Comments, Owner Choices, And Reader Choices

Much of what we do in life - and what we do when using Blogger - is based upon, and limited by, choice.

Some choices we get to make, for ourselves. Other choices are made for us, by people who make their own choices.

Some blog owners do not want their readers to have to login to Blogger, to comment on their blogs. Other blog owners do not want their readers to have to solve a CAPTCHA, to comment on their blogs.

A few blog owners do not want their readers to have to do either.

It seems anyone who wishes to leave a comment, will have to do some form of login, either via Google or a CAPTCHA, to do so! Is there a reason for this, would it not be easier, for anyone to just leave a comment?

And the answer here is simple.

It would be easier, if neither were required.

But reality - involving activity by spammers, and activity to counter spammers - leaves some of us with less choices.

Long ago, Blogger allowed anonymous comments, without a CAPTCHA to solve. Spammers benefited from that possibility.

Later, Blogger added the ezCAPTCHA, to be required at the owners decision. Some owners chose to not select the CAPTCHA, because their readers were inconvenienced. Spammers continued to benefit from blogs which allowed anonymous comments, and no CAPTCHA.

Recently, Blogger added the non optional reCAPTCHA. This requires anybody not logged in to have the choice - login, or solve a CAPTCHA.

Unfortunately, the latter change made the third party cookie filter issue more critical. People who are already logged in, but are subject to third party cookie filtering, have to login, or solve a CAPTCHA. This requirement may vary, according to the variant of the commenting form, used by the blog.

Now, a blog owner has 4 choices, to control anonymous comments.

1. Don't allow anonymous comments, and don't require a CAPTCHA. People who are not logged in will have to login, to comment.
2. Don't allow anonymous comments, but require a CAPTCHA. People who have not logged in will have to login, and solve a CAPTCHA.
3. Allow anonymous comments, and don't require a CAPTCHA. People who have not logged in will have to either login, or solve a CAPTCHA.
4. Allow anonymous comments, and require a CAPTCHA. People who are not logged in will have to solve a CAPTCHA.

Some people will have to either login, or solve a CAPTCHA, to comment. Depending upon what choices are made by the blog owner, the readers may have any 2 of 3 choices.

1. Solve a non owner optional reCAPTCHA.
2. Solve an owner optional ezCAPTCHA.
3. Login.

You'll like the ezCAPTCHA a lot more than the reCAPTCHA.

People who are logged in to Blogger / Google, and are not subject to third party cookie filters, may not see a CAPTCHA - and will not have to login to comment. People who are logged in, but are subject to third party cookie filters, will have to either login, or solve a CAPTCHA.

Owners of blogs which attract readers, who choose to maintain their cookie filters, will benefit more from the new CAPTCHA, than owners of blogs which attract readers who do not choose - or do not care - to maintain their cookie filters.

To make the choices easier to understand, Blogger would have to make "Require CAPTCHA" a binary option, for at least 3 comment authentication levels.

1. Anonymous.
   • Require CAPTCHA.
   • Don't require CAPTCHA.
2. OpenID.
   • Require CAPTCHA.
   • Don't require CAPTCHA.
3. Google account.
   • Require CAPTCHA.
   • Don't require CAPTCHA.
4. Members.
   • Require CAPTCHA.
   • Don't require CAPTCHA.

If Blogger were to offer this binary option, too many owners would select "Anonymous" / "Don't require CAPTCHA" - and spammers would continue to flood the spam filters - as they were, before the latest update.

As long as spammers choose to do business - and choose to target our blogs, in their business - our choices, as blog owners and readers, will be limited.

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