I've said this before, but I must blab about it again. The other day I was bloghopping and one of the sites had a captcha (word verification) you had to enter before you could follow and I just couldn't enter it right for whatever reason. (I'm a moron, maybe?)
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| This is an example of a captcha or word verification. |
Seriously.
I would have followed that blog and maybe would have loved it forever and ever, but I got frustrated and walked away. That blogger lost a reader and a potential customer.
Moral of the story: Make it easy for readers to follow you. Make it easy for them to comment. Make it easy for them to interact with you. You want readers, remember? Don't put up barriers unless absolutely necessary (like a million spammers, then I understand but I'll still be sad about it).
That's not just from a marketing perspective, it's also a pet peeve.
Are there things that will keep you from following a blog? How do you feel about captchas?
21 comments:
Word!
Thank you! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who fails those things. Secretly, I worry these are actually tracers set up by the FBI to catch people who are too stupid to use a computer. *raises hand at the back of the room*. Also, it's nice to know what 'captcha' really means, for a moment I thought Starbucks had come out with a new drink.
Love your blog.
Cheers!
Well thank heavens I'm not the only one who sometimes can't decode them! I thought it was my over-40 eyesight getting worse! I tolerate the ones I have to enter to make a comment, but I've never been faced with one just to follow the blog.
Along these lines, if a Twitter account has "protected tweets" and I have to ask permission to follow, then I don't bother.
I don't mind capcha's in a pop up box but I hate when everything has to "reload" for a comment. Drives me nuts. I would rather not have a capcha, but I had to add one to mine because of spammers. I swear, they ruin things for everyone :(
I hate the ones that are perfectly correct but they make you redo it anyway because blogger's having a bad day or something. I put up with it for comments even though it drives me nuts, but i wouldn't follow a blog that used one before I even started reading.
From a marketing perspective? The capcha is a smaller sin than the overload of crud you get otherwise.
For commenting, yes you can get lots of crud and that's not good, I agree. But a capcha for following a blog? That's a little ridiculous. And for commenting you could always use a format such as mine where you have to enter in personal info to leave a comment which is still a pain but is much easier than a capcha.
Oh, and happy turkey day. Give grandma and all the family hugs. :)
Or not "word", if you get the pun...
Ok, I'm lame.
I'm trying to imagine what that Starbucks drink would taste like...
You know when I really hate those capchas? ON MY PHONE!! I mean, seriously, I always fail them.
Yes, I'll tolerate to comment to (though I always recommend trying to go capcha free UNTIL you get spam). I didn't get any on this blog. Now I use Disqus and that keeps me spam and capcha free.
I also don't respond to those Twitter protected accounts. Maybe I'm lazy, but that's the point - lots of people are lazy.
Bummer, but if you were getting spammed, you gotta do it. I also hate the reload ones. Another thing that drives me insane is when the comment has to be moderated before it posts. I get it, and if you gotta do it, you gotta do it. Still drives me insane.
I know! It's almost like the computer wants you to get it right 3 times in a row before it counts. Sheesh!
This blog was the only one I've ever seen, so thankfully most people aren't using them. I don't even know how to add one. It was on a wordpress account and wasn't the traditional follow method. I didn't even investigate it much because it was so irritating!
Mine has one (as I understand it when people comment - if I read that note on Blogger's design stuff correctly). I don't get spam. I'm not sure what would happen, if I experiment without it. I sometimes type a comment and try to leave before the capcha thing does it's magic. I've had to rewrite comments before.
That's why I don't use it!
I can live with Word Verification, but coupled with an imbedded comment box and it's a hassle.
Agreed! Funny - felt like I was back at work then: "Don't put up barriers".
I hate them too.
I get spam comments - but they disappear before I see them on my blog so I think blogger is onto it.
That's good to know about blogger and your spam comments. The spammers attack certain blogs more than others. Many of my client blogs get attacked immediately because of the nature of their blog. Those I have to put capchas on but I always try to go sans first. Thanks for the support!
I have done the same thing! I'm took quick to go. That's my fault, I supposed, but I'm glad to hear I'm not alone :)
So true!
I belong to Wordpress .com and they have an antispamer that works before the comments get posted. Like everyone else, I sometimes don't comment if I have to go through a captcha. They are the pits.
That's great to know about wordpress. Thanks for sharing!
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