Do some bloggers not want comments?
I visit a lot of blogs. A lot. One thing that always gets me is the blogs that require me to jump hurdles just to leave a comment.
Do these bloggers not want people to comment?
Do they understand that blogging is all about communicating with your readers?
GRRRrrrrrr. It just drives me mad!
Just a little while ago I was cruising through some blogs that cover the Tv show Heroes. I like Heroes and I've even blogged a little bit about it.
This particular blog was hosted on blogspot. I have issues with blogspot hosting as it is but this is not the time and place for that discussion! I tried to leave a comment and, after writing it, I scrolled down to input my contact information and I find that this particular blogger only allows people with a google login to post comments!
Granted I do have a Google login but, I never use it for blogging purposes. I only use it for email and AdSense and I only use it from one computer, my home computer!
This is just one example of the many hurdles I have been faced with while trying to leave a comment. Do you know what I do when faced with these hurdels? I surf away. I never go back.
- Common comment leaving hurdles:
- Have to subscribe to the web site
- Google login
- CAPTCHA
- Math question
I can deal with a CAPTCHA as long as the image is readable. Same with the math question. These are not insurmountable hurdles and I have no problem with them. The first two though...
Making me becomes a subscriber to your site just to leave a comment is a terrible way to gain a following on your blog.
I have a very simple comment system here on HMTK. Your first comment is moderated and every comment after that is not. I do go back and edit the occasional comment if it is spam or full of swear words but that is it.
See, I want people to comment on my blog. I value and trust my readers.
So please, drop some comments.
- Ask Steve: How do I increase my blog’s readership?
- A Bloggers Guide to Etiquette
- Why can’t we all just link to the source?
- Five Blogs that I read
- The Spammers Do Try
I agree! I also dislike having to fill out 2 captchas on blogger blogs that do allow non Google comments.
The NBC Heroes site has problems on its own. You would think if you were going to tell people they could watch episodes online, NBC would at least have it working first. Almost as bad as not having a server ready for a Super Bowl ad.
A Google spam filter takes care of 99.9% of the unwanted comments, the rest I approve by hand, not much work at all, also lets me see what people are writing. BTW: I removed the nofollow tag, so feel free to comment away for a free backlink.
I see that there is no reason to blog if people don’t want to interact with the readers (comments)…
Some people might be using their blogs as a private reference. That’s what I was doing in Sep 06 and didn’t really think about “putting it out there.” I didn’t put it out there until a little encouragement from others. My first posts were: Question and then an Answer — basically notes to myself.
My guess is that blogspot hosting does not come with spam catcher eg. spamkarma2 or akismet. So, the blog authors still feel the need to moderate the comments one by one.
I totally agree with you, quite often I give up on commenting if there are too many hurdles. I think for most blogger’s with average traffic it’s just as easy to moderate a comment later if it’s spam, but you don’t put off good readers and commentators.
Indeed. It makes me laugh when I find a blog with very low traffic numbers and multiple comment hurdles.
My spam comment numbers are now over 1K a day. Akismet catches 99% of them for me and it is a trivial matter to clean up the rest.
I agree with most of what you said. Out of the four items, i cannot stand the subscription part. It is absolutely ridiculous unless i love the blog very much.
As for google login, captcha, math question, they are all ok for me.
I think the captcha and the math question is a good idea, especially if you have a list like I do.
One blogger blogged about another blogger having this equation as the math question: 2x^2+3x-9=0. I thought it comical.
http://honestknowledge.com/warriorblog/damnit-calculus/
Now that is good! Not only does it make a good captcha but it also means only people who know calculus will be commenting on his blog!