Thursday, October 20, 2005
Leaving Blogger
I am not leaving, but that is what some of those affected by yesterday's Word Verification (CAPTCHA) problems have been saying. So what? Blogger isn't really going to be hurt if a few of you stop using their FREE service. This was a bug that was fixed relatively quickly. Get over it.
Blogger may not be the best blog host, but it is a pretty good one. It has its problems, but what service doesn't? Hosting your own blog would always give you far more control and options since you can have many choices of blog software. But then you have to worry about upgrades and constant referrer spam attacks. And it isn't free. Hosting your own blog is a good thing for many people, but it is not for everyone.
Some complaints have said that Google is worse than Microsoft. Microsoft has done far worst to its customers. Not being able to blog for a day is much less critical than missing your email which Hotmail occasionally has trouble with, sometimes for longer periods than this. No online service is working 100% of the time and bug free.
If you are getting a CAPTCHA before posting, Blogger is not censoring you or saying you are running a splog. They know some innocent blogs are getting them and are working to reduce the number affected. The system is automated and will never be perfect. That is why they use the CAPTCHA rather than just blocking the posting. Read my post from yesterday that mentions some reasons why your blog might have this problem and possibly ways to work around them.
While I don't like CAPTCHAs because they are annoying and inaccessable to the visually impared, this is a good thing for the Blogger service. I don't want to have my blog on a service that is so full of splogs that no one takes anyone here seriously. If Blogger didn't start doing something radical that would happen real soon. This was a good step in reducing the problem, but I hope they have a lot more planned because Blogger's splog problem is far from solved.
Blogger has posted more information on their fix here.
Blogger may not be the best blog host, but it is a pretty good one. It has its problems, but what service doesn't? Hosting your own blog would always give you far more control and options since you can have many choices of blog software. But then you have to worry about upgrades and constant referrer spam attacks. And it isn't free. Hosting your own blog is a good thing for many people, but it is not for everyone.
Some complaints have said that Google is worse than Microsoft. Microsoft has done far worst to its customers. Not being able to blog for a day is much less critical than missing your email which Hotmail occasionally has trouble with, sometimes for longer periods than this. No online service is working 100% of the time and bug free.
If you are getting a CAPTCHA before posting, Blogger is not censoring you or saying you are running a splog. They know some innocent blogs are getting them and are working to reduce the number affected. The system is automated and will never be perfect. That is why they use the CAPTCHA rather than just blocking the posting. Read my post from yesterday that mentions some reasons why your blog might have this problem and possibly ways to work around them.
While I don't like CAPTCHAs because they are annoying and inaccessable to the visually impared, this is a good thing for the Blogger service. I don't want to have my blog on a service that is so full of splogs that no one takes anyone here seriously. If Blogger didn't start doing something radical that would happen real soon. This was a good step in reducing the problem, but I hope they have a lot more planned because Blogger's splog problem is far from solved.
Blogger has posted more information on their fix here.
Comments:
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Wow, spam even with the CAPTCHA Word Verification turned on.
Luckily the spammer was not smart enough to make a link. Though even if he had it wouldn't do any good thanks to nofollow.
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Luckily the spammer was not smart enough to make a link. Though even if he had it wouldn't do any good thanks to nofollow.
Edit
Obviously Google rushed this captcha feature and that's probably the reason for the glitch. It just wasn't tested enough.
I have a feeling flagging count weren't part of the reason blogs are misidentified as splogs. If that was the case all anti-spam blogs would be tagged as splogs and both of us would have had to go through the captcha since the implementation of barrier.
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I have a feeling flagging count weren't part of the reason blogs are misidentified as splogs. If that was the case all anti-spam blogs would be tagged as splogs and both of us would have had to go through the captcha since the implementation of barrier.
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Yeah, I imagine spammers visiting our blogs and hitting flag every chance they get.
I don't think they could use the flags as a measure for deciding when to require the CAPTCHA. The flag is for objectionable content so it not only includes splogs, but also blogs that are just plain objectionable for whatever reason.
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I don't think they could use the flags as a measure for deciding when to require the CAPTCHA. The flag is for objectionable content so it not only includes splogs, but also blogs that are just plain objectionable for whatever reason.
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Sadly Joe, yor are wrong again.
Blogspot is intended to make money for Google. They can do that in several ways. 1. the search engine for blogs (late but here) 2. ads on the 'free blogs', don't think it won't happen (the toolbar would be the optimum place, could do a frame) 3. force ads on the page (required on side or top or per post)
Fewer people using blogspot means less revenue. The greedy google-nauts know that. Their model of revenue is based upon 'eyeballs' turned into 'clicks'. No 'eyeballs', no 'clicks'.
Edit
Blogspot is intended to make money for Google. They can do that in several ways. 1. the search engine for blogs (late but here) 2. ads on the 'free blogs', don't think it won't happen (the toolbar would be the optimum place, could do a frame) 3. force ads on the page (required on side or top or per post)
Fewer people using blogspot means less revenue. The greedy google-nauts know that. Their model of revenue is based upon 'eyeballs' turned into 'clicks'. No 'eyeballs', no 'clicks'.
Edit
Loosing a small percentage of bloggers is not going to affect Blogger or Google. As you have noticed, there are no ads required on blogs.
Blogger is by far the most popular free blog host. The few people they upset will be replaced with hundreds more new happy users.
At least for now, Google wants to appear as not evil so requiring ads even on the navbar is unlikley.
Wherever you move your blog to it will still be indexed in Google/Blogger's blog search. They will still get to display ads next to search results that include your site.
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Blogger is by far the most popular free blog host. The few people they upset will be replaced with hundreds more new happy users.
At least for now, Google wants to appear as not evil so requiring ads even on the navbar is unlikley.
Wherever you move your blog to it will still be indexed in Google/Blogger's blog search. They will still get to display ads next to search results that include your site.
Edit
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