I've had a fascinating afternoon playing around with blogger - yes, that sound you heard about an hour ago was probably me...screaming!But we are all wearing our happy faces again now :-)
It was brought to my attention that by using 'embedded' as my comment feed option that I was making it difficult for some non-blogger bloggers from commenting on my posts. Word verification options and registered user/google account were also mentioned as being a problem.
Now, I love hearing from others & what they're thinking about, so this concerned me.
I had removed word verification ages ago (to make it easier for people to comment) but added comment moderation for posts older than a week to keep a track of any spam. Since doing this I have no problems with spammers. The occasional one that gets through blogger goes straight to my inbox and I can delete it.
A month ago I switched to 'pop-up' instead, which apparently would made it easier for others to comment. I also moved to 'anyone' being allowed to comment on my blog.
BIG MISTAKE!
Within 24 hours I was swamped by spam emails and comments.
I quickly reverted back to 'registered users' and the spammers disappeared - phew!
I stayed with the 'pop-up' option for comments though as it seemed to be working fine. Until I realised that I couldn't reply individually to any of my lovely comments. My comments thread had disappeared!
Today I have googled my eyes out trying to find out how I can add a reply thread to pop-up comments. Result - nothing, nada, zilch, zip, can't be done.
My only option is to go back to 'embedded'.
I'm terribly sorry if this excludes anybody, but I NEED to reply! If you have any ideas on how to do this in 'pop-up' please let me know.
The good thing about my googling efforts though, is that I finally found out how to centre my blog name (above).And I found a code for adding social media icons to my header (that rotate when you hover....yes, I'll wait while you try it out :-)
So the day was not wasted.
If I could only work out how to make the white section behind my blog posts that reaches all the way to the top of the page, transparent (like the header), then my blogging life would be complete!!
Onto other matters: I have decided to sign up for Paris in July.
If you'd like to register your interest, please click on the link here.
Until then...
Bonne lecture!
Hi Brona,
ReplyDeleteFrom what I found on Google, you have to use "embedded" comments if you want "threaded" https://support.google.com/blogger/answer/1725597?hl=en. I allow "Anyone" to comment, but I have a word-verification step and I always have comment moderation in place. So I rarely get spam.
But I also get far fewer comments than you do. I may take off the verification step-- since I check my blog daily, comment moderation works fine for me. I was getting a TON of referrer spam--links from the Philippines--for 2 weeks straight this month. I finally gave up and just took down the post they kept hitting--it wasn't a great post, and I was sick of having it screw up my stats!
I love the new look! I don't know if you can expand the page into the header, though... this is why some people use Wordpress instead of Blogger, because they can do a few more things with it. Personally, I've used Wordpress, and I prefer Blogger--it's more straightforward.
The hassles were worth it--it looks great!
Thanks for stopping by :-)
DeleteWhen I stopped using word verification I started getting a lot more people commenting.
I know myself I will often not leave a comment (esp if using my mobile) if the word verification box pops up. I often have to reset the word 2 -3 times before I can make out all the numbers and letters properly.
My experience has been that comment moderation is enough to keep the spammers at bay (the blogger spam filter is also pretty good. When I remember to check the spam folder, I'm always surprised by how many spam comments blogger has sent straight there.)
The only hitch with centering my blog name, is the mobile view is overcrowded with name and social media icons. I now have to work out how much that annoys me!
I checked yesterday after I commented, and I actually don't have word verification up--I thought I did, but I took it down a while back, apparently. I agree: sometimes, I can't read the words that I'm supposed to "verify." :) Good luck getting the look of your blog just the way you like it, in all views!
DeleteTa!
DeleteMaybe the question I need to ask everyone is - who views blogs on their PC and who does so on their mobile or tablet?
Well done with your wins! The comment thing is difficult. I use the pop up option, because I like the pop up bit- but didn't realise that it was that that stopped me being able to reply to threads. Why would they do that? I didn't know you were on Facebook, so I've just liked you there. I don't do twitter much so haven't followed you there. I've never ventured onto google plus and don't even understand what it's for. One day, I'll check it out I guess.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm so excited that you're joining us for Paris in July!
I'm very happy to reply to your comment Louise:-)
DeleteI don't know why they don't have the reply option in pop-up, because I also liked the way the pop-up works and looks. I would have liked keeping it, but being able to reply individually was more important in the end.
Google+ was google's way of getting into a social media platform and replacing the old google reader. I share all my posts from both blogs on there and quite a few people do seem to come to my blog from there (according to the stats). But I'm not really sure how useful it actually is (ie I never use it, so therefore have no I idea really!)
I'm really looking forward to Paris in July too - I'm starting to put together a pile of books :-)