The CAPTCHA Continues As A Challenge

This month, we are again seeing evidence of recent security changes by Microsoft. We see signs of continued frustration, in the process of publishing comments - and publishing posts, as part of the Import process.

In the process of diagnosing an apparent comment publishing problem, I ventured into the comment publishing experience, yet again.

I temporarily tweaked commenting permissions for this blog, to allow anonymous comments and to require the CAPTCHA.

With CAPTCHA required, I published a test comment to my earlier post in this blog.

I did my best - which was not good enough.



CAPTCHA solving continues, as a challenge.

I entered a test comment, and made appropriate selections.

I got a challenge.

"Select all the food."

I did my best.

Apparently, my best was not enough.

"Select all images with a store front."

I tried again. Not all images here were completely obvious, either.

My second try was successful.



Hmm.

Select all the food.

Zoom in on the fourth image, above - and tell me which pictures, that I did not select, are food? To whom? Will zooming always improve chances of success?

CAPTCHA solving, as spam interdiction, will always lead to frustration.

There will be cultural issues - and resolution problems - with CAPTCHAs. This version of the CAPTCHA beats the one from several years ago - but still will cause frustration.

And need I again point out - will require proper filter tuning, on each computer used. Note that ongoing changes by Microsoft are currently affecting publishing comments - and publishing posts during the Import process.

And our experience may very, depending upon many different details, varying by blog, by computer, and by person. My sympathies to all who must deal with spam - and with spam interdiction.

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The CAPTCHA continues to be an unavoidable element in comment publishing and other episodes of #Blogger life. And like life, some episodes are more pleasant than others.

Blogger Custom Domains, And Publishing Spam Control

Some blog owners want to know why custom domain published blogs are subject to daily activity spam control limits. We see the occasional query, in Blogger Help Forum: Learn More About Blogger.

Does the 50 posts / day limit apply to all blogs that use the Blogger platform - or only for these hosted on BlogSpot?

With Blogger, all blogs are subject to a daily publishing activity limit - pages and posts, combined.

Some blog owners question the need to control post limits, for custom domain published blogs.

There are a lot of WordPress blogs, posting more or less just the short feeds of others blogs. That seems to be impossible if you use Blogger.

Using WordPress as an example does make Blogger seem overly strict. However, Blogger custom domain publishing is not the same as WordPress private domain publishing.

All Blogger blogs are hosted on Google servers.

With Blogger, all blogs - including those published to custom domains - are hosted on Blogger / Google servers. Blogger limits publishing activity - and scans for malware, porn, and spam - based on server content.

One of the problems with Blogger blogs that were hosted using FTP publishing - which was similar to WordPress private blogs - involved problems with content control. It simply was not possible to prevent hacking, porn, and spam on remote, non Blogger servers - whether or not Blogger blogs were involved.

WordPress blogs published to private domains are hosted on private servers.

With WordPress, blogs published to private domains are hosted on private servers. WordPress avoids limits and abuse scanning, on private domain published blogs, not only because they don't want to - they can't control or scan private servers.

WordPress private blogs use the Wordpress engine, for publishing static websites onto privately owned and controlled remote servers. This is how Blogger FTP Publishing worked, long ago.

All Blogger blogs are subject to daily posting limits.

Thanks to imaginative domain publishing techniques, it's not possible, with 100% certainty, to identify what Blogger blogs might use non BlogSpot URLs. Blogger blogs published to custom domains simply have an alternate, non BlogSpot URL.

The much hated CAPTCHA.



All Blogger blogs - including this one - are subject to daily page / post publishing limits.

When the limit is exceeded, we have the much hated CAPTCHA. This encourages each of us to spend time publishing informative, interesting, and unique content.

Publish quality - not just quantity.

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All #Blogger blogs - not just those published to BlogSpot - are subject to daily publishing limits. Some blog owners would like custom domain published blogs to be exempt from abuse control - including the daily publishing activity limit.

It's not likely, however, that Blogger will relax daily activity limits - custom domain or not.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/blogger/hW5xai9FqH0

Commenting Requires Login, To Suppress Spam

Some blog owners don't understand the need to identify themselves, when commenting on our blogs.

We see an occasional question, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about comment authentication.

Why, if I've selected "Anyone - including Anonymous Users" under comment settings, for "Who can Comment?", do my visitors complain of having to login?

This blog owner, like many others, does not understand the Blogger spam mitigation policy, in Blogger Comments.

Blogger lets us select who we wish to allow to comment, on our blogs.

When we do not moderate, they require authentication, to cut down on the spam. Moderated comments, with CAPTCHA ("Show word verification") not required by the owner, appear to go straight to moderation.

Comment authentication makes genuine comments more normal.

By requiring authentication, Blogger makes it more likely that a comment, awaiting moderation, will be genuine - instead of more spam. This encourages us to moderate comments more frequently - and helps us publish moderated comments, more promptly.

And more frequent moderation discourages spam - and makes it more likely that we will see actual comments, later.

Blog owners choose how to allow comments.

As a blog owner, it's your choice how / whether to allow comments.

• Anyone - includes Anonymous Users.
• Everybody with a Google, or an OpenID, account.
• Everybody with a Google account.
• Blog members only.
• Comments disabled.

Blog readers choose how to publish comments.

Depending upon the choices that you provide, your readers choose how they may authenticate.

• "Anyone" allows a reader to comment anonymously - or identified.
• If they wish to comment anonymously, they login, using a CAPTCHA.
• If they wish to comment using a profile, they login, using an account.
• Login is generally only required, with the first comment.

"Anyone" allows a reader to comment anonymously - or identified.

"Anyone" allows anyone to comment anonymously (if they wish). To cut down on spam, anyone commenting has to login.

If they wish to comment anonymously, they login, using a CAPTCHA.

Solving a CAPTCHA lets them remain anonymous - but still identify themselves as a person, not a bot. Any comments, awaiting moderation, or published, are more likely to be genuine - not spam.

If they wish to comment using a profile, they login, using an account.

They can login, as permitted, using a Google or OpenID account. Anyone able to login with a Google or OpenID account can still publish a comment anonymously, if they wish.

Login is generally only required, with the first comment.

If someone has to login repeatedly, to comment, they have a problem with identification, and filters. With cookies and scripts properly permitted, login (with the first comment) will be remembered (with any later comments).

The Blogger / Google login status, and the ability to post comments, is sensitive to both cookie and script filters. Your readers may need to enable (stop filtering) "third party cookies", in their browser and on their computer - if they wish to comment, most easily.

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Both a #Blogger blog owner - and blog readers - get choices how to authenticate when commenting. Depending upon the choices made by the owner, the readers get more, or less, choices.

Confusion From Comments And The CAPTCHA

This week, we're seeing complaints from quite a few angry blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Why do I have to solve a CAPTCHA, to comment on my own blog?

and

Everybody sees a CAPTCHA - even if they are logged in to Blogger!

Previously, the CAPTCHA was visible only to those not logged in to Blogger, or to those wishing to comment, anonymously.

It appears that the full page and popup window comment forms were updated, possibly to make the CAPTCHA form more usable, for those blog readers who are using a computer subject to filtering of "third party" cookies.

The CAPTCHA appears to be always required.

The effect that we are now seeing is that the CAPTCHA appears to be required, for all comments, when the full page and popup window forms are used.

In some cases, even with the CAPTCHA displayed, you can publish without solving.

• If you are authenticated, the reCAPTCHA, though displayed, may not require solution.
• If you are authenticated, and a blog member, neither the ezCAPTCHA nor the reCAPTCHA should require solution.

In either case, simply compose and Publish your comment.

People who wish to publish anonymously will always have to solve a CAPTCHA.

Unfortunately, people who are publishing anonymously will still need to solve the CAPTCHA. The non optional reCAPTCHA, which gets displayed, is not as easy to solve as the optional ezCAPTCHA.

Cookie filtering, once again, may be part of the problem.

To increase the confusion, people using a computer where "third party" cookies are filtered will be treated as if they are publishing anonymously, and will have to solve the reCAPTCHA. Some people, who think that they are properly authenticated, will find out otherwise, if they try to publish a comment without solving the CAPTCHA.

Continuing to cause confusion, in some cases, comments entered may simply vanish, if the CAPTCHA can't be displayed when necessary. This, is another consequence of cookie filtering.

GPT / PTC / PTS Content Is Not Welcome, In Blogger

One of the most easily overlooked details, about Blogger blog content, is that GPT / PTC / PTS Content is not suitable, for Blogger blogs.

Blogger Content Policy has a section which describes GPT / PTC / PTS Content, in passing.

Spam: Spam takes several forms in Blogger, all of which can result in deletion of your account or blog. Some examples include creating blogs designed to drive traffic to your site or to move it up in search listings, posting comments on other people's blogs just to promote your site or product, and scraping existing content from other sources for the primary purpose of generating revenue or other personal gains.

Unfortunately, spammers have been imaginatively subtle, in their description of various make money fast programmes - and not so many blog owners think it necessary to contact a lawyer, to interpret the Content Policy document, when planning their new blog.

Too many blog owners, asking the frequently seen question in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, get answers they are not prepared to see.

Why was my blog deleted? I need the money from the blog, to feed my family!

And they are told, simply

GPT / PTC / PTS / PTV content is not welcome, in Blogger.

This response generally does not please them.

Maybe, education can reduce the popularity of GPT activity, in Blogger.

"GPT" is a collection of fraudulent and illegal activities.

"GPT" (aka "Get Paid To") is a collection of various activities.

• PTC, aka "Pay To Click" involves people clicking on ads, to earn the blog / website owner money.
• PTS, aka "Pay To Surf" involves people clicking on links, to access the blog, and to earn the blog / website owner money.
• PTV, aka "Pay To Verify" involves people solving CAPTCHAS, so spammers can publish spam, as Blogger blogs and comments, and in our email, using high volume publishing scripts.

These various activities have been carefully packaged, as useful "make money fast" techniques, by the more successful spammers, who called themselves "marketing consultants".

Ads are placed on peoples blogs, so the readers of the blogs will view the ads and buy the merchandise. People who sit in front of their computers, clicking away, are not looking at the ads, or planning to buy the merchandise.

GPT (PTC / PTS / PTV) is a type of fraud. Any blog which provides advice on using GPT - or uses GPT techniques to increase blog activity - encourages the fraud, with clever ads, and shiny payment programmes. Ask yourself how the various GPT "Services" make the money, that they pay to the blog owners, for hosting their ads.

If "GPT" was really lucrative, would the expert waste time selling it?

If the blog owner, who shows you the GPT programme, really had a way to get rich, would he waste effort, telling you how to get rich? No, he would be busy getting rich, without you. Blogs, with ads telling you how to get rich, are not showing you how to get rich - they are helping the blog owner to get rich - and you are paying for his success.

Who pays you to sit at your computer, and solve CAPTCHAs, all day? The people who sell the commercial scripts, that enable spammers to setup accounts and publish spam - like spam Blogger accounts, spam Blogger blogs, and spam Blogger comments. You are just a minimum wage employee, who makes the CAPTCHA solution section of the script run, and produce the spam accounts, blogs, and comments.

Abuse detection, like highway traffic enforcement, doesn't take place in every spot on the globe, on a 7 x 24 x 3600 basis. Some people get caught (blogs get detected), other people (blogs) go un detected - from day to day.

To put and end to "GPT" and other fraud, we go one blog, at a time.

For abuse classification to produce results, each blog must be classified, on its own, as detected. Other illegal blogs will be classified, later.

If you start a blog, fill it with GPT content, and publicise it using GPT technique, you'll be one more blog owner lamenting, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

Why was my blog deleted? I worked hard for 1 year, spent much money advertising!

Start a new blog, with legitimate, interesting, unique, and useful content, based on a subject that interests you. Don't become one more victim, of advice from the older spammers.

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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The CAPTCHA, For Anonymous Comments, Isn't Going Away

Several weeks ago, Blogger added a security feature to Blogger commenting, to reduce comment spam.

Note: Even if you don't have word verification turned on, anonymous commenters might be asked to enter some text. This helps protect your blog from abuse.

This change has not pleased everybody.

I disabled "prove you're not a robot" for commenting. Why do my readers still have to solve a CAPTCHA, each time they comment?

This blog owner is not looking at the bigger picture. This new feature will benefit many blog owners - when Blogger is used, properly.

By adding a CAPTCHA, to the option to allow anonymous comments, we get several benefits.

• People can allow anonymous comments, without allowing uncontrolled spammer activity.
• People can allow authenticated comments, and not require a CAPTCHA.
• The overall level of spam, currently being seen on some blogs which allow anonymous comments and require no CAPTCHA, will drop. This will allow Blogger Security engineers the chance to concentrate, more intently, on the remaining spam.

Instead of restricting the ability for people to comment on our blogs, this change actually increases the ability for people to comment - and decreases the spam.

People who are logged in to Blogger - and who are visible as logged in - won't even see the new CAPTCHA, even if they want to comment anonymously. Only people who are not logged in (or who are not seen as logged in), and who wish to comment without logging in, will be inconvenienced.

The biggest problem, with the new CAPTCHA form, is with people who are seeing the CAPTCHA even when logged in - because they are filtering "third party" cookies. Those people will have the choice of logging in again, or solving the CAPTCHA.

Anybody who is not logged in can avoid having to solve the CAPTCHA, even if one is presented, by logging in to Blogger. Since the standard Google "One account" login is used, people who do not have a Blogger account can setup one, on the fly, in a couple of minutes. This option is not obvious, from the commenting form - especially with the CAPTCHA displayed - but it is present.

Since the commenting form comes in 4 versions, depending upon template type and comment form placement, Blogger Engineering will need to make a coordinated effort, to improve the overall design of the comment form.

The various buttons and links, which allow the comments to be published using the many options, will have to be displayed better - to make it apparent to everybody that logging in to Blogger can avoid use of the CAPTCHA - even if the reader wishes to not identify, by commenting anonymously. And, other improvements are needed, also.

And once again, I will point out that a better user experience will be had by all who can properly maintain their computers, and not block "third party" cookies. Anybody, who is able to login to Blogger, should be able to comment anonymously, without inconvenience of the CAPTCHA.

Some solutions in Blogger require our action - not just action by Blogger Engineering.

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Comments And Cookie Filters - October 2014

The new, mandatory CAPTCHA form, for blog readers wishing to comment anonymously, has been in service for just under a week.

We're seeing a variety of problems, reported in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, by blog owners and readers alike.

Long ago, for blogs with readers who were not really comfortable with maintaining security on their computers, we would recommend changing comment form placement.

The full page (or the slightly less preferable popup window) comment form was more usable, with readers who do not know how to properly maintain cookie and script filters. With recent changes in Blogger and Google, all Blogger comment forms are now vulnerable to inappropriate filters.

• Use of the Google "One account" login creates login cookies under "google.com" - not "blogger.com".
• Publishing blogs to custom domains - not "blogspot.com" - makes cookie access "third party".
• Referencing blogs from countries subject to country code aliasing - not as "blogspot.com" - makes cookie access "third party".
• The new, mandatory commenting CAPTCHA form, part of all Blogger comment form placement options, makes cookie access very important.

All of these issues, considered together, makes proper third party cookie filtering even more critical, than it has been, in the past - and makes new Blogger features more problematic.

The Google "One account" login, at "google.com", is now used by many blog owners and readers - instead of the Blogger native login, at "blogger.com". When the "blogger.com" login was used, cookies created under "blogger.com" were not as vulnerable, to cookie filters.

Whether used under "blogspot.com", or whatever country code alias or custom domain is in use (for the embedded comment form) - or under "blogger.com" (for the full page and popup window comment forms) - login cookies created under "google.com" (by the Google "One account" login) are vulnerable to "third party" cookie filters.

Blogs published to custom domains are becoming more and more popular. All blogs published to custom domains, which use the embedded comment form, are vulnerable to "third party" cookie filters.

Blogs referenced under country code aliasing are becoming more normal. All blogs subject to country code alias redirection are vulnerable to "third party" cookie filters.

The new, mandatory commenting CAPTCHA form needs to access the Blogger / Google login cookie - so blog readers, who are logged in to Blogger / Google, will not be subject to the CAPTCHA. The embedded, full page, and popup window forms are equally vulnerable to "third party" cookie filters, given the above discussed issues.

Thanks to the Google "One account" login, as Blogger is made a way of life to more of a reader population who have no interest in maintaining security on their computer, these issues will become more problematic.

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The New Commenting CAPTCHA Is Inconsistent

The new CAPTCHA, added by Blogger last week to restrict spam in anonymous comments, is already showing signs of unwanted effect, with some blogs.

Besides making the commenting sequence more complicated, the sequence, in general, is inconsistent. Differences in the sequence, when compared between the three commenting form placement options (embedded, popup, and full page), varied by the original CAPTCHA screening option, and the moderation option, have been noted. And how many readers, commenting on their favourite blog, will think of hitting "Publish" with "Google account" selected, to login and avoid the CAPTCHA?

The CAPTCHA form itself will discourage comments, being made by the casual blog reader, against many blogs. And the CAPTCHA, as added to all three comment forms, now makes cookie filtering issues equally critical, for the embedded, popup, and full page forms, alike.

As designed, CAPTCHA screening should simply affect people who wish to publish comments, anonymously.

Some blogs may require the CAPTCHA, for anonymous and authenticated comments, alike - when a reader is not logged in to Blogger. Other blogs may allow people to avoid the CAPTCHA, altogether - who even comment, anonymously, without solving a CAPTCHA, when logged in.

With some blogs, you may hit the "Publish" button immediately, and go straight to login - and other times, be stopped by the refusal

Comment should not be empty

Alternately, you may compose your comment, then select "Google account" - and upon returning from login, find an empty comment window.

Depending upon which comment placement option / template type is in use, you may see any of those inconsistencies.

• Dynamic template.
• Embedded.
• Full page.
• Pop-up window.

Each of these different comment forms variants has its own peculiarities.

These inconsistencies are more critical, because some readers filter cookies, improperly. With third party cookies filtered, the login status is not correctly identified by the commenting process - and the CAPTCHA may be required where it should not apply.

We may even see, with enough different people trying to comment, a return of the commenting login loop - where people login, repeatedly, but are denied by the CAPTCHA form in the commenting process.

Making things still worse, the CAPTCHA form is nasty. People who are less technically astute, and who have problems maintaining the filters on their computer, may be less tolerant of the CAPTCHA process - and may simply find other blogs, maybe outside Blogger / Google in general, which are more permissive.

The need for the CAPTCHA form, in general, is real - but the implementation needs improvement. Until unimproved, many Blogger blogs will feel negative effects.

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CAPTCHA Screening Added, For Anonymous Commenters, Is Not Optional

We're seeing reports, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, about a new way Blogger is blocking comment spam.

I didn't enable CAPTCHAs, for commenting on my blog! Why are my readers having to solve one, before commenting?

It appears that Blogger has added a new CAPTCHA form, to the commenting process.

In Blogger Help: The word-verification option, we see the notation.

Note: Even if you don't have word verification turned on, anonymous commenters might be asked to enter some text. This helps protect your blog from abuse.

It appears that "might be asked" is the key detail, here.

If you are logged in to Blogger / Google - or can login when commenting - you may not have to solve the CAPTCHA.

People who have not logged in can either log in, to comment using any allowed authentication option - or can solve the CAPTCHA, without logging in, to comment anonymously. A Blogger / Google account is not the same as a GMail account - and can be created, if necessary, as you login.

If you are not logged in, simply select "Google Account", and hit "Publish Your Comment", to login. There does seem to be some variation in ability to login, and retention of the message being composed, depending upon comment form placement, and moderation policy.

If you don't have a Blogger / Google account, click on "Create an account", on the Google "One account" screen. A simple 5 minute form, starting with any non Google email address, is all that is required, to create a Blogger account.

After you login, you can continue composing your comment. When you are done, select any available authentication option, and hit "Publish Your Comment", again. You should not see the CAPTCHA form, if you are logged in.

People who have filters blocking the third party Blogger / Google login cookie may still have to solve a CAPTCHA, and comment anonymously.

If you don't want to login, or don't want to setup a Blogger / Google account, you can solve the CAPTCHA. You can compose your comment before, or after, you solve the CAPTCHA.

After you solve the CAPTCHA, you can continue composing your comment. When you are done composing your comment, select "Anonymous" or "Name/URL", and hit "Publish Your Comment", again.

Many of the people, who report a problem here, may be people who also have problems previewing their posts, using Stats, and / or editing the template of the blog. All of these features are sensitive to cookie and script filters, and to various other security settings found on private computers.

I'll again point out that third party cookies are an increasingly critical issue because

• Google uses multiple domains, to host their many features and services.
• Many people filter cookies and scripts, without knowingly deciding to do so.

Neither of these issues are caused by Blogger Engineering, and neither are details that Blogger Engineering can program around. Everybody needs to be aware of the issues, and learn to setup their computers, properly.

If you are seeing a CAPTCHA where one does not belong, and you are properly logged in to Blogger, check the cookie and script filters - starting with the browser "third party cookies" option, and as necessary, all filters everywhere else.

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The Daily Post Limit Is Not Likely To Be Raised

We see signs of optimism, occasionally, in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue.

How do I convince Blogger to let me publish more than 50 posts / day, in my blog?

Blogger Support has repeatedly declined to make any change to the daily post limit.

"50 posts / day" is a soft limit - and is thought to include pages (static pages), and posts (dynamic pages), aggregated.

You are allowed to publish any quantity, daily.

You are actually allowed to publish any volume of pages and posts, that suits you. If you exceed the daily limit, which is thought to be near 50 pages and posts / day, you will simply have to solve a CAPTCHA, for each page / post over the daily limit.

It's possible that the limit is aggregated for all computers in the neighbourhood, similar to blog creation.

Can you actually write a new page / post every 1/2 hour, all day?

50 posts in 24 hours is roughly 1 page / post every 30 minutes. If you, arbitrarily, allow 4 hours / day to eat, sleep, and do everything else, that's 1 page / post every 24 minutes. Can you really write 1 page / post every 24 minutes, for 20 hours? Day after day?

Can you actually write a page / post every 1/2 hour, with acceptable content?

Blogger is a personal web site publishing platform. You're supposed to publish a Blogger blog with informative, interesting, and unique content. Can you really publish as much as 50 pages / posts each day, and stay within the limits of acceptable content?

Publish quality posts, in reasonable quantity.

Let Blogger have a chance to keep the level of spam down, in their content space. Publish good content, in limited quantity. Don't ask for Blogger to make it easier for spammers to operate.

The New Blogger GUI, Comments, And Word Verification

Recently, we're seeing a few frustrated blog owners, in Blogger Help Forum: How Do I?, who have decided that the recently provided CAPTCHA ("word verification") screening puzzle is simply too much for their readers to handle. Some blog owners have discovered that removing the CAPTCHA, from their blog comment wizard, is not all that easy, either.

Everytime I click on "Save settings", to disable word verification on my blog, as soon as I return to the settings, it is enabled again. How do I get rid of the CAPTCHA?

Some blog owners have not yet learned that the New Blogger GUI (2011) just is not ready for public use.

Until recently, disabling CAPTCHA (word verification") screening in our comments was not simple. The New GUI "Posts and comments" wizard did not always have a setting "Show word verification", and our advice used to be

Go back to the Classic GUI, if you want to disable the CAPTCHA, so your readers can comment with ease.

Now, there is a setting in the New GUI wizard.

Unfortunately, it looks like switching back and forth, between the Classic and New GUI, causes the CAPTCHA to be enabled, for some blogs. Until the exact cause and effect is identified, we are simply advising people to not switch back and forth, unless absolutely necessary.

Given the other known problems with the New GUI, it's (currently) easier to remain in the Classic GUI - at least, if you don't intend to use any of the new Blogger features that have been recently released. If you do switch back and forth, and don't want your readers to suffer "CAPTCHA Anguish", you'll want to check the setting, periodically.

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Problems With FaceBook Code Are The Responsibility Of FaceBook Support

As we add social networking accessories and gadgets to our blogs, we need to appreciate the nature of the connections, which we are adding.

Some Blogger blog owners fail to understand the relationships between the different Internet services, such as Blogger / Google, FaceBook, and Twitter.

Why do I have to solve a CAPTCHA when I post on my Wall?

and

Why does my "Share to FaceBook" wizard not let me include a snippet or thumbnail from my blog?

These are typical questions, seen recently in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken. The people, asking these questions, probably do not understand that services like FaceBook are not part of Blogger or of Google.

We have been combining our Blogger blogs, and our Blogger blogs and our non Blogger web sites, for a while.

Similarly, we can combine our Blogger blog posts with our FaceBook Wall, and with our Twitter Stream. As we combine these various Google and non Google services, we need to observe the support responsibilities for these services.

The "Share to FaceBook" button, added to our blog, contains code written by FaceBook staff - and problems with the "Share to FaceBook" wizard are, generally, the responsibility of FaceBook.

Blogger / Google wants to prevent bogus and malicious Blogger blog content, and FaceBook wants to prevent bogus / malicious FaceBook Wall content. Anything that you attempt to post in FaceBook - including links to, or photos or snippets from, your Blogger blog - is subject to FaceBook security decisions. If FaceBook wants you to solve a CAPTCHA when you post, or simply blocks you from posting, that is their decision.

Blogger / Google gives some us tools from FaceBook and Twitter. Other tools are provided by third parties. We may use any tools provided, as part of our blogs - but our use of these tools is subject to actions of the people who create them.

Report a FaceBook Problem
To report a problem with FaceBook, you start from the "Gear" icon at the top right of any FaceBook display. Select "Help", "Report a Problem", and "Report a Problem" again. That gives you the "Report a Problem" wizard. This procedure, too, may change as FaceBook changes their website.

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The CAPTCHA Sucks - But It Does Zoom

I have yet to see anybody who loves - or even likes - CAPTCHA ("word verification") screening. Several weeks ago, I noted a distinct drop in comments here, so I removed it from this blog. I am not the only blog owner to do just that.

I do note that it is a bit - just a bit - easier when it is larger. Both Chrome and Firefox use the Zoom key

Ctrl +

to make text larger. And the CAPTCHA form zooms, the same way.

A quick 1 - 2 - 3 hits of Ctrl + makes the CAPTCHA larger, and I find maybe 25% easier to read. It still sucks - but Zoom makes it suck slightly less. Whether it truly stops scripted hacking - even with the new form - remains to be seen, though.

Mail-To-Blogger, And Problems From Mobile Blog Posting Volumes

Mobile blogging is becoming more and more popular - and it's creating an interesting challenge. Many blog owners, freed from the daily use of the home computer, are publishing multiple smaller posts, throughout the day - instead of a few larger posts, at the end of the day. Also, they are using mobile computers, and emailing or messaging the posts using Mail-To-Blogger, rather than composing the posts using the GUI Post Editor.

Lately, we're seeing more and more problem reports,in Blogger Help Forum: Something Is Broken.

Why are my posts not publishing?

Many of the people reporting problems are mobile bloggers, not understanding about the unavoidable limitations.

Mobile blogging, when used this way, presents two challenges.

1. The daily posting volume frequently exceeds anti-spam detection limits.
2. Use of a mobile computer, without the Blogger GUI Post Editor, prevents use of the anti-spam CAPTCHA, when necessitated by the posting volume.

The convenience of the mobile computer / smartphone motivates many blog owners to publish multiple small posts, throughout the day. The posting volume frequently makes a mobile blog owner look like a spammer, and the Blogger anti-spam mitigation becomes involved.

When exceeding daily post limits, and using Post Editor, the Blogger anti-spam mitigation will simply require solving of a CAPTCHA. This prevents spammers from flooding their blogs with multiple, spammy posts, by requiring all posts exceeding the daily limit to be published only after the CAPTCHA is solved. When the posts are submitted using Mail-To-Blogger, there is no opportunity to solve a CAPTCHA - and Mail-To-Blogger either saves those posts as Drafts, or simply drops them.

Generally, the missing posts can be found in the "Edit Posts" list (Classic Blogger GUI) or the "Posts" list (New Blogger GUI), in Draft status. The blog owner, at end of the day, simply must use a full featured computer, access the GUI wizard, and Publish all Draft posts.

If you are seeing this problem with your blog, do not consider the number "50", and the time span "24 hours", to be absolute standards. Depending upon where in the world you are located, the "24 hour" period may reset at some time which is not consistent with your personal 24 hour schedule. In some cases, 2 consecutive days, with less than 50 posts each day, may look like 1 day, to the anti-spam mitigation process.

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Republishing A Custom Domain Blog

Sometimes, when you are publishing a blog to a custom domain, you'll have a problem with the settings. Some settings problems can only be solved by repeating the publishing process. But you can't repeat the process - once a blog is published to a URL, you can't just publish again, to the domain URL.

In some cases, you have to publish the blog back to BlogSpot, then re publish to the domain. In other cases, you have to return the blog to a BlogSpot publishing, so you can solve some problems now - and return to the domain publishing, at some unknown time in the future.

This is all done from the Settings - Publishing wizard, which you access from the Blogger dashboard - and it's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 - 4.

1. Always start by getting a new ownership verification token, and adding it to the domain DNS address list. Pay careful attention to DNS address entry conventions! If you are instructed to add a "CNAME", you do have to add a "CNAME" - regardless of older instructions!
2. If the blog is currently published to the non BlogSpot domain, you'll simply have to click on the "X", to re publish to the previous BlogSpot URL.
3. Click on

   Add a custom domain

4. Now, you have several possibilities.
   1. In many cases, you will be republishing to an otherwise properly purchased domain. Click on

      Switch to advanced settings

      The previously used custom domain should be already displayed, in the Advanced settings window. Click on the Save button, and your domain should be online.
   2. Occasionally, the domain was not successfully purchased, even though the BlogSpot URL redirects. Alternately, you may have let the domain expire - and you now have to buy a new domain. In either case, you have to purchase a domain, again.
5. OK, it couldn't be quite that simple, could it? Don't forget to select

   Redirect mydomain.com to www.mydomain.com

   if desired - and if you are not publishing to the domain root.

Solve the CAPTCHAs handily enough, and you can be done in 5 minutes. It's 5 minutes well spent, too.

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For more details on the re publishing process, see Roberto's Report: Re-Publishing to blogspot.com, and back to a Custom Domain.

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