Lately I have been doing lots of “Blog Surfing” to not only see what people are writing about, but also to comment on blogs to get our name (Making Money Online Dot Com) out there. Now I am definitely not one of those people that just say something like, “Great Post! Keep up the good work!” I like to read each post and if I have something I think I can contribute… I try and leave a useful comment. Sometimes they are quite lengthy and sometimes they could be fairly short, but I always try to add to the conversation.
While visiting all these blogs lately there are a couple of things that I have come across that has kept me from leaving comments on posts where I usually would. Here are the 2 things that keep me from sometimes leaving comments:
1) Comment boxes that don’t auto-fill. This one probably bugs me most of all. The first time you go to a blog and leave a comment you usually have to leave at least your name and email address. Most sites also let you add your web address and many nowadays let you add additional information like your Twitter ID and more. Most sites require that your first comment be manually approved by the blog owner before it appears to the public, which totally makes sense. Another thing that is common in most blogs is once you leave your first comment… your information is stored on that site so when you go to write another comment you don’t have to fill out your personal information again. There are some sites that I have found where each time you leave a post you have to fill in that information again. I absolutely hate having to do that each time I comment on the same site and I am sure there are many others that feel the same way. So if your site does not have that “Auto Fill” feature I think you should fix it!
2) Captcha in the comments section. This one really bugs as well. I understand that nobody wants to get a bunch of spam posts on their site (me especially), but that is what the plugin Akismet (which comes with every WP blog) is for… right? 
It catches almost all the spam comments we get on our sites. It’s true, we have to check the spam folder each week to make sure it didn’t grab some legitimate comments, but for the most part it works great. I hate it when I leave a comment on a blog and then I come across one of those Captcha codes that are really hard to read. Then I have to refresh it until I can read it clearly or it takes me several attempts until I type it in right. It makes me want to just leave the site and abandon my comment. Now I can definitely understand having Captcha on your contact form, as you really don’t expect too many contact emails each day. But having it in your blog comment section is really not needed in my opinion. Why even risk lose visitors to your site?
Of course these are just my personal feelings. Maybe I am the only person this bugs. All I know is having those 2 things on your site might be costing you some comments from me.
How you guys? What do you think about my opinions… do you agree? Please leave your comments below.
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Asswass on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 7:06 am
Hey Doug you scared me a little bit there. Thank God that I don’t have either. You know what makes a visitor of my blog not to leave a comment? I don’t show hoy many comments the post has, so I guess people don’t go in to find out. I’m changing that soon.
Doug Dillard on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 12:46 pm
I didn’t mean to scare you
Not showing the number of post comments does not keep me from leaving a comment… but I do prefer to see how many comments a blog has.
bbrian017 on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 12:47 pm
Well the captcha on comments I think is a cool feature! I’m not using it but as a blogger I would still comment none the less.
Is till see your point! I like how your blog auto fills. I didn’t have to type anything it knew exactly who I was. That’s a nice feature. I’m sure this is also done automatically if you use Firefox but perhaps not.
Is there a plugin for the auto fill?
Doug Dillard on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 1:02 pm
I only use Firefox… so that is not case. I am not a programmer, so I am not sure how it works, but most blogs (like yours) auto-fills some how. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the particular comment plugin they are using, but again I am not sure.
As for the Captcha feature… I think it is hard enough already to get people to leave a comment, and giving them one more step to complete can only make it harder. Of course, like I wrote in the post… it might just be me it bugs
Doug Dillard on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 1:17 pm
On another note Brian… are you getting more comments on your blog since you link your comments to your blog versus blogengage?
bbrian017 on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 7:52 pm
It’s way better!
Even cooler I’m getting a higher turn around and more members at blogengage as well.
It’s odd! Perhaps it’s from a blogger to a blogger concept that makes it more successful.
Doug Dillard on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 9:31 pm
I figured that would work better for you. I think it is just easier to make your blog your centerpiece of your business. Then explain to your readers about other things you do and why they need to participate in those things as well… like blogengage..
bbrian017 on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 6:02 am
Yes it’s working out 200 times better! All my blogging friends are signing and submitting their content it’s really cool trickle affect.
Good thing I took your advice . I always assumed using the blogengage url was better but I guess it wasn’t.
Thanks Doug,
brian
Jared | The Money Cult on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 5:46 pm
Great Post! Keep up the good work!
Just kidding I know what a lame comment. I agree take some effort and add some value. I recent realized the power of commenting myself. A matter of fact a have a draft post in the que for next will will have to back link to this one.
Need to make sure my site is setup for ease of comments cause like you said you want to make it as easy a possible for the user. The shouldn’t have to jump thought hurdles. I tried out one plug-in a while back and it killed my comments for about 10 days till I removed it.
Doug Dillard on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 6:02 pm
LOL… you are a funny guy
Yep, the easier you can make it for someone to leave a comment… the better.
Jared P Little | The Money Cult on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 7:11 pm
Doug got your mail about Comment Luv, let me give it a try.
Jared P Little | The Money Cult´s last blog ..This Weeks Internet Marketing Guru’s News
Tycoon Blogger on Thu, 30th Jul 2009 8:30 pm
I tell you gets me the most upset is trying to comment on a blogspot blog. Half of the time it does not work for me and it is more difficult than it has to be.
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Ridiculous blogger on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 1:11 am
I think that the auto-fill that you are talking about is actually the browser auto-fill features. it doesn’t concern the blog to which you have commented.
Doug Dillard on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 8:21 am
Thanks for stopping by! The only browser I use is Firefox, so I am not sure that would be the case. I think it probably has to do with the site receives cookies, but again I am not positive.
Tech-Freak Stuff on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 5:48 am
You just snatched the words from my mouth! These are the most irritating things for a Blog commenter. I would like to add one more: “The Comment forms that are not below the Blog post[as in Blogger Blogs]“
Doug Dillard on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 8:25 am
Good point… thanks, and thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Lee Ka Hoong on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 9:09 am
I strongly agree your points especially #1 point, I’ve visited some blogs and found that I’ve to keep fill in my name, email address, and website everytime I wanted to leave a comment even though it was in the same sites, this really pisses me off.
If you want to increase your blog comment, make it as simple as you can, don’t try to request much info from commenter, otherwise they will quit before filling up their details in the comment section.
Between, I’ve wrote a post about blog commenting strategies in my blog yesterday too.
Regards,
Lee
SEO Writer on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 1:55 pm
Hey, lol, Why do you have to point out my site like that? lol, jk. I’ve never really thought about this but I think ill try and see if my blog does the auto-fill. What a great idea. lol. I never noticed it till you mentioned it and I know it bothers me now too that I’ve started to see it!
Tony
Doug Dillard on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 2:49 pm
Yours auto-fills Tony. If it didn’t I would have emailed you and let you know.
The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 2:43 pm
Doug,
Both bug me, but the second one more. Furthermore, I’ve seen a few blogs where you fill in the captcha, and your comment STILL has to be manually approved by the blog author. I really don’t get the point of the captcha then…
Doug Dillard on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 2:48 pm
I can see why the first post always should be approved by the blog owner, even if they are using Captcha. Because all spam is not automated… there are a lot of spammers out there that manually go from blog to blog leaving spam comments and this helps when they slip through the spam detector.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 3:03 pm
Yeah, that makes sense. But on some sites, I’ve seen it ask for captcha every time. Kind of annoying. Otherwise, it is a good tool to use for the first time a user comments.
Doug Dillard on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 3:08 pm
Yep… the Captcha will always appear, but the approval should only happen the first time. I don’t think there is a way to set-up Captcha to only work on your first visit… as that is kinda of a cool idea.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Thu, 6th Aug 2009 11:56 am
I would try to figure out a fix for it, but I really don’t think I’m capable of that. Let’s just wait around for a tech guru to take care of it!
Extreme John on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 6:36 pm
People make such a big deal out of spam it kills me, I run my blog wide open if I see something that is crap I remove it.
I hardly want to have no responsibility at all, I mean I did decide to write a blog so wouldn’t it come with the territory?
I have been screaming lose captcha on blog commenting for a while now, dumbest thing ever.
Mitch on Fri, 31st Jul 2009 10:47 pm
I’ve never thought of the auto-fill thing as an issue, maybe because Firefox usually takes care of that issue for me.
On the second, I’ve written about this one a couple of times myself. Some of those things are just so hard to read, and WP has many plugins, including Askimet, which can handle it so much easier.
Doug Dillard on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 3:52 pm
Hi Mitch… Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I just check out your site and it is very nice. I definitely will be going back.
I agree that Firefox usually auto-fills, but not always, as that is the only thing I use.
As for Captcha… there are a few that are not that hard to read, but definitely most of them are, and having it on a site is giving readers just one more reason to not leave a comment… and there is nothing good about that!
Mitch on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 6:55 pm
Some are easy, but some are so difficult that you’re right, I just don’t want to go through with it.
Sire on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 12:00 am
The worst thing that I hate about captcha codes is when you get it wrong and then you lose the whole comment, especially when you’ve taken the time to leave a particularly good one.
I dislike blogger blogs and only comment on those when someone has taken the time to comment on mine. Why people persist with those is beyond be.
Doug Dillard on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 3:54 pm
That just happened to me a few minutes ago Sire. I wrote a long comment and I mistyped the Captcha code and the comment was gone. So I just left!
Sire on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 5:05 pm
I know, it’s so annoying. It doesn’t happen on all blogs as some let you go back and fix it, but when it does it just pisses me off, especially as akismet makes it completely unnecessary.
Greg Ellison on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 3:47 pm
There are some blogs where I wish they did the autofill in for the form. Greg Ellison
Doug Dillard on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 10:51 am
You don’t wish it in all of them?
Compute Live on Sat, 1st Aug 2009 10:48 pm
I also completely agree with Auto Fill option…but I think captcha are important to stop spams from bots..or math problems can also help…
Doug Dillard on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 1:29 am
Sure you get spam from bots… but most get trashed by Akismet. The others that get through you just don’t approve. It might be a LITTLE more work… but if you want to get more comments I would not use it. Just reading some of the comments above from people who comment on many blogs seem to share that opinion. Of course it is totally up to each blogger.
Compute Live on Tue, 4th Aug 2009 7:03 am
Yaa…I think you are rite…I have to dump my captcha
Typhoon on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 5:23 am
Well I don’t have any CAPTCHA installed on my blog as I know how irritating it is.
If you are talking about the “auto fill” thing you said in: “http://www.makingmoneyonline.com/2-simple-fixes-that-could-increase-your-blog-comments/?replytocom=385″ then I think it’s just the power of few browsers which let us do that kind of thing. Even I can auto fill while using Firefox but not in IE 6.
Doug Dillard on Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 10:50 am
Hey Typhoon… thanks for stopping by and commenting We really appreciate it. I just went to your site and checked it out and it looks great and you have some really good content.
I never use IE, but I decided to give it a try and see if it auto-fills. I just went to your site in IE 7 and left a comment and it did auto-fill after I commented and then I went to one of the sites that I know did not auto-fill when I using Firefox and it did not auto-fill in IE either. So I am thinking it is the commenting plugin or something about how the blog is set-up and not the browser.
Typhoon on Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 4:32 am
Ok Might be possible that it can be due to some plugin or piece of php code. We should investigate it :e
Trey - Swollen Thumb Entertainment on Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 3:38 pm
Yeah Doug, Captcha is just not necessary for blog comments, in my opinion. To me, it just strikes me as lazy and/or stuck up. I mean, is having the occasional spam on your site really the end of the world? Most bloggers are online almost every day. If they happen to see that a spam got through, just delete it and go on with the day… however, Akismet does a really good job of catching spam in my experience, and has only missed a handful of spam messages. It seems to me that the cost of possibly alienating A.D.D. riddled web users (And I say that with no malice, lol) by giving them an extra, annoying, step to go about commenting is not work it.
Doug Dillard on Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 3:48 pm
Well said Trey!
Sire on Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 4:58 pm
Hey Trey, I reckon I could be called a lazy blogger in certain respects, but I don’t mind spamming the odd comment every now and again, in fact I take great joy in it [evil grin]
George Serradinho on Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 10:38 pm
Wow, some nice points.
I hope my site is not guilty on not auto filling. I use Fx and it saves my details so I don’t have to retype everything again. Maybe you could just double check. If not then how to I rectify that?
As for point 2, I hate when I have to type some letters or words. At this stage I save my comment before submitting. Once submitted and it has accepted it I continue other I have to retype all the details again.
Curious Little Person on Tue, 4th Aug 2009 3:54 am
I don’t use captcha as i agree with you that it’s really very irritating… more so when it pops back at you mentioning that wrong details have been entered…
Need to check out my blog for auto fill….
Thanks for the information
Cheers
Sandeep
Angelika1972 on Thu, 6th Aug 2009 11:59 pm
I HATE those captcha things! It has stopped me commenting on blogs many times. I also don’t like having to “sign up” to be able to comment on your blog. My OpenID should be enough!
Just because someone had one good/interesting post doesn’t automatically mean that I want to become a member or even a regular visitor.
I hope this made sense. I’ve been up for over 24 hours and I have no idea what I just said, LOL.
MichaelR@VoIP and Tech Blog on Fri, 7th Aug 2009 11:21 pm
Good thing we don’t have that Captcha and if you already made a comment on our blog, your details will be there the next time you make a comment again.
I got to admit, I hate the catcha on comments…and I abandoned a couple of my comments because of that.
shaunjudy on Mon, 10th Aug 2009 2:25 pm
This is great! I do not have these issues on my blog. Thank goodness. See you around.
Harsh Agrawal on Tue, 11th Aug 2009 3:14 pm
I generally use Easy comment firefox addon to fill up the form, I love to comment on blogs where I don’t have to fill up all the form and captcha..
Probably that’s the one reason I don’t comment much on blogspot blog…
More over I have seen many blogs using Disqus and I personally don’t like it..
Wordpress default comment box is, as it is very powerful
Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..Friendfeed Acquired by Facebook
Doug Dillard on Sat, 29th Aug 2009 8:50 am
I am definitely not a Disqus fan, even though it is getting better.
Jared P Little on Wed, 12th Aug 2009 7:50 pm
I agree with Harsh, don’t like Disqus! I also like comments that have built in spell check but havn’t found a plug-in for that yet myself.
Jared P Little´s last blog ..Learn SEO in 15 Minutes Part 1
Suneel on Thu, 13th Aug 2009 9:53 pm
Doug My advice would be to use a firefox addon “easyComment” which would make your life easier while you go around the blogosphere commenting.
You can create profiles which you can use to specify your different set of blogs altogether.
Try it for sure. U will like it.
Suneel´s last blog ..Downloading From File Sharing Sites Made Easy With SkipScreen
Doug Dillard on Sat, 29th Aug 2009 8:48 am
Thanks Suneel… I have never tried that addon. I will definitely check it out!
Mathdelane on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 3:36 am
Hey Doug,
The auto-fill feature for online forms such as comment form on blogs like these are based on your browser cookie. Once your browser cookie is turned on, it allows the website to leave identifiers or bits of information on your computer similar to a footprint which enables quick recognition of your browser the next time you visit.
Once you clear your browser cookies, the next time you visit the same blog and try to leave a comment, it’ll surely ask you to fill-out the form again.
By the way, great points on the captchas. Why give your readers a hard time just to a leave a comment when in fact they should be rewarded instead for engaging with your blog?
Mathdelane´s last blog ..Keywordluv WordPress Plugin and Commenting On Do Follow Blogs
Doug Dillard on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 9:47 am
Mathdelane… thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment
I agree that auto-fill forms work because of cookies… but the issue is several forms out there don’t store the information, so they do not auto-fill after you have leave a comment. It is a very small percentage, but they are out there as I let blog owners know whenever I run into one… as I hate for them to lose potential comments.
Ching Ya on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 8:16 am
If I have to choose, it’ll be the captcha issue. When I was using Blogger before the migration, I used to have that as default until a blogger friend advised me to drop it. I’m so glad I did. Some of the characters are hard to recognize, although I understand the intention but can’t deny, there’s some risk putting off some potential visitors — especially when there’s loading prob / technical errors.
Well shared, Doug. Something we shall all take into consideration.
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
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Harsh Agrawal on Tue, 22nd Sep 2009 9:18 pm
Doug so true I love commenting on Blogs.. But I can’t comment on Blogspot blogs because I have to make 2-3 clicks..
Meanwhile the first problem which you mentioned here.. I think you should get this firefox extension call Easy comment. It will help you a lot.. I’m sure after using it..You will feel like buying a beer for me
Harsh Agrawal´s last blog ..Picasa 3.5 Released With Face Tagging Feature
Brad Harmon on Fri, 23rd Oct 2009 9:56 am
Doug,
I wonder if the auto-fill is an option they turned off? I am not really sure why you would want to do that. Seems like it only serves to frustrate people. As long as you can change the auto-filled information, I don’t see a reason not to have your comment box auto-fill.
I don’t see a lot of blogs with CAPTCHAs anymore. The plug-ins seem to do a great job with most of the spam.
I think what I find the most frustrating are the blogs with ridiculously tiny comment boxes. Some of them are not even half as wide as the post width.
Brad
Brad Harmon´s last blog ..Is This How You Picture a Christian Small Business?
Rajesh Kanuri on Thu, 5th Nov 2009 9:50 pm
i hate captcha..and i ll loose interest if some of the blogs wch i want to comment uses captcha..
Rajesh Kanuri´s last blog ..Undelete files With Recuva: Free Data Recovery Tool
readbud on Tue, 9th Mar 2010 6:08 am
Oh I absolutely hate having to read Captchas, especially the 2 word ones which everybody uses. If it was something simple as just 2 numbers, that would be much better! thanks for the read and couldn’t agree more
Alamin on Fri, 30th Apr 2010 7:09 am
Yea. I am totally agree. Those two really decrease comments on blog. Comments section should be as easy as possible. Thanks
Jamelia on Thu, 22nd Jul 2010 10:35 am
In some of my blogs I had to use the captcha plugin to avoid being overrun by spammers. Even with the ajax plugin its very difficult to avoid spammers.
Jamelia´s last blog ..How to Earn Money With Flickr
Melo Itong on Fri, 13th Aug 2010 6:29 pm
I use Disqus and Intense Debate on some of my blogs. Do they reduce or increase blog comments?
Melo Itong´s last blog ..I Earned 10525 USD With LinkShare
sell used textbooks on Tue, 17th Aug 2010 11:17 am
I am with you on this one. i have a problem with that too. It is a pain to have to re enter your info every time you visit a site or even every time you post. The captchas have become increasingly annoying and Askimet does do a really good job. So your not the only one who has these feeling.
Spence on Wed, 15th Sep 2010 7:18 am
I agree with required Captchas for Blog comments. It’s s such a pain and, like you, I’m always refreshing the captcha so that I can read it.
salsa classes on Wed, 6th Oct 2010 7:32 am
Good post and interesting discussions. I liked 2nd point. Captcha is very important otherwise automated software will fill it junk.
kumru@ek gelir on Tue, 12th Oct 2010 10:25 pm
Autofill is an option that comes up with your browser so if you can use your browser right you also have the ability..
For the captcha I believe it is necessary. Especially recently i see many internet freaks developing software to comment as many blogs as they can with spammy words and no contribution to the text
kumru@ek gelir´s last blog ..Adult Siteler ?le Kazanç Sa?lamak
sell textbooks online on Mon, 18th Oct 2010 8:44 am
I think the auto fill is a great thing to have. I do find it annoying when I constantly have to reenter my info.
chris on Thu, 18th Nov 2010 1:11 pm
i definitely agree with #2 I HATE those stupid things. I can never see what the word is, half the time it doesnt even look english to me! I couldnt agree more!
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