I, like a lot of bloggers, use the commenting back system. It's essentially the practise of going to comment on someone's blog if they have taken the effort to comment on yours. So, for example, if it's a meme then visiting other blogs and commenting back is kind of the whole point of taking part. But, it also applies when someone takes the time to read your review or discussion post and comment on it. As a blogger, I understand just how long it can take to visit other blogs and comment on them. So, in my opinion, it just seems like the polite and caring blogger thing to do - so I always try to visit and comment on anyone who comments on my blog.
 |
| Oh noes! Why you hide your blog from me? :'( |
But, this is where the problem starts. Most people don't link back to their blog, sometimes as they don't expect you to comment back or it might seem presumptuous if they do. This poses a problem as you have to hope their blog is linked to whichever way they chose to comment you on. Sometimes this isn't the case and I am then left struggling to find a way to comment back. Other times it takes a bit of hunting down, which takes up even more time. So, if you have a blog then I don't mind if you want to leave a link at the bottom of your comment. In fact, I would kind of love it and it makes visiting you back a lot easier. After trying to hunt down 30 or so blogs in one day, you start to feel a bit like Loki over there. Oh blogosphere, why do you hide your awesome blogs from me?
 |
| When CAPTCHA tells me I got it wrong! |
Hunting down the blog you want to comment on is only half the battle though. Soon you start to feel like a performing monkey who's being made to do tricks for treats. It's always rewarding to read someone's review or discussion and be able to leave a comment. But, it can get a bit tiresome when there are about a million hoops to jump through before you can do it. We all know the evils of CAPTCHA, which I am pretty certain is removed from my blog. For the longest time I didn't even realise it was on there because it doesn't come up when you reply on your own posts. If it's still on my blog then PLEASE let me know, I know how irritating that thing can be.
 |
| When I get the CAPTCHA right first time. |
CAPTCHA is one that I do understand. I don't have it now because it's time consuming for other bloggers and I don't get too much spam without it on, maybe 1 comment every couple of months. If your blog is getting a lot of spam then I understand why you need it. I think the new ones that just contain numbers are a lot easier because you can tell what the numbers are. The word ones are just a headache, especially when it's all smashed together and you're squinting trying to figure out if it's an I or an L that you're looking at.
 |
| MATHS! Noooooooooo.... |
 |
| When you encounter the 'loader'. |
 |
| Take the time to reload? |
I do find some of the other methods to be a lot easier to deal with. The cute picture ones that as you to move a specific item seem to make me smile more than anything. I don't know why, they're just so damn cute! I also think the little check box that asks you to confirm you are not a spammer is pretty easy to do. It takes a second and it's done.
Am I the only person who sometimes gets tired of all the different ways you have to perform in order to comment? They're necessary to prevent spam but it doesn't make them any more annoying. I find it irritating that Blogger hides the CAPTCHA settings so well, took me forever to figure out where it was located. For the most part, I usually find it easy to just do any of these methods in order to comment because I obviously liked the content enough to want to comment in the first place. But, every now and then, I come across the loader and lose my mind!
So what commenting hoop do you find the most annoying to jump through? What's your favourite one? Are there any that bother you so much that you don't even bother to do them?
One chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX, to enter go here.
You can also enter my June giveaway, where 3 winners have the chance to win any 2 of the books I have reviewed in 2014 so far. For full details go here.
The Things That Disney Taught Me
Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Will Be In My Beach Bag
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: 4/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: X-Men: Days of Future Past 10/10 Review
Five Friday Favourites: Underrated Books
My Weekly Book Haul: 07/06/2014
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski: 5/5 Review
Oh God. What I hate the most are those Blogspot blogs that take me to a new page when I want to comment. I CAN'T SEE THE ORIGINAL POST. When I comment I like to scroll back through the post and keep typing out thoughts on whatever jumps out to me from the post. When I click to leave a comment and I get taken to a new page where I can only see other people's comments and not the post itself, I just give up. I can't comment on blogs like that. I comment on blogs hoping to make some new blogger friends and keep coming back to the blog and commenting more in the future. I can comment once or twice on blogs where I have to go to a new page to comment, but I can't be doing it forever, so I'm best just avoiding it. (If anyone knows whether there's something I can do as a commenter to stop whatever blog I'm visiting from doing that, I would be so thankful!)
ReplyDeleteSome captchas are super annoying, but I usually manage to put up with them.
I really like commenting back on blogs, but sometimes I'm a bit confused when people leave comments on my book haul posts (it's usually the book haul posts) saying nothing much in particular and I go to their blog and discover we literally don't have anything in common, and it looks to me like they don't read YA at all. I'm an entirely YA blog at the moment, so that just makes me confused and I feel like there's no point in me commenting back if I can't think of anything meaningful in particular. It always makes me feel kinda guilty though, even if they didn't have anything meaningful to say to me either... (I feel like that's kinda of a hoop too because what happens is I end up spending ages hunting around their blog for a post where I can think of something to say but then I just have to give up after a while because I feel like the effort is just meaningless.)
Great discussion! (:
Cynthia @ Jellyfish Reads
YES!!! I'd forgotten about those ones. I hate the getting taken to new page because I also like to scroll back up so I can remember which parts I wanted to comment on. I have a terrible memory so I usually forget halfway through writing the post. Sometimes it has a button that will let you see the post but it's then in a weird format. NOT A FAN!
DeleteThat confuses me too. Or comments that are literally just ' Nice haul. Here's mine.' I get confused by those because it's just really pointless. Usually I won't comment on a blog that has nothing in common with mine or completely different taste, unless they came to mine first. But if I did then I actually comment on the books or tell them I haven't read any or something. Not just - They look good! Now come visit me or else!. Haha
The only thing that really annoys me is captchas. I just find them so meaningless and annoying. I am not a robot. How many times do I have to prove that? I get what you're saying about linking your blog. It does make it a whole lot smoother.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Jazmen@ This Girl Reads A lot
I think so, I can understand why others don't like to though. I don't do it myself if I am returning comments or not taking part in a meme. But, my blog is 100% listed on my Blogger account so they should be able to find it... I hope.
DeleteLOL I was just having this rant. I hate captcha. And got snagged by that you have to reload and wait mess earlier. Blergs!
ReplyDeleteI use Disqus on mine and omg if someone hasn't updated their profile to include their blog address and they don't use a blog name in their handle...I've got no flipping clue. Even adding an if you're a blogger let me know so I can visit has gotten me nowhere with it. Ahhhh.
I HATE THAT!!! I just do not have time for the reloading rubbish. NOT.A.FAN!
DeleteHaha. I don't even know if my Disqus has all that, you join so many things just to comment that it's hard to remember. I'll have to check ;)
I can soooooooooooo feel your pain here! I didn't know I had CAPTCHA until another blogger told me about it, and since then, I've had no spam (touch wood) and actually had more commenters which is wonderful, so I'm glad I took it off, but I can understand, at least, on Wordpress, that gets a lot of spam (or so I've heard) why people want it there, but it does make commenting stressful. I personally don't like leaving links anymore, I used to, but I felt like I was begging people to read my blog by doing it. Sometimes I will read a post and just read it, because I don't have something worthy of saying, it wouldn't be worth it for the blog owner to read my comment and think 'well, what a waste of typing', I'd rather it was something better, like this! :D But no, seriously, I do completely understand and you're not alone! :)
ReplyDeleteIt really does, especially when you have to keep pressing refresh in order to find one you can actually decipher. Blogger seems to get rid of most spam pretty easy so that's always good too.
DeleteSometimes I do the exact same, read a post but don't comment because I didn't really know what to say. I don't leave mine either, so here's to practising what I preach... haha. I do if it's a meme because that's kind of the whole point and I know it's easier because I prefer when people do that for me.
I think every person that has ever commented on a blog can relate to this post in some form or another. But I agree, the spam captcha ones are the worse, they can take up so much time, especially if you have to do multiple ones because you can't really SEE what the heck it wants you to ype in because it is all mashed together and funky looking.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW! I hate having to reload it so I can find that one that's even slightly decipherable. A tick box would be so much simpler.
DeleteI seriously HATE when people don't link to their blog, I've actually given up searching for them because it's too time consuming. I figure if people want to engage in conversation then they will make it easy to do so. I have the HTML with my "signature" and link saved so I just CTRL+C and CTRL + V as needed :)
ReplyDeleteI just removed my CAPTCHA settings because you're right - it's not needed until spamming becomes a problem.
Great post, seriously relate-able!
Emily @ Follow the Yellow Book Road
Well, I leave mine sometimes but not if I am just returning a comment. A signature is easy enough to do so I am happy to leave mine at times. I removed mine and have barely had any spam comments at all. I got three in one day once but that was about it.
DeleteThank you! :)
If Captcha is invovled I exit out of the blog. I don't care if I spent 20 minutes typing out my comment. I'm moving on. I actually did a similar post like this a year ago that had a Big Bang Theory gif. I guess great minds think alike.
ReplyDeleteKristin @ Book Sniffers Anonymous
Haha, that's kind of strange but funny at the same time. I love me some Big Bang though. I feel like this is something that has bothered everyone at some point. Captcha is just EVIL.
DeleteI also get frustrated by captcha - and usually just exit. I did start getting spam on my blog --- but instead of asking the commenter to do something....I just view all comments and they post later after I have a chance to filter out the spam ones. Seems to me that if I am going to blog, the work should be on my end rather than on the visitors....
ReplyDeleteExactly. I rarely get spam and even if I do it only takes me a moment to delete the comment. I just think captcha is very time consuming and not necessary.
DeleteYES! I would rather have to delete a few comments than have a bunch of frustrated readers trying to figure out if that weird squiggle is an "i" or a "j"! Also, I am totally guilty of not leaving my url. My thing is, I don't want anyone to ever feel like they owe me a comment. If they'd like to check out my blog that would obviously be awesome, and I always try to comment back, but I know sometimes people just can't, so I don't want anyone to ever feel obligated. If given the option, I enter my name as name/url, but if that isn't a choice, I think my name links to Google+. I should go check that out right now, and fix it if it doesn't! It is good to hear the other side of it, from the visitor, so thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteMe too, so I should probably practice what I preach really. I do always add it if it's part of a meme because it seems like the easiest thing to do.
DeleteIt's hard when it's part of a meme and the general idea is to visit each other but then their blog isn't linked to the way they comment. I then feel bad because the super polite side of me has this dire need to return all comments. Haha
CAPTCHA IS THE DEVIL. No human can read those words. If I didn't have a desktop, I'd be throwing my computer out of the window after it tells me for the fifth time I got it wrong :/
ReplyDeleteAlso, totally agree about people not easily linking their blogs. I hate having to scour the earth to find someone's blog so I can comment back. If it's that hard, I now don't bother. My general rule is, if it takes longer than five minutes just to find the thing, then I'm giving up.
I've never gotten the 'You must reload this page to comment' thing. LOL, that would piss me off so bad if that happened to me. I'd boycott the page :P
I don't get how people read those. I have to reload it about twenty times in order to find one that seems remotely decipherable.
DeleteI have that same rule now too. If it isn't easily linked to your Blogger account or Google + account or the way they comment then I usually give up.
I know, I feel it's just a way to up pageviews and I am not a fan of that. It's also ridiculously time consuming.
I AM SO WITH YOU HERE. *shakes fist at all sorts of CAPTCHA* I actually do NOT understand why blogger's still use it. I've just got ol' blogger commenting and I moderate comments older than 14 days, because that's where the spam goes if it comes at all. I don't get hardly any spam at all these days! It CAN be bad some months, but, still... I kind of die a little inside when my comment gets eaten. There is a 0% chance I'll rewrite it. >_< It's just so devastating!
ReplyDeleteAnd google+. OMG I HATE GOOGLE+ SOMETIMES. I can never find people's blogs when they have it...and I feel bad because I can't return the comment.
Commenting back is time consuming and I sometimes fail at it, but I think it's worthwhile for building up blogging audiences. As long as people just don't please oh please don't have captcha.
Thank you for pointing out that you can do that. I don't get much spam but do sometimes manage to miss comments when they are put on old posts. Have just added that feature for myself, so now I won't miss any! Me too, I hate rewriting it once it's been swallowed because it took me so long to write. I usually give up from frustration.
DeleteGoogle + is evil! I can barely find any blogs when going through that, which is so annoying.
I sometimes fail too but I am getting a lot better now. It is taking up a lot of my time, today alone it has taken me two hours so far just to reply and comment back on about 20 comments. It's definitely worth it though :)
Ok, I feel guilty because I do have captcha. You and the other commentators have convinced me to get rid of it. I'll see if I get any spam. Hopefully getting rid of it means more people will comment! ~Pam
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot easier now that most captcha just has numbers and no letters - think yours is like that and it only takes seconds to figure out. But, the ones where it's words are very confusing and frustrating at times. I usually always enter it in because I want to comment, but I know that others give up on the blog because they can't be bothered. Hopefully it will get more people to comment :)
DeleteI get very frustrated when I write a very long comment and it gets eaten by the commenting system. Because I just don't have time to write it all over again and it's annoying. CAPTCHA must die. There is no need for a filter on Blogspot, because the spam isn't so bad. I also like it when people leave a link to their blog. It's much easier to pay a visit back :)
ReplyDeleteMel@thedailyprophecy
That's definitely a pet hate of mine too. I have to rewrite it and I never remember exactly what I wanted to say and my heart isn't really in it any more. It definitely is easier and agree that blogspot doesn't really get too much spam if you don't allow anonymous comments.
DeleteCaptcha! My nemesis, how I loathe thee. The very first thing I did to my blog was turn that sucker off.
ReplyDeleteI like commenting back, but you are right about how it's not fun having to hunt down links. If I have to go hunting down your link, chances are something shinny will come along and I'll forget what I am doing and go off on a tangent. (That's the same reason why pintrest is my downfall, just fyi.)
Dreams @ Once Upon A Dream Books
I didn't even know how or that it was even on until I saw a blog post about it. I thank that blogger! No idea who it was though.
DeleteHaha, I get easily distracted too, especially if I have been hunting down blogs all day and just want a break from it.
Luckily I haven't encountered many commenting problems. I mean, there are times where the computers like, "Reload" and I get annoyed. It's why I am wary about writing such lengthy comments. I mean, it's nice to see what everyone has to say, but when the computer just erases it, I'm like, why even try.
ReplyDeleteI think it's awesome thought that you do try and go to the blog of people who have commented on yours. It's always nice to get a comment, even if it's short and sweet.
By the way, I love all the giffs you post. They always make me smile :)
I hate when that happens, especially if I have wrote a really long comment. I then get frustrated and find it hard to remember everything that I said the first time round. My hearts not in it after that either.
DeleteI definitely try and visit every single person who visits me IF I can find their blog!
Thank you. I have a serious gif problem but I can't stop!
Luckily, I saw a blog post explaining how to tell if it's on or not and I managed to disable it. But it was probably on for a good few months before I even realised.
ReplyDeleteI don't either but I believe mine is always linked to my name at the top whenever I comment. I only link if it's a meme because I know and appreciate how helpful that is when people do it for me.
I hate that. I would at least like to see that they took in or read what I had written, listed or received that week. But, the obvious comments that you know they have just copied and pasted to everyone's really annoys me.
No to any of those WV or Number Verifcation codes. Usually you find them at the bottom of seldom visited blogs. There's a reason for the seldom visits. The other thing I really hate (now you've got me started) is having to fill in a form with my name, email etc. Sometime they autofill, but even then, it's a pain. I don't like leaving the page to comment, either. I often want to go back and scan for a detail in the post.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've done to make my blogging time more efficient is to create a table of all the bloggers I follow. That was time consuming, but in the end, time-saving. I list them by name, URL and make notes when I find something special about their blog or a special post I want to revisit. Each day I blog, I go down that list and put the date I left a comment.
Great post. You asked just the right questions.
I hate having to leave the page. I definitely like to scroll back up and remember all the different things I wanted to comment on, I have a bad memory so it's usually required. Those forms are really annoying but I am happy that mine autofills for me, it saves a lot of time.
DeleteThat's pretty impressive and a really great idea. Maybe I should try that, it might be time consuming to make but it might make it easier for me in the long run. Such a brilliant idea, thank you!
Glad people can relate to it.
I love this post. This puts down my everyday struggle into words. I love commenting on other people's blogs and if you give me a link, I'm there. But some people just make it unnecessarily hard, unintentionally, I think. There's usually not a post that I want to comment on that much, if you make me jump through hoops. It's usually not worth it. But the groan that I make every time I see a captcha. OMFG. Love this post <3
ReplyDeleteI know. Even I don't always leave a link, but that's because I am usually returning a comment and therefore usually don't feel the need to. If it's a meme though then I always leave a link, I know from experience just how much easier that can be and how much time it saves. Captcha is just the worst, such a time waster and gets to me EVERY TIME!
DeleteYay! for all the awesome gifs you are using in this post! Who doesn't love Misha? I like!
ReplyDeleteI agree, somethimes it is tiresome to find the blog, but it's def. a reward when you do! The captcha is irritating.
If there is a person in the world who doesn't like Mischa then I never want to meet them, clearly there is something wrong with them. Captcha is the biggest time waster and is just out to GET ME!
DeleteAMEN!!! I really hate going through all of these things to comment. I still think that Blogger comment form is the easiest out of all of them. I hate ones where I have to enter my email and name over and over, it's so annoying! Great post
ReplyDeleteBlogger is pretty easy and without captcha on you don't really get too much spam anyway. Those ones do get really irritating, I forget about them because I am so used to filling them out now.
DeleteYou are not alone!! I hate the math problems and Captcha the most. Especially when I don't see it coming and I hit post and then BAM more work I have to do. I love commenting on blogs, giving back comments, or just because I love his/her post, but sometimes sadly it does feeling like you are a performing monkey. :( Great post!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I know, I hate all the effort that I have to put into it sometimes. The ones that make me reload are my least favourite and I usually don't end up commenting on the blog in the end.
DeleteI hate jumping through all the hoops mentioned to comment! I don't think my Captcha or whatever its called is gone from my blog, mostly because I don't know how to remove it! I would if I could, really ;) I am actually running off to work on that now :D I do a lot of blog commenting and although time consuming I love seeing peoples work and appreciating it too. Especially when it comes to topics I am also interested in!
ReplyDeletehttp://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2014/06/city-of-heavenly-fire-book-review.html
It's a lot of fun to read blog posts and comment, just wish so many platforms didn't require so much from you just to post one comment. Gets a bit tiresome after an hour or so.
DeleteI see I am not the only one who suffers in this way. thanks for sharing the frustration. I know now that i am not alone.
ReplyDeleteHaha, you are definitely not alone! Commenting can be the worlds biggest pain in the arse sometimes.
DeleteThis was such a funny article! I usually thank those who comment at the very least, and if I can try and look at their own blog. The problem I've been running into of late, though, is that they take up so much TIME. Especially with the hoops. Often I have to leave it at the thank you reply and hope that they see it.
ReplyDeleteI usually don't link back to my own blog because I know the clicking on the name next to the avatar will take you to the user's Blogger page, but also (guilty as charged) I do think it seems presumptuous, although I wouldn't mind at all if someone put a link back on my blog. But then I hadn't realised how much trouble you have trying to comment back so from now on I could just put a little linky of my name. Like this;
Ashana.
=]
If I have to reply to a lot of people, the thing that'll make me give up is the word verification. Usually I just get on with it, but if I'm tired it's a headache. But I agree with you, the MOST ANNOYING OF THEM ALL if writing a long comment that is deleted because of a page error. That's the worst of them all.
I liked this post! Thanks for sharing!
Commenting is very time consuming, that's definitely true. I've been away for four days and have a lot to reply too! It's going to take time, but I am determined.
DeleteI usually don't link back unless it's part of a weekly meme. But a lot of the time I am visiting someone who has commented on my blog already, so don't need to. Other times it's because my name should link back. I clearly don't practice what I preach.
I HATE THE PAGE ERRORS! They make me cry and I usually give up and don't bother to write it out again.
I just saw the title and was like HUZZAH! I'VE FOUND THE POST OF #1 RELATABILITY! Honestly, Captcha is annoying, but I don't know if I have it on my blog! Really, I think commenting definitely makes a blogger's day, so I usually do my best to comment! And the amount of fabulosity some bloggers have cannot be contained, so I usually scream it out like AHLAKFJLAS JFL;AS JF;LKSJFKJSALFSF! ANYWAY, I thought this was going to be on how bloggers (like little ol' newbie me) have to be "performing monkeys" when they comment because, well, they are trying to get people to think they are fabulous and come to their blog! I usually TRY, but fail. :( Oh well. I was pleasantly surprised by this discussion on jumping through hoops - I don't mind it too much unless it makes me wait 20 seconds; I am impatient!
ReplyDeleteGreat points you made, thanks for the tips. I agree that leaving nice comments to other blogs is a way of getting other people to your own blog or website and it is also an easy way to learn about other people and know what they do thereby creating a business relationship. I love nice comments that relates to the topic of one’s writing or general good comments are great way to go.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Ashley Jones
Thanks for fabulous
ReplyDelete