Comments on: Does adding CAPTCHA reduce the number of comments? http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/ Technology, music, video, art, news, reviews and muse on the web Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:52:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 By: George Lindemann Jr http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-788501 George Lindemann Jr Sun, 25 May 2008 06:28:05 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-788501 I’m always having a hard time reading captcha..It would usually take me 2-3 times before I can get it right..^^..I hope they can come up to of better ways to prevent spams other than captcha. I’m always having a hard time reading captcha..It would usually take me 2-3 times before I can get it right..^^..I hope they can come up to of better ways to prevent spams other than captcha.

]]> By: Gear http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-675745 Gear Thu, 06 Dec 2007 20:30:20 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-675745 I don't mind CAPTCHA as long as it's easy to read and reCAPTCHA words are usually pretty easy to read so far. Some other CAPTCHA systems take me 3-4 tries to get right, which is extremely irritating. I don’t mind CAPTCHA as long as it’s easy to read and reCAPTCHA words are usually pretty easy to read so far. Some other CAPTCHA systems take me 3-4 tries to get right, which is extremely irritating.

]]> By: Yan http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-666439 Yan Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:36:16 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-666439 I have had a terrible experience with re-capture. The words they use are not always readable and sometimes matching them still gives me negative result. I removed re-capture from by blog after playing with it for a couple of weeks. I have had a terrible experience with re-capture. The words they use are not always readable and sometimes matching them still gives me negative result. I removed re-capture from by blog after playing with it for a couple of weeks.

]]> By: Charles http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-666358 Charles Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:25:21 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-666358 If you're running Wordpress (it's not obvious if you are or aren't) then use Dr Dave's Spam Karma 2. No need for registration; people can comment automatically. Kills spam very effectively. If you’re running Wordpress (it’s not obvious if you are or aren’t) then use Dr Dave’s Spam Karma 2. No need for registration; people can comment automatically. Kills spam very effectively.

]]> By: FranciscoIV http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665288 FranciscoIV Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:21:17 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665288 TDavid, the CAPTCHA didn't bother me, but then I'm not a drive by commenter and have invested in your BLOG (figuratively not economically). I did find when I switched PC's and didn't have your cookie it did make the CAPTCHA re-appear once (with a blank comment form). After that is was gone. WP must have recognized my User ID and email after the first comment on the different PC.... TDavid, the CAPTCHA didn’t bother me, but then I’m not a drive by commenter and have invested in your BLOG (figuratively not economically). I did find when I switched PC’s and didn’t have your cookie it did make the CAPTCHA re-appear once (with a blank comment form). After that is was gone. WP must have recognized my User ID and email after the first comment on the different PC….

]]> By: TDavid http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665237 TDavid Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:10:06 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665237 Hi Ben - thanks for stopping by and suffering through the CAPTCHA ;) <i>1) What does this do to the quality of the comments? Did the CAPTCHA deter high quality comments or just things like “that’s cool”</i> The comment quality at this blog is one thing I've been pretty happy with both pre- and post-CAPTCHA. The implementation of the CAPTCHA didn't negatively impact the quality of comments left. Neither the comments or the people leaving them. Over the last 174 days I found myself able to spend a little more time following the links from commenters (and replying in more depth and frequency) than before where I might have been duped by a spammer who made what appeared to be a legitimate comment. The quality of the comment is very important to us because we see comments as part of the overall content on the page. In some cases the comments left by others I value more than the original blog post. <i>2) What other changes can be made to increase the number of comments? Removing the email address field seems like it might be a big one.</i> I've covered the subject of <a href="http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20060422/3197/" rel="nofollow">how to get more comments on a blog</a> in greater depth before from a writer/publisher standpoint. And I also did a retrospective when this blog reached the <a href="http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20070723/4658/" rel="nofollow">10,000 comments mark</a>. As far as the reCAPTCHA technology, which is what I believe you meant, you might notice I'm not using the newer version with two different forms. I didn't like that as it makes it kind of confusing leaving a comment. Not sure if you've had complaints about that or not. The interface needs to be very simplistic like what Disqus is doing or people say forget it and leave. As a publisher, I like having the email field because it gives us another way to determine if the comment is valid or spam. Most spammers don't use valid email addresses in our experience. Spammers are getting more creative these days. They employ people to leave real looking comments on blogs not using rel=nofollow with links to spam sites. Hi Ben - thanks for stopping by and suffering through the CAPTCHA ;)

1) What does this do to the quality of the comments? Did the CAPTCHA deter high quality comments or just things like “that’s cool”

The comment quality at this blog is one thing I’ve been pretty happy with both pre- and post-CAPTCHA. The implementation of the CAPTCHA didn’t negatively impact the quality of comments left. Neither the comments or the people leaving them.

Over the last 174 days I found myself able to spend a little more time following the links from commenters (and replying in more depth and frequency) than before where I might have been duped by a spammer who made what appeared to be a legitimate comment. The quality of the comment is very important to us because we see comments as part of the overall content on the page. In some cases the comments left by others I value more than the original blog post.

2) What other changes can be made to increase the number of comments? Removing the email address field seems like it might be a big one.
I’ve covered the subject of how to get more comments on a blog in greater depth before from a writer/publisher standpoint. And I also did a retrospective when this blog reached the 10,000 comments mark.

As far as the reCAPTCHA technology, which is what I believe you meant, you might notice I’m not using the newer version with two different forms. I didn’t like that as it makes it kind of confusing leaving a comment. Not sure if you’ve had complaints about that or not. The interface needs to be very simplistic like what Disqus is doing or people say forget it and leave.

As a publisher, I like having the email field because it gives us another way to determine if the comment is valid or spam. Most spammers don’t use valid email addresses in our experience. Spammers are getting more creative these days. They employ people to leave real looking comments on blogs not using rel=nofollow with links to spam sites.

]]> By: Ben Maurer http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665206 Ben Maurer Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:18:04 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665206 Hi there, I'm one of the developers on reCAPTCHA. This is a really interesting analysis of the impact of CAPTCHAs on commenting. I like your method of hiding the CAPTCHA for a commenter who has had many approved comments. In fact, one thing we've been considering is having a more global version of this. Since reCAPTCHA is used on many blogs, it'd be possible to have a global karma system that allows people to freely comment on blogs without having to enter a CAPTCHA every time. A global system would obviously have a few twists that make it more complicated: - We need to balance the privacy of the user with the ability to track abuse. - It's possible that, in order to circumvent this, a hacker might create a virus that gathered the cookie which granted the free-pass and sent it to a central source. I think that a more global system is something for people to think about, but it's good to see that it works for you on a small scale! A few questions for you: 1) What does this do to the quality of the comments? Did the CAPTCHA deter high quality comments or just things like "that's cool" 2) What other changes can be made to increase the number of comments? Removing the email address field seems like it might be a big one. Hi there,

I’m one of the developers on reCAPTCHA.

This is a really interesting analysis of the impact of CAPTCHAs on commenting. I like your method of hiding the CAPTCHA for a commenter who has had many approved comments. In fact, one thing we’ve been considering is having a more global version of this. Since reCAPTCHA is used on many blogs, it’d be possible to have a global karma system that allows people to freely comment on blogs without having to enter a CAPTCHA every time.

A global system would obviously have a few twists that make it more complicated:

- We need to balance the privacy of the user with the ability to track abuse.
- It’s possible that, in order to circumvent this, a hacker might create a virus that gathered the cookie which granted the free-pass and sent it to a central source.

I think that a more global system is something for people to think about, but it’s good to see that it works for you on a small scale!

A few questions for you:

1) What does this do to the quality of the comments? Did the CAPTCHA deter high quality comments or just things like “that’s cool”
2) What other changes can be made to increase the number of comments? Removing the email address field seems like it might be a big one.

]]> By: TDavid http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665132 TDavid Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:13:56 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665132 Yes, a lot of factors to consider, but I thought it was interesting looking over the numbers. You shouldn't be seeing the CAPTCHA any more, did it bother you at all when you did see it? Yes, a lot of factors to consider, but I thought it was interesting looking over the numbers. You shouldn’t be seeing the CAPTCHA any more, did it bother you at all when you did see it?

]]> By: FranciscoIV http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665128 FranciscoIV Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:08:36 +0000 http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20071114/4942/#comment-665128 TDavid, one intangible is as time goes by, the novelty of Blogging has decreased considerably. Also Blog overload due to the proliferation of blogs in general has an impact. Way more competition for commentors eyes and time now versus then. As with most things, the numbers are just numbers and causality cannot be directly inferred. TDavid, one intangible is as time goes by, the novelty of Blogging has decreased considerably. Also Blog overload due to the proliferation of blogs in general has an impact. Way more competition for commentors eyes and time now versus then. As with most things, the numbers are just numbers and causality cannot be directly inferred.

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