Monday, September 17, 2012

How to Turn Off Word Verification (A Pictorial Tutorial)

When I started blogging last November, there were many conventions and expressions that I didn't know about. I learned a lot by participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge this past April and decided to pay things forward by sharing some of the wisdom I've picked up since then.

One thing bloggers complained about after the Challenge was over is "Word Verification" (a.k.a. "Captcha"). If you're not familiar with this term, lemme 'splain:

1. You're reading someone's blog and something in it tickled you or resonated with you so much, you feel compelled to leave a comment:



2. You enter a long, thoughtful note for the blogger and prepare to submit it by clicking the "Publish" button, thinking that's all ya gotta do to share the love:

3. But, NO! Due to a fear of spammers, that blogger has turned on "Word Verification" to make you prove you're a real, live human. Only, who the hell can read that, much less type it into the box?

At this point, you either break out a magnifying glass so you can press on with the "Word Verification" step or consign that blogger to the devil and go comment on some other blog. (Or maybe you pour yourself a stiff drink, I dunno.)

On the face of it, it doesn't seem to be such a big deal, but trust me: it's a pain in the ass to have to go through this step, as it's hard on the eyes and folks with not a lot of time (and a LOT of blogs to read through) will lose their patience with you, not comment, and possibly stop following your blog altogether. Which would be le suck, n'est-ce pas? Oui.

Now, when I started the Challenge, I could've sworn I'd turned off the "Word Verification" feature. But when I saw so many fellow participants complaining about other participants still having this on, I got paranoid and decided to view my blog through the eyes of a visitor. I logged out of Blogger/Google and visited my blog, following the steps pictured above. And, damn it, I was wrong: "Word Verification" was totally turned on! Chagrined, I made haste to turn that annoying shizz off.

If YOU'RE not sure whether you've got "Word Verification" on or off, do what I did in the preceding paragraph to check. If it IS on and you want to turn it OFF but don't know how, here's whatcha gots ta do:

1. Log back in to Blogger:


2. From the log-in landing page, click on the title of your blog to access the Overview:


3. On the Overview page, on the left-hand side, towards the bottom is the word "Settings." Click on that sucker:


4. On the "Settings" page, left-hand side, click on "Posts and Comments":


5. On the "Posts and Comments" page, you're asked if you want to "Show word verification." For the love of all that's holy, JUST SAY NO!


6. Once you've turned off "Word Verification," click "Save settings" over on the upper right-hand side of the page:


7. You'll know you successfully banished that bane of bloggers when you log out, visit your blog, type in a comment, click "Preview" and see this:


Whew! That involved a whole lotta clickery, huh?

Now, all of these instructions are for the newest Blogger version. Users of other blogging tools, I'm afraid I can't help y'all, but perhaps the steps are similar to the ones I listed above.

In any event, I can't guarantee that your blog will now get oodles of comments, but please believe you've done a good thing by ridding yourself of that pestilent option. Your followers will thank you. (In their heads, at least.)

A note to all my pals in the Blogosphere: I'm behind on my reading of/commenting on y'alls' blogs, for which I'm sorry. I'm traveling for my day job this (and next) month and also packing up my apartment for my move back into my parents' place at the end of September. So, while I will try to keep up with your blogs, I won't be able to dedicate myself to them over the next couple of months as I would like to. Sorry, folks. Forgive! :-(

16 comments:

  1. Excellent explanation. I never knew it was there either until joining a blog fest and then oops, no one was commenting and the moderator had to step in and let us dunce's know not all was well in the blogosphere. I'm going back to check again. But I saw you'd commented on a blog I just posted, Thanks! Are you going to share your guilty pleasure?

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  2. what an awesome set of instrux. I learned how to turn this off during A to Z too. I hate trying to read those blurry numbers and letters we are told to retype to prove we're not bots.

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  3. Thanks, y'all. I hope folks find this useful.

    @Yolanda - I generally don't feel guilty about whatever pleasure I can milk from this absurd, cruel thing called life. But if something comes to mind, I'll pop over. :-)

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  4. GREAT instructions!!! I do visit a lot of blogs and many have Captcha. I hate to not leave my comment but on the other hand it's getting more and more of a pain, esp. blogs where there's no need for it.

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  5. Fantastic instructions! I hate word verification....

    Relax about not catching up. We'll be here. :)

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    Replies
    1. thank you, i was able to follow this easily and I needed to do this!
      now to find instructions on how to add the badge

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    2. Happy to help, Lee.

      As to adding a badge: if it's got HTML associated with it, then what you do is go to "Layout" on your blog, and click on one of the "Add a Gadget" options. From the pop-up box, scroll till you see "HTML/JavaScript" and click on it. In the "Content" box, paste the HTML for the badge, save, and then preview your blog - you should now have a badge.

      If there's no HTML, then you can simply upload the badge as an image (which you'd have had to save to your computer first).

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  6. I panicked a little when I was reading this. I thought mine was off ... but maybe it wasn't. But it was off. Wouldn't it be terrible to have OCD that made you want to check that setting over and over just to make sure it didn't change? I'm kind of like that with my alarm clock.

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  7. I hadn't really thought about this until A-Z Challenge. Been off ever since and been getting more annoyed at those who still have it ever since, too.

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  8. Thanks for the 'splainin' and I whole-heartedly agree! I've had word verification off on my blog since A-to-Z also, and I don't think I've gotten any spam that blogger hasn't caught with the spam filter. It's low risk - high reward. Why not make it as easy as possible for a reader to comment?

    Oh, and the BEST part of this post? Seeing "A Writer's Expanding and..." listed among the blogs you follow, right there in picture three. Awww... I got a little choked up when I saw that, I gotta tell ya. ;^)

    Oh -- also, I evidently COMPLETELY spaced out and missed your resurrection blogfest post. Wha? Huh? Mina's running a blogfest!?! Well, needless to say, I've remedied that omission immediately!


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  9. Thanks for this post! I do hope more bloggers read this. Word verification does take a lot of time and it can get annoying if you're trying to visit many sites. :)

    Nutschell
    www.thewritingnut.com

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  10. @JoJo - I feel the same way.

    @Juli - Thanks! I hate missing out on stuff (and then it can be a lot of work catching up, knowhatimsayin???)

    @Tonja - I've got that OCD with my gas powered stove top.

    @a.eye - Ditto!

    @Chris - Yay, thanks for joining in!

    @nutschell - For realz! :-)

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  11. First visit to your blog and I'm dying to read more of "That Fatal Kiss" - you would love my greek mythology serials - one in particular, "Kore" is a 5-part short fiction on Persephone (Kore) and Hades (Aides) - though, admittedly, not as steamy:)
    Cheers!
    WriterlySam

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    1. Thanks so much, and I look forward to checking out your stuff! :-)

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  12. "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat" from Guys and Dolls! I did that show once upon a midnight dreary. :-)

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