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I flipping did it again, didn't I?

By Jim on July 23, 2010 11:11 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Looks like I done fucked up and stopped posting again.

It's been roughly two weeks since I last posted. I have to admit, I know why I stopped:

I didn't have a schedule. Which also means I wasn't planning ahead. So I fell behind and well . . .

Most days I either had too much to say or nothing to say and they canceled each other out - I ended posting nothing at all. Who says I can't compromise?

I think the best thing to do is fix that by creating a schedule so that I can post without having to think. Yeah, you'd probably contend that I do that already - whatever.

So here's what I'm thinking about doing:

Friday - Just kind of an off-topic, off-the-wall linky thing - kind of an open day to do whatever.

Saturday - Something about TV. After all it's one of my favorite things and I follow quite a few shows.

Sunday - I don't know yet. Maybe photography.

Monday - DVD reviews - Another of my favorite things.

Tuesday - Post about something at work. I gotta million of 'em.

Wednesday - Something I thought of today. Something insightful based on wisdom earned over the years - mostly through trial and error or hard luck experience.

Thursday - Something technical - but this could change to another topic.

A brief comment on a change of heart

By Jim on May 20, 2010 9:19 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks
Ever since my last post, about spammy comments, I kind of noticed something.

The fact that I had turned off the possibility of any interaction on this blog caused me to really not have much of an interest in whether or not I posted anything. previously I would experience a bit of regret when another day went by and I had not posted. But knowing that the possibility of comments no longer existed seemed to diminish any real concern.

That isn't what I want.

So I had to weigh my options. First, I could turn comments back on and deal with the spam. I thought long and hard on the matter. Nope. Not interested.

Second, I could turn on captchas. I really don't like having to use those on any sites I visit, so how could I force that onto others.

Third, I could allow people to register with a variety of authentication methods. Personally I've never registered at a blog. Primarily because . . . well, I don't know . . . just because I haven't.

Lastly I could do nothing and deal with it.

I decided to go with the option that seemed to be the least painful. I want people to comment, but I want comments from people who have an authentic desire to comment. Weeding through spammy crap sucks - so, as much as I truly believe in allowing anonymous comments is the way to go, I'm going to go with authenticated commenters. At least that way I believe I can establish some balance.

So, now you can login and leave comments. You don't necessarily have to register - you can login using a number of different authentication methods. I know it's kind of a pain in the ass, but so is trying to establish what is junky spam and what isn't. I'll be trying this out for a while and we'll see how it goes. I want to have some incentive to post knowing that one or two people just might browse my site and read something I post. It's a long shot, but you never know. Hell, someone might even want to comment.

It only takes a few to screw it up for the rest

By Jim on May 10, 2010 10:16 AM
For a long time I've been able to keep comments open. I'll admit, no one is really breaking down the doors here to comment on my posts, but I still haven't really had to do much more than the minimum to prevent a lot of comment spam.

To draw an analogy . . . I think it's like living in a small town versus living in the big city. Most people living in a small town will say that they didn't lock their doors at night. However, people from larger cities will mast assuredly lock their doors.

I consider my blog a small town. I don't get a lot of visitors, except for rare occasions. Much to my chagrin, the visitors I do get seldom leave much for comments.

Spam used to be something I really didn't have to pay attention to. Movable Type's system seemed to catch the things that were spammy and then got rid of them without significant intervention from me. I imagine this was mostly because the spam that was coming in lacked any real creativity. Most of it was for pharmaceutical stuff like viagra or online gambling and it could be rooted out pretty easily with keywords and URLs.

The stuff I've been getting for the last 6 months to a year is a different kind of spam. Most of reads like a real comment:

Wow, great post this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
 
- this is usually followed by some kind of link to some site that really doesn't throw up any red flags. There really isn't much for the spam detection engine to detect as it is all pretty legit looking. This means I have to get much more involved to keep the garbage out and it has put me in a pretty awkward position.

I know it's really no big deal for some blog owners to implement captchas or require people to register with their site to leave comments, but I do believe that anonymous commenting is okay and captchas aren't really that effective. But, if this spam thing is going to be the problem it is going to be, then I have to go the other route.

From here on out commenting is going to be turned off except on select posts and only for a limited time. This seems to be the route bloggers I have any respect for have taken - so if it's good enough for them . . .
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