Blogspot Users, Stop Discriminating!
Sorry, but this is really starting to annoy me.
I was dropping a few cards on entrecard and actually came across posts that I wanted to comment on, only to find out they were run on the free blogger platform. So I am sent to another page, without having the complete post in front of me that I wanted to comment on, having to wait for that page to open and forget the whole purpose behind what I wanted to share.
Even worse, some bloggers actually have the comment options set up in a way that the only way one can comment is to have some sort of ID. Why would I want to sign up for a blogger account if I don´t run a blog on their platform anyways? I don´t want to sign up for a google account, I am pretty happy with all the account I already have and certainly don´t want yet another one!
I am just wondering why people make it so difficult for their readers to comment. Don´t they realize this is an issue for people that don´t have blogger accounts? Or do they actually want to make sure there is hardly any interaction going on on their blog?
If you do want comments, try to make it as easy as possible to leave those comments.
Worried about spam? As far as I know there is this nifty option to turn on the spam verification so you won´t get any automatically generated comments.
I mean, if you don’t want any comments, just turn the comment option off completely, but don’t discriminate your readers for not blogging on the blogspot platform themselves!
Geeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(And yes Jim, I know you blog on blogspot, and yes I hate having to go to another page to comment 
:P:P:P )
I would love to hear from bloggers using blogspot:
Why do you choose to only have people comment if they have a google ID. Don´t you want more people commenting and participating on your blog?
Update:
If you do not know how to change the comment settings on blogspot and you do want to make it so that people can comment, look here how to do it 
Tagged with: blogspot • commenting
Filed under: Blogging
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That image you have on there is reeeeally scary.
I don’t think a lot of blogspot bloggers realise they shut out some people. Some might think they’re not actually getting a lot of comments on their blog, not realising they’re actually screening a certain amount of people out.
Ah well…
2ThePoint’s last blog post..My Brad-Pitt Penny Fund, plus Month-End (Online) Earnings
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
That is actually the purpose of this post, …. maybe making some of them aware they are shutting out people who were willing to comment on their posts… hope it helps or atleast get some discussion started
Thanks for comment
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As for as I know my comment form is easy. At least I was told by Blogging MoRe that it was comment friendly. I can’t answer for other blogspot bloggers but I encourage comments . I changed mine to open id I don’t know how that changes anything but I’ll find out I guess and I do hve to agree that the picture is scary.
Have a good day
Carol’s last blog post..INCREASE YOUR BACKLINKS – QASSIA
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hi Carol
thanks for commenting, if you have comments enable on open ID, it still means people will either need a blogger/google ID or have to leave their comments using their open ID from wordpress/typepad etc. but it does not leave room to comment just with your name, meaning you would 1)need an account from openID and 2)always remember the password from your accounts in order to comment (which I don´t …. I am a total sucker when it comes to remember password hahaha)
I just went to check it out, I like the fact that atleast a small new window opens to leave comments, so you can still see the post you want to comment on.
Anyways… it guess that it all depends on what you want to achieve
The picture, that kind of expresses how I felt after writing a comment and then not able to send it
:P:P
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You just left a comment on my blog about this and I’m so glad you did! I don’t know enough about it I guess, you’ve got me looking into it. Many blogs are hard to comment on but I thought it was just me in my ignorance having trouble, not knowing what I was doing. I certainly want mine to be easy.
Even now, I think I don’t have my url right. And I don’t see how to submit this. Maybe it IS just me!
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Tia, I just sent you another mail through entrecard with a link that explains how to change it, hope it helps
Looks like you did put the url in wrong… it leads to a removed blog ….
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When I see the “sign for an account” thing to comment, I’m out of there. First you have to sign up, then check the email, and then after you forgot what you are going to say, you can comment.
I also have issues with the blogspot popup type comment boxes. Plain and simple, I can’t comment in them. The popup box is always smaller than the form on my computer. It won’t allow me to scroll or resize. I think it is an issue on Windows Vista because it has done it on all my browsers: IE, Firefox, Flock, Opera, and Safari. A lot of people use Vista. I have had other popups do it and there is no way around it, unless you type blind and hope hitting enter will leave your comment. I can’t even see the button to click it.
Stephan Miller’s last blog post..You Can Trust Me Just About As Far…
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Hi Stephan,
I think a lot of people are like that, today I just got so frustrated about it, because it happend 4 times in a row that I wanted to comment on a good post, only to find I could not without an ID (darn, and I thought I had an identity already LOL) hence this post and contacting some of the bloggers through EC about it…
Yeah yeah, none of my business of course, but it looks like many don´t even realise how much of a turn off it is or how they have the comment section set up.
The popup window works fine for me, finally something that works without trouble on a mac
:D:D
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Mirjam:
I am sure that is not your photo.
I think it is also Google’s fault. It’s like TypePad and WordPress.com, in most of case you will need to create a member account to leave comments.
That’s how they used the number of accounts for marketing purpose. They can claim how man account they have in order to please their investor.
What I will do is to turn on the feature that every comments will be moderated before go public.
Terence Chang’s last blog post..Twitter – The powerful social networking tool – Are you following me?
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Lol @ Terence, you bet ya that isn´t my picture hahahaha
Like Stephan said, I hate having to sign in in order to leave a comment, and think it really discourages a lot of people to leave a comment on blogposts.
As for moderating comments, I don´t know how blogspot works, nor do I know whether comments can be deleted afterwards if inappropriate, but I do know wordpress offers that possibility aswell and it was one of the first things I changed after trying out, again because I feel it does discourage people to leave comments and dialogue with me.
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The default setting in Blogger is to require a login ID and some people may not know how to change it.
To allow all commentators, in the Blogger dashboard go to the settings tab and then select ‘Comments’ from the list below it. Then the set “Who Can Comment?” option to Anyone and save your change.
I’d also recommend showing your comments on the same page as your post since this helps your SEO because Google will view new comments as a page’s content being updated.
Frank C’s last blog post..Content Mangler Program Specs
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to add to Frank´s comment, following is a link that explains it all with nice little screenshots
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=41443
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There are a lot of things that annoy me about Blogger, not the least of which being search and PR favor.
I specifically got an OpenID to deal with commenting to Bloggers, but it’s still pretty bothersome and time-consuming to have to keep authenticating my credentials.
Always glad to see a WordPress user.
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Hey we haven’t got much of an option you know!!! I’ve always enabled even anonymous comments!!
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Hi Shravan,
The reason I posted this is that it felt like many bloggers on blogspot aren´t aware of the commenting problems they create and if you read through the comments made here, you will see that some did not know nor knew how to change it, which is why I brought the issue up in the first place 
don´t take the rant personally, you have your blog set up for anybody to comment
Thanks for sharing your point of view
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I have run into the same problem with people using Word Press and other platforms. They set their comments to “member only” which instantly makes me give them a thumbs down as I find these blogs through stumble.
In my defense I am a very broke man and I recently played around with setting up a free Word Press account but found I did not have the layout options I have with my free blog spot account. I understand the frustration and I am not a big fan of their comment system either.
I also write for http://www.rustylime.com which has a great comment system. I truly appreciate those that take the time to leave comments but unitl I get a job, which I have been looking for 2 months and have had only one interview, I am stuck on blogspot. I would rather get my own domain and find a CMS that let’s me do the things I want with out having to understand coding. I want something I can modify point and click. I am not into to blogging to be a teach savvy guy that can manipulate code. I am willing to bet that a lot of blog spot users feel the same. While I see the greater potential with Word Press I have neither the desire nor the time to learn how hack the code to get it to look and function the way I want.
Jim – Just a Guy’s last blog post..What makes a good movie?
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Mirjam Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Hey Jim
will be contacting you by email with some ideas
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Jim - Just a Guy Reply:
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Sweet!
Jim – Just a Guy’s last blog post..What makes a good movie?
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Mirjam Reply:
April 4th, 2008 at 12:51 am
mail sent
Hi! mirjam,
there are some blogger that they don’t know how to change the setting for commenting…as for my wanting to make it easy for my visitors to comment on my blog i signed up to disqus.com which end me up changing the whole thing of my site — i got into big Trouble!
(It’s not because of disqus it’s my fault being a noob, anyway, i think the best way to do is to inform the blogger because they might not aware of this.
thanks for bringing this up, this makes the blogspot user like me to be aware.
For those blogspot users who are not aware and don’t ave any idea how to change the setting so that anybody can comment this is all you can do, Go to your Dashboard, click setting then comment from there you can see a lot of option about who can comment i think the best thing is to tick the “anyone – Anyone – includes Anonymous Users”
I hope this helps.
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Mirjam Reply:
April 4th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Hi Iris,
as you might see, I have added a link to the original post, which explains how to change the settings if people feel inclined to do so. Sorry to hear about the troubles you had to go through, I can relate to that, a few months ago I was trying to tweak things over here, too late at night when concentration isn´t at its best and accidently got everything completely screwed up.
I learned tweaking and desing is not my thing to do late at night! LOL
Thanks for the visit
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Yeah, it’s the same with every blogging platform, I’ve tried to leave comments on typepad and wordpress blogs in the past and been asked to log in with my ID.
Some bloggers do want to keep people out, and some bloggers don’t know what their settings are one. Blogspot has changed the comment system in the last few months and it messed up quite a few bloggers.
Christy’s last blog post..Pregnant Man On Today’s Oprah
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Mirjam Reply:
April 4th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
man, that must suck, not having control over your own blog and find all of a sudden things were changed without having a say in it …. :S
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I agree with 2thepoint. When I was a first time blogger, I didn’t know that my comment section was only open for those with Google accounts. I thought my blog wasn’t that popular that was why I wasn’t getting comments. I finally realized this and now I’ve changed the settings so that ANYONE can leave a comment, even anonymous users.
Been getting good comments from then on.
MWg Atom V Review’s last blog post..MWg Atom V Review
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Mirjam Reply:
April 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am
that is what seems to happen and why I posted on it. Many times we don´t realize why something isn´t working until we find the reason and make the changes needed to make them work
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GREAT topic…! i recently switched to wordpress so i could have total control over my own blog.. granted i now have to pay for hosting but, ehhh it’s better for my readers and anyways the hosting i see as a yearly write off.. hehehe..
androo’s last blog post..35 websites with wood backgrounds
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Mirjam Reply:
April 7th, 2008 at 8:14 am
I am glad you liked it
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Hi Mirjam
as a blogspot user i wanted to give an input on this post with my own point of view (which aint biased in any way
I chose blogspot coz at the time it seemed most user friendly, plus of course, most spreaded around…have to admit i wasnt really familiar with many other blogging platforms, and out of the ones i knew, blogspot just seemed as the best choice. Of course, it has its drawbacks, but im more or less pretty satisfied with it.
))
Now down to the point…the comments
I have all kinds of comments allowed on mine, blogger/open id/anonymous…and thats just coz i dont want that if someone has something nice to say or so, that he or she doesnt share it because of the issue of logging with an ID…blogger allows comment deletion so if a comment is not welcomed or in any sense offensive or it’s a spam…it takes only a click to say ‘hasta la vista’…so i dont see it as a threat if i have allowed anonymous comments.
BUT…now as usual, there is always a BUT….one reason why i am against the “allow anyone” to comment option is coz sometimes, a person leaves a comment, which is fine….what’s not fine (with me at least) is coz due to the nature of the comment, it’s impossible to detect whether the one who left the comment is someone you actually know but he or she doesnt want to be recognized, yet has something to say, which doesnt have to be nice necessarily, and they just want to trick you or abuse the option… or its someone you dont know, who dropped by, read your post and commented….plus if someone leaves a comment, i also want to go to their page and leave a ‘thank you for dropping by’ note or just simply explore a whole new world of what someone has to share on their blog (hope im making sense with what im saying).
So, when i weighed the pros and cons, i realized that the better option is to have all people allowed to comment and eventually deal with the unwanted comments
And someone above mentioned the ‘pop up’ window when wanting to leave a comment. To be honest, i prefer that, instead a new page loading. But if the pop-up option is annoying for you, you can simply ‘right-click’ on the comment link and choose either ‘open in new tab’ or ‘open in new window’ option and problem solved
so, that would be my share on this topic
greetings!
Ana’s last blog post..You Have Been Blocked!
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Mirjam Reply:
April 21st, 2008 at 9:42 am
hey Ana, sorry for not getting back to you earlier but I missed your comment. I think the option you choose is just the easiest, it is what I do over here basically as well, allthough I do have a spam filter set in place.
I started on blogspot years ago and just did not realize the functionality in comparison with own domains and it wasn´t until I switched and started surfing around blogosphere more, that I “opened my eyes”. Which is why I wrote this post, to give something to think about
Thanks for taking the time to comment and again, sorry for not getting back to you earlier!
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i don’t even comment on blogger blogs anymore. it’s a rotten system actually.
gryphonia’s last blog post..A General Introduction
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Oh my goodness I hate that!!! I went on a tangent while talking to a friend of mine the other day after coming across a few blog posts that I really wanted to comment on, but I could only do so if I had a Google account. It wasn’t too big of a pain because I have a Gmail account, which I can use as a blogger account, but I have nothing on my blogger account and so I realized that I am sending these comments through and now the people who run those blogs have no idea who I am. I want people to stop using Blogger because it is indeed discriminatory against us other bloggers without a free account and it makes me angry.
Holly’s last blog post..Natural Aromatherapy for Your Bathroom
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Mirjam Reply:
April 21st, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hey Holly, there is an easier option… making them aware just how annoying it is, and see if they switch over to opening comments to open ID aswell
I can get your frustration though, it is what made me write the post in the first place 
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