apparently Google - in it's endless quest to dominate - has changed the word verify interface.
One simple word, sometimes far too squiggly to read, was bad enough. Now its two words with upper case and punctuation. One of the words is buried in a cloud or a star or , in my opinion, a dark spirit, making the word impossible to read. I sit at my keyboard asking myself - is that the end of the 'C' or is that an 'I'?
I have made so many lovely friends here on the internet tubes and I participate in many photo projects. I love visiting you all and telling you how fabulous you are. Think of it - would you invite me to your home and then build an obstacle course to the front door? That's what word verification is.
One of my newest blogging friends TexWisGirl has laid out how to disable the new word verify and how to limit the chances of spam. Please go read her post HERE, especially if you use the new Blogger interface because like everything else that Google does it's not clear how to say No to word verify in the new version.
Oh and Google - F**K You and the horse you rode in on for killing Picnik.com. You sucked me into Google+ swearing that all the Picnik options were there. Bullcrap! I don't want to create circles and tag my photos and spend huge amounts of time participating in mindless communication - if I did I'd be on Facebook.
Anyhoo - please consider removing word verify. It often takes 2 or 3 attempts to leave a comment and on some blogs the comment disappears if the word verify doesn't go through.
Spam doesn't kill.
38 comments:
I am totally with you on that. I don't use it, never have. I hate word verification and especially this version. I don't allow anonymous to comment (if they cant be bothered to even make up a name then I cant be bothered to read it) and that takes of most spam. One the rare occasion one gets through I just delete the comment and report it as spam and that takes care of it.
Oh and Google+? I'm already established on FB and don't need another time waster.
I've disabled it on my blog and opted for Registered Users only to try and avoid Anonymous and his pals the Spammers.
So Google killed Picnik? I love that program and had to buy myself something for my Mac called Pixelmator. It's nowhere near as easy to use as Picnik. And Googe+ is a joke.
I'll go over and make sure I haven't missed any tips that TexWisGirl might have picked up. Thanks for the post, and the information, Dianne. You said it well, took the words right out of my mouth.
I've been trying all week to figure out the best way to let people know that regardless of how much I love them, I can't comment on their blogs anymore with this Word Verification. It makes me crazy. Don't be surprised if you find some version of this post on my blog in the near future.
I've tested, and I don't think my blog does it. But if you ever notice any different, please email me right away! :)
I run verification free - it's far more liberating :) LoL! I would rather authorise comments before they are posted but that is because I had a malicious follower at one point and there is and was no way I was going to let them indulge themselves on my blog. Please do let me know if for some reason word verify has re-appeared on my blog and I will remove it post haste as it is not meant to be there! :)
I'm a word verification zone too ;). I hate them, so aggrevating.
I'm going to mention this on my blog tomorrow. This is freaking ridiculous.
Jay
AMEN and three LOUD cheers, Dianne!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this post because this new word verification feature I'm finding on certain peoples blogs is driving me totally insane! How the hell can anyone read these words?!?! Honestly? I'm getting to the point where I won't comment on blogs if they have this feature activated.
I often wonder if Google/Blogger ever tries this stuff out before making it public.
Have a super Sunday, dear lady!
X to you and the gang!
I've never used word verification in the first place and I surely wouldn't use this one! I, too, hate losing Picnik!! These guys just can't get enough, they want it all and then some!!! Well, I'm sure you know what I have to say to them!!!
Sylvia
OMG! died laughing at your title!!!! THANK YOU FOR SPREADING THE WORD!!! :)
Thanks for the info. I have been annoyed with the new word verification, and have had complaints that readers can't post comments on my blog. I don't want to miss anything any of you wants to say.
I have had trouble with spammers lately, again, but I will remove verification and see what happens.
It has happened before that the word-verifcation (technical term is captcha) got difficult and they changed it so I'm sure it'll get changed again. Blogger does seem to capture spam before it gets through rather better than it used it so I might consider not using. I use moderation for posts older than 14 days - if you use moderation you don't need captcha - I don't worry about folk using captcha but if they also use moderation then it annoys me.
I'm so with you on this.
I may try it. Or not it as the case may be.
I am word verification free and have always been and will ALWAYS remain free...thanks for passing this along!
I did not know they had changed. I have turned it off on my blog. I have comment moderation anyway so I don't need it. Thanks for pointing this out. Big Hug.
BRAVA, BRAVA, BRAVA....I COULDN"T AGREE MORE, MY DEAR...!
THIS IS A FABULOUS POST....I AM GOING OVER TO YOUR LINK NOW TO CHECK OUT WHAT TO DO....!
I couldn't remember if I had the "verification" thingy on or not, sooo I just went in, and indeed, it was on...Well, it isn't anymore!!!! Brava Me!
OK I'm trying it. I'll report back here several times a day to update you on any spam I gat or not, OK?
Still no spam and you still haven't come to my site and commented.
And I put a dog and bird video on it thinking I'd get a comment from you!
Hear! Hear! Word verification is becoming a nightmare and has, at times, led me to give up bothering to post comments. Fight the power!
Great post. We took our wverification off and allowed anonymous comments but got targeted by spammers leaving dangerous links so our blog was blocked by antivirus software. Now we're retuned our settings to registered users only and hope we'll get the best of both worlds.
I've been saying F*CK you to Google for raining on my beloved Picnik ever since I got the email stating that they were going to be packing up and leaving town in April. I am so angry you have NO idea as that's been my go-to photo editing program for quite a long time now. I am Photoshop illiterate and just don't have the time to play around with the damn thing to learn how to use it. Picnik was easy to use, I knew how to use it, and I used it a lot. If they think they're going to get me over to Google+ by taking it away then they've got another think coming. Double F*CK you, Google!
As for word verification, I hate having to jump through hoops to say "Hey, great post!" or something more inspiring so I really prefer to read blogs that don't have it. I simply set my own posts to comment moderation after 24 hours and then all the spam goes away with one click of a delete button should it manage to make it through the not-very-good Blogger censors.
Aside from offering tea and cookies, I like to make my blog as friendly for visitors as possible!
The new word verification is a nightmare. What the hell is that all about! Talk about making it impossible to comment.
I'm pissed off by the loss of Picnik too. There is nothing else like it. I do have photoshop but it doesn't do the same stuff anyway. I'm hoping someone else will come up with a replacement.
I am in total agreement Dianne. Blogger had a pretty good system now to eliminate spammers and if one gets through, it is easily reported and won't come back. Not only do some have the new dual word verification to lock their front door, they also have a dead-bolt that includes waiting for approval before your comment posts. Talk about overkill.
Amen and amen. Hope you have a great week, Di! :)
Report spammers to blogger here -http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=spam&rd=1
Love love love this post!! That new verification thing is SO hard for me to read, even with my new eyes. My host (Typepad) has verification as a default and once for no reason at all they changed my blog back to that. I was so mad. They better not ever do that again!
Amen Sister! Although I am now getting spam comments, I have taken the word verification off my blogs. I can't read the damn things and don't expect others to. The colorful one-word option was fine in my books. :(
Man, I hate these things. It never fails that I'm simply unable to read these things.
And as for Google+ and Facebook, these are both tools of the debil. Just stay away!
Picnik's basic editing stuff is included over at Google+ .. you dont have to go there or even interact with the circles or whatever .. you can just go there to edit pix ..I dont interact on Google+ or on Facebook (well there I do occasionally visit friends who dont blog) I see you found ipiccy.. its a good alternative .. xoxox
I think it's disabled on my blog, let me know if not!! I have had some trouble figuring out some of them on others pages but not too many of my peeps are using it.
I am going to miss Picnik terribly!!! Don't have Google + and from what I'm hearing, I don't want to.
Ron suggested Lunapic. Maybe we can find some fun things there to play with?
I'm so with you on this. What is Google/Blogger thinking? Someone clever is going to come along and make a simple blogging interface and snap up those of us who are growing weary of the changes.
I can hardly read the damn letters...
Amen! Those damn Captcha letters are driving me crazy! I'm glad I'm not the only one.
I'm also extremely pissed off about Picnik. What is Google's problem lately? I can't even find where it is in Google+! I'm searching for a new online photo-editor now. GAH!
I suspect it's another "we'll change the setting for their own good" ... like forcing the "next-blog" thing to be active ...
Meh
Just disabled it on mine now that I know why it appeared, I couldn't leave comments from work because of the word verification being blocked.
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