “smart spam.”
I’ve never had a problem with simple captchas, provided they’re fairly easy to read and fairly short but then I tend to browse from my laptop or my pc so I don’t have the problem with autotext. I quite like the alternative thea has on her site (http://theaharrison.com/blog/) where you have something like “6 × five =” and then you just have to type in the correct answer. I’ve also encountered the check box one and found that easy but again I don’t know how easy it would be on a phone. I reckon you should keep captcha, if people can be bothered to post, they can usually be bothered to captcha.
P.S. Really looking forward to the Alpha Showdown ^_^
OK So I just tried to comment on Thea’s blog on my husbands tablet, turns out I can’t see the symbol in the equation so that doesn’t work so well, maybe stick with 4 symbol captcha.
The captcha doesn’t bother me. It would not keep me from posting a comment.
I don’t mind the capcha. It doesn’t stop me from commenting, and if it keeps spam to a minimum, all the better.
I would rather see you spending your time finding good books for me to read!! If that means I have to type a little for a spam filter so be it. It will not affect me posting. I vote for doing what makes it easier for you.
To be honest, your captcha is probably the least annoying one I’ve ever come across – you can read it without refreshing 5000 times and it’s nice and short. For me, it doesn’t matter either way.
VBC: Named “least annoying captcha”
Hmm. Not sure if that’s a compliment. 😉
I use Askimet AND Anti-Spam Bee. Give that one a try first! I never had issues with the captcha on your site. It’s different from the typical Blogger-style captcha. However, I dislike it in general.
Thanks for the suggestion. I may just need to layer the filters. I just want to know that what is getting caught in the additional filters is just the junk. The built-in WordPress filter nabs bloggers putting links at the end of their comments.
I really dislike captcha and feel for the majority of blogs spam isn’t really an issue and not worth losing comments over.
I hate so much because after typing in a lengthy comment I run into either not being able to decipher the damn thing or having my comment lost in the process.
I will say yours has been easy to decode so it has never really a problem for me plus you actually do seem to get a large volume of spam. In that case I understand the need for it. If I had to filter through 200 comments to weed out spam from legit comments I would use it too.
Great feedback, Karen. I’ve seen some good suggestions today of other filters I may be able to employ without bringing back the captcha. It’s the downside to being easily searchable — the spammers find you too easily!
Use an up to date CAPTCHA system = NUCAPTCHA – they combine intelligence and video to eliminate the dificult to read aspect of captchas. COMCAST uses it and it is free for low volumes. http://www.nucaptcha.com
I don’t mind either way, but if it makes less work for you then I can type a few extra letters or numbers. I’d rather the comments show than possibly get dumped.
Well, your captcha was the least annoying and most legible one I’ve come across so far. I really HATE it! As a reader that follows a little over 200+ book and author blogs I have seen my share of it. I’m starting to not commit on blogs that still use it. It takes SOOO much more time to commit on blogs that use it and it’s so frustrating most of the time. This fabulous blog I’ll make an exception to keep committing if you choose to re-install it. Because it’s easy and legible. I’ll leave that choice to you. Thank you for all you do for us readers! 🙂
Oh, thank you, DeAnna! I’m going to look into other ways to manage the spam influx before bringing back captcha.
I would prefer not to have to deal with them, but it has rarely stopped me from commenting. The one you use wasn’t difficult to deal with, but some others – I admin to have given up trying to guess what they were supposed to be. I’m all for less work for you though. You provide a great service and shouldn’t have to deal with all that spam as well.
Your captcha was fine… Four letters/digits that I could read easily. The ones I can’t stand are the ones where it takes a genius to figure out the letters/numbers they are insisting you put in the little box…
I really hate Captchas, I usually have to guess at them because most of them are so hard to see. I appreciate it greatly when a blog does away with them. Thanks and I’ll love it if you don’t bring it back.
I HATE the CAPTCHA, but having said that I think you NEED to use it.
Your site is fine but I hate blogger captcha with a passion. Its does slow down comments, but I haven’t too many spam comments so far in my 5 years of blogging
I think that if you really wanted to comment than having the captcha isn’t going to stop you. As you commented earlier look back to how many comments you had at last years Alpha showdown and the captcha didn’t stop them from commenting. Go back to using it the job of running this fab blog must be hard enough as it why make your life harder
I fully agree!
Thank you all for the kind words about the blog. I’m going to look at some other anti-spam options first before considering bringing back the captcha. We’ll keep it a last resort. 🙂
I understand what captcha is and what it does, and for the most part I don’t mind it in websites or blogs. And I agree with most people here, yours is one of the easiest to deal with. I’m completely neutral about the subject, if I want to comment I’ll still do it whether you stick with it or get rid of captcha completely.
However, every now and then I came across one of this settings that drives me up a wall because it is way to twisted to figure out the letters.
Personally, I had no idea that people where complaining about it; I have it activated on my blog, so thank you for the post. I’m going to turn it off and see if it makes a difference on how many comments I get. I have a relatively quite blog and maybe captcha is the reason, who knows. Hope this helps you.
Personally I truly dislike having to enter those codes. They are so betimes difficult to decipher and ona tablet and smartphone its hard to enter.
I say if it is easier for you use it! I think they are annoying, but I think it would be more annoying to have to go through tons of spam… Your’s is one of the easiest, so really if people are not commenting just from that, I wouldn’t worry, I always comment when I want to codes or not…
Good luck, this is a hard one! 🙂
I can’t stand captchas, because they slow don’t posting, and when I’m entering giveaways, it’s really annoying. I’m not sure if it is necessary for a blog, as I don’t have one, so that’s up to you.
I really dislike captchas, as most people but I see the benefit.
I certainly understand the need for some checks to help eliminate the spam-bots, but sometimes they are so hard to read you spend more time trying to get the right letter than actually writing your commend LOL I have seen a couple that are relatively simple; one you simply copy and past a set of characters and the other you check a box. I do not mind doing the odd ball letters, as sometimes they are downright funny if you are trying to make them words, but I do need to be able to see the actual letters.
I don’t mind if I can read it but most of the time I struggle to figure the letters/numbers out.
I’m sorry. I am in a hurry & don’t have time to read all of the comments. I will read them later. I just wanted to say that one blog I follow has a simple math problem the commenter has to solve before they can post. Like 2+1= & the commenter fills in the answer. I don’t mind that one at all. And some captchas are okay but some of them it takes me a few times to find something I can 1/2 way read & I guess at it.
I don’t like captchas just because sometimes they are hard to read. But I know what you mean about spam so I say put it back on. 🙂
i don’t have a problem with captchas but i read on my laptop, not my phone…spam is the worst so i’d probably leave it on…
I have never had a problem with the Captcha here on this site and if its going to make you do more unnecessary work I say turn it on. Whether you turn it on or off I will still comment and I think all your loyal followers will do the same! 🙂
I personally don’t like Captcha. It doesn’t really make a difference to me for VBC. But in general I find it a total pain. Even on a computer it can be quite difficult to read the letters. I don’t know why they don’t make it easier to read!
Your Captcha is fine, but the others are horrible. I say leave yours; it is only 4 extra keystrokes and always legible.