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Sunday, April 14, 2019

To Anonymous Commenters

This month, I made this blog available to all commenters, because of the A to Z Challenge. The options are either everybody, including anonymous commenters, or Google accounts only. Not everyone has a Google account and I wanted to encourage people who might like to comment, but were not on Google. And Google does keep scrapping its programs, such as Google Plus and OpenID, which allowed anyone to comment using their ID.

And I have had some lovely comments from new online friends who are on Wordpress but don’t have Google accounts.

The trouble is, I’ve also had anonymous comments that were not relevant to the posts they were on. Some were advertising, but most were from a single, very strange person who will not get a Google account or even sign their name. I published one comment and told them that would be it if they didn’t give me a name. They kept posting anonymously, and irrelevantly. I have had to delete every day - in fact, there is one which has just popped into my moderation box as I have been writing this. It has been annoying.

So... I will probably go back to Google accounts only, after the final post in A to Z. You can still follow this blog by email. It’s worth considering getting a Google account, even if you are blogging on Wordpress. It will enable you to comment on Blogger blogs, not just mine. It’s pretty safe - these days you need to give them your phone number, but that’s only to let them warn you by text if there is anything fishy going on.

Meanwhile, I want it known that I will not publish any comments without a name. Just a name will do. But without it, no publishing, sorry!


8 comments:

Hels said...

Agreed! I am delighted to receive comments, even when they are critical of something I have written. But irrelevant comments, including advertising, are irritating.

Eg "thank you for the most entertaining and enlightening post ever on your topic. Your topic covers everything I have always wanted to know about the subject and hope to continue reading on your topic in the future". Real Estate Agent, Sydney.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks, Hels! Yeah, I have just deleted one very much like that, only it doesn’t even tell you it’s from a real estate agent! The other was in German.

Brian Joseph said...

I get some weird comments. Sometimes it goes beyond the usual spam.

I have not kept up with all the commenting options available to the various platforms. I want to say that in the past Google offered more options to comment through different types of accounts??? I think that they offer less options now. I agree that it is not too much to set up a Google account however. I have an account set up to comment on Wordpress. I think that a few blogs I visit use some third party commenting service and I think that I have another account or two set up through those services.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Oddly enough, Wordpress, which I am not crazy about, allows a variety of logins, including Twitter AND Google. You’re right, Blogger used to,allow OpenID and Google Plus - no more.

AJ Blythe said...

That's such a shame, Sue.

As you will have realised I am waaaaay behind in my A-Z. Sick Barbarians, swamped with work (this is day 9 in a row doing a 14 hour day) and the overlap with school hols. I knew the hols made things tricky but the other two unplanned ones have flattened me. Won't be joining in next year for this reason (still haven't written the last 7 posts!). Will be back when I can breathe again!

Sue Bursztynski said...

Thanks, AJ! Sorry to hear you have been having issues at home, but family comes first, Challenge much later. Just relax, enjoy and comment where you can. I probably won’t join next year, or not officially, because the official web site isn’t helpful, and I have other commitments too.

Roland Clarke said...

I'm fortunate in getting very few unwelcome comments to approve on my Wordpress site, but then I get few comments. But I see them appearing on other people's sites in the comment emails I get. So, I understand your frustraion.

Sue Bursztynski said...

Hi Roland! I don’t get too many comments either, but while I block off the ones without Google accounts I don’t have to put up with anonymous!