One of the strengths of this blog is the quality of readers' comments, and I have always encouraged those who don't have Google/LiveJournal/WordPress/TypePad etc accounts to sign their comments using the Name/URL option rather than just clicking "anonymous." Doing so helps establish an "identity" while still being anonymous, and allows more accurate dialogue on longer comment threads.
Every now and then I receive a comment or an email message from readers having difficulty writing comments. If someone comments on a post that's more than 28 days old, the blog host automatically flags that comment as possible spam and sequesters it unpublished until I review the contents (which might be several days later). So that may introduce a delay.
Another not uncommon glitch occurs when a reader uses a very outdated browser; this seems to be uncommon.
But every now and again I hear from a sophisticated reader with up-to-date computer and browser version who have difficulty getting comments posted. There is at least one suggestion that this difficulty is happening on other Google/Blogspot/Blogger-hosted blogs, and that it has happens more frequently when the "threaded" (indented) comment structure is employed. I just instituted this feature last month and have really liked it as an author, and I think it has been well accepted by readers, but features sometimes do have glitches.
If you are having problems writing comments on this blog, you obviously won't be able to comment on this post (!), so in that case send me an email at the blog's emailbox - retag4726(at)mypacks(dot)net, and let me know. It doesn't mean I can fix it, but I'd like to know (and I'll share the info here with others).
Similarly, if you have a blog of your own, and have encountered such problems with commenting and have solved the problem, please write a comment here with your suggestions.
Tx.
Addendum: While preparing this post, I realized once again how totally annoying the "captcha" verification process can be. I've temporarily disabled this feature; if lots of automated spam starts showing up, I'll reinstitute it, but I think leaving it off will make the commenting a little more user-friendly.
It wasn't that the Captcha was enabled, it was that the words were so hard to read! Yeah - I know they're supposed to be, but sometimes I took three goes to get posted.
ReplyDeleteAgree about the captchas' illegibility. But sometimes, even when I get it right, and see the comment appear on the post, it later vanishes. Was it something I said?
ReplyDeleteThe only ones I delete are obvious spam with advertising, any comments that attack other commenters rather than address the issue, and those with unnecessary or egregious profanity or intolerance. Re the latter two categories, I give more leeway to named commenters than to anons. I don't remember deleting anything of yours. If it happens again, let me know.
DeleteI have not commented much, but never had a problem doing so. I comment through my Gmail account. I have seen some Captchas that were not hard to read, and then on some sites they are almost impossible to read.
ReplyDeleteSafari used to be fine, but now it no longer allows me to comment on this blog. I don't know if it's due to Safari updates or blog updates. Everything I wrote vanishes as soon as I click 'Publish' or 'Preview'. Every other website I use works fine, but this is the only blogspot blog I read or comment on, so I don't know exactly what the problem is. I am using Google Chrome to write this.
ReplyDeleteDoes safari work for anyone else?
I tried Safari 5.1.5 last night, and it seemed to work for me. Which do you have?
DeleteMine acts the same way with Chrome. I suspect it has to do with security settings.
DeleteI', the guy whose Safari didn't work. It's 5.1.5. Maybe jaun is right. Any idea which settings, jaun?
DeleteThere is one thing I find really annoying in the comments section : when I click on "X comments" to read these (I commented twice I think, no problem), I arrive underneath the comment writting section. I then have to roll the mouse wheel to go up to the first comment...
ReplyDeleteIt's not so bad actually, just annoying, and maybe it could be easily fixed up ?
This one I can solve.
DeleteWhen you click on "X comments", the program thinks you want to make a comment, so it takes you to the bottom.
To start at the top, instead of clicking on "X comments", click on the title of the post. That will open the post with its comments (in a new tab or window if you right-click), and you can scroll down through the comments in the order they were written.
Ta-daaaa... :.)
Thank you doubly. That's annoying, and the captchas are sometimes impossible to decipher. And I assure you, I am not a robot.
DeleteThis has been bugging me ever since the change happened. It is good to know that there is a workaround. Slightly annoying that when you want to look at the comments you are already at the bottom of the article where the comments button is rather than the title but it really isn't a big deal.
DeleteRegarding your comment problem: Google Chrome will not post a comment for me. It simply won't make the next step after Captcha. Fortunately I have firefox too, which works just fine.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally in Opera, the Captcha box pops up in a 5x10 pixel blob of red. Then I have to click preview comment to be able to see the Captcha to enter it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for loosing the captcha
ReplyDeleteI still can't post using Chrome here at work, but they've probably got an old version.
ReplyDeleteI won't miss the captcha. I'm dyslexic and it can take me several tries. I've had many sites deny me access because I tried too many times. It's very frustrating.
I have a WordPress account for my blog, and I would prefer to sign in with it, but blogger/blogspot blogs no longer allow me to comment using that profile -- I never get to the captcha, it just keeps reloading the comment window if I try. So I have to comment using my Google account on all blogger blogs. I know there's not much you can do about it, I am just telling all the bloggers I can who use blogger/blogspot so they know what's going on.
ReplyDeleteThis is so frustrating. And I heard from someone today who has been able to write comments, using Firefox 12, but they don't appear (and they're not in my spam filter).
ReplyDelete???