Having heard complaints about how hard it can be to read the admittedly bizarre and often-unreadable word verifications that Blogger uses, I've once again removed the requirement. (I have nothing to do with the nature of the word verification, only the ability to activate or inactivate it.) I'll still be moderating, which I've been doing a little more actively lately. As some have noticed.
Anyhow, like unplugging a sewer, I've been getting spam comments again, dozens, and it's really annoying. It's not that it's hard to mark them as spam and delete them forever; I think it's that I get all excited to see a new comment (I do like them, you know), only to find, when opening it, that it's ridiculous bogosity. And, typically, poorly constructed, plainly bullshit stuff. Blogger claims to have spam detectors, and indeed they do. But any program that lets this crap through ain't worth the electrons its printed on.
I don't know how spambots work, but I'm sure no one -- not even a person of teabagger mentality -- is stupid enough individually to send out this stuff, expecting it to get through.
So. Know how much I care, you too-few readers (numbers do steadily increase, but it's still nothing compared to Surgeonsblog, of which I was rightly -- so I'd argue -- proud.) I'm making it easier for you at the cost of my own columnar epithelium.
I'm sure the numbers are far greater than the comments. I visit almost daily. I read until I can't stand it anymore -- not referring to your (excellent) writing and analysis, but to the truth of what you are saying. I go into an overwhelmingly discouraged and sort of terrified place where I CANNOT BELIEVE (really???) the mess of a dysfunction and corruption our political system has become. Some days I hope you have written something happy and uplifting and encouraging, but I guess that would be a denial of what's going on out there.
ReplyDeleteThe Surgeon blog gave us a glimpse inside a world that is fascinating, but where most of us can't/don't go. The political blog takes us inside a sometimes dark and sad place where we all have to live. For now, anyway. I'm not giving up hope. The patient is still alive.
You're right: I should post something amusing once in a while. I have, in fact, now and then, and I don't spend all my time in a deep funk. (Went to the state fair yesterday, admired some pigs and ducks. Maybe I'll write about it.)
ReplyDeleteI don't know why Google, for all of its power, can't figure out a good spam catching system that compares to Akismet (developed by WordPress.)
ReplyDeleteI don't like to comment on Blogger blogs because they put the commenter through so many barriers in order to comment with my name and URL. I can do that, but blogs don't remember me and I have to go through it each time.
Which is too bad, Mike, because I value your comments.
ReplyDelete