Lame Blog Commenting System

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SteveON

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Topic # 91023 5-Oct-2011 09:40

That's right I said it. The GZ Commenting system on blogs is lame.

It's like you don't trust anyone, first off you need a GZ account, then you need to enter a captcha and then you need to confirm via email... oh and then an admin has to authorize it.

How about getting rid of the last two? You should just have a complaint system where if someone is abusing the blog and registered user can flag a reply.

Just my opinion, but if you want GZ to expand and attract more people you gotta make it more user friendly.

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Hawkes Bay
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Reply # 529387 5-Oct-2011 09:53

Do you think GZ is not expanding, and not attracting people? If so, I will tell you now you are very wrong.

As for lack of trust, it is well proven the world over, that a trust system for comments on blogs does not work. Not sure if you realise or not, but comment spam got invented. That alone pretty much killed the idea of trusting users to comment without authentication of some sort (this is not a Geekzone specific issue).

Having just a complaint system would bring massive overhead in dealing with spam, that is already dealt with automatically by way of the current system.

I just tested the commenting system, and this is what I found...

Found a blog post.
Typed a comment.
Typed a 4 character captcha (that was really clear and easy).
Hit 'send'.

Not sure how that counts as 'lame'.

As for having a GZ account - it is a one time thing to set up, and it is easy, and free. This is not a fringe site, and witha good reputation, and high traffic (and previous proven spam problems when things are left open), I see no reason for a GZ account to be a barrier (you have one, for example).

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muppet

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Reply # 529394 5-Oct-2011 09:57

The owner of the blog can control how intense the filtering is, at least to some degree.

So you're complaining to the wrong people, SteveON.

I have the following two options unticked:

Moderate comments (requires your approval before a comment is shown): []
Use CAPTCHA (a form of test that presents a text box and ask for input, trying to separate humans from bots and will require Javascript): []

Most people don't. It's annoying I agree, but it's how the owner of the blog has configured it.

My personal annoyance is signatures that are bigger than the original message and contain information that only the owner of the sig cares about.

It looks like I'm using an adblocker. I should consider whitelisting Geekzone in my adblocker or a subscription. The Quick Reply box will appear for me when Geekzone is whitelisted. Hooray for me! If I want to reply to this topic I should click on Compose Reply.

freitasm

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Reply # 529398 5-Oct-2011 10:04

As muppet trolled, we give the options, it's up to the blog owners to decide which ones are turned on or off.

As tonyhughes trolled, comment spam is there. If you just accept any comments, you will see things like this:

"Very good blog post. For Gucci bags go to..."

"Great insight. I love how you write so well. I will follow your blog. For Viagra go to..."

No, you don't need a Geekzone account. If you have a Geekzone account and you are logged in then your comment will be pre-approved (in some cases).

The captcha is there because dirty old spammers found out they can write scripts that find a FORM in a page and just keep posting repeatedly.

The email verification is there because then we have at least one more confirmation is not spam.

The blog owner's approval is there because some people rather monitor and moderate comments, others are more relaxed.

We already do a lot of automatic filtering (country, keywords, etc).

Now go and complain to the right people.

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tonyhughes

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Reply # 529401 5-Oct-2011 10:08

muppet: My personal annoyance is signatures that are bigger than the original message and contain information that only the owner of the sig cares about.

I would never stoop to that :)

freitasm

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Reply # 529403 5-Oct-2011 10:09

SteveON: Just my opinion, but if you want GZ to expand and attract more people you gotta make it more user friendly.

We are making it "more user friendly". By making it faster. We put a lot of work in making things faster here.

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dontpanic42

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Reply # 529440 5-Oct-2011 10:56

freitasm: If you have a Geekzone account and you are logged in then your comment will be pre-approved (in some cases).

Just curious, in what cases will ones comments be pre-approved?

freitasm

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Reply # 529444 5-Oct-2011 11:00

If you have a Geekzone account, and the owner has set moderation off then the comments will appear as soon as you post them.

If you don't have a Geekzone account, and the owner has set moderation off then the comments will appear when you click on a link emailed to you.

If the owner has set moderation ON then the comments will be queued for approval after confirmation (no confirmation needed if you have a Geekzone account) and appear when the owner accepts them.

Dare I say, the comment system with all the approval options and checks is quite well designed and coded. Thanks ;)

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NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 529451 5-Oct-2011 11:10

it does strike me as slightly weird that with a geekzone account I can post stuff on the forum no problems, yet for the majority of the blogs, despite being logged in and therefore obviously not a random spammer, I still have to do all the other stuff (captcha, confirm via email, await for coment to be approved).

freitasm

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Reply # 529454 5-Oct-2011 11:11

If you are logged in you don't need to confirm via email.

The captcha is an option and the blog owner sets it ON or OFF as they see fit.

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NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 529474 5-Oct-2011 11:33

freitasm: If you are logged in you don't need to confirm via email.

The captcha is an option and the blog owner sets it ON or OFF as they see fit.

not for me it seems.

Just tried comenting on the iPhone4s blog whilst logged in (name and email field was automatically populated), and it came back with:

"Thank you. Please check your e-mail for a confirmation link. You must click on that link to confirm the comment. "

freitasm

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Reply # 529478 5-Oct-2011 11:34

Here's the text (and how it works)... Sorry for the misunderstanding:

"Are you a registered Geekzone user? Login to have the fields below automatically filled in for you and to enable links in comments. If you have (or qualify to have) a Geekzone Blog then your comment will be automatically confirmed and shown in this blog post."

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xpd

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Reply # 529480 5-Oct-2011 11:35

Ditto, I always seem to go find the confirmation email before my comemnt is confirmed.

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DonGould

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Reply # 529493 5-Oct-2011 11:43

I agree with SteveON, the blog commenting thing is lame compared with the forums.

I also totally agree with FM about the spam stuff! I've turned commenting off on my blogs now and ppl even email me to complain.

Nice to see users have options. I also wonder if the users just aren't that bothered with peoples comments? I posted to one blog and the owner never responded - that's ok too, in my book.

/random thoughts on silly blog comments

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NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 529499 5-Oct-2011 11:48

freitasm: Here's the text (and how it works)... Sorry for the misunderstanding:

"Are you a registered Geekzone user? Login to have the fields below automatically filled in for you and to enable links in comments. If you have (or qualify to have) a Geekzone Blog then your comment will be automatically confirmed and shown in this blog post."

Yeah I see that, but I am definitely logged into geekzone at the time, and it automaticaly populates my username and email address.
Does that mean I have to login separately to the blogging 'system' even if I am already logged into the geekzone forums?

freitasm

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Reply # 529501 5-Oct-2011 11:49

DonGould: I agree with SteveON, the blog commenting thing is lame compared with the forums.

How can the system be "lame" when as explained the blog owner is the one who sets the options. I can't understand "lame" in optional.

DonGould: I've turned commenting off on my blogs now and ppl even email me to complain.

So your blog had a system that allow so much spam to be posted in comments that you turned it off?

It sounds to me "lame" is this other blog comment system.

It sounds to me the bad user experience is on you now, for not allowing comments and having people complaining to you.

Go have a think about it...

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