Blog comments have changed a lot, since I started blogging.

Initially, the vast majority of feedback I received from my posts, came from comments, which were left on my blog. Today, I get most of my blog comments from people on Google+, Twitter and Facebook (in that order.) There are posts here with 10 comments, which received 40 or 50 comments from people on social networks.

Comment spam has become a much bigger challenge

Back when I started, I would get maybe 10 or 20 spam comments a day, which was easy to control. It took just a minute, to spot any genuine comments that were incorrectly identified as spam and approve them. Today, the volume of spam has increased so much, that this is no longer sustainable. Comment spam to this site is getting out of control.

In fact, that’s what has prompted this post. For example, in the past 48 hours alone, I have been hit with over 4,000 spam comments (see image), all of which were caught in my spam filter. This has been getting steadily worse for years.

Here’s the problem: Sadly, somewhere in with those 4,816 spam filtered comments are legitimate comments from real people, who probably wonder why their comments have not been published. I regularly have people contact me, to ask where their comment is. I used to sift through the filtered comments to look for real comments, but it’s just too time consuming now. With so much spam to wade through, I now have to wait until someone asks me to look, so I can do a search using their email address, fish the comment out and then approve it. It’s time consuming, frustrating and getting slowly worse.

Clearly, something needs to change.

I’m looking for an answer & your feedback, please

My current thought is to either try using another commenting system, something that was better at allowing real comments through – or have comments here turned off and get all feedback from social networking sites.

I’d like your opinion on which of the 2 options you think is best.

Option 1: Install Disqus or LiveFyre

I spent much of Monday researching the various commenting systems, but none did exactly what I needed. The closest I found were Disqus and LiveFyre. If I use LiveFyre or Discus, you would need to either set up an account with them or sign in via a social network, before you could leave a comment here – in order to block comment spam the way I would need it to. This approach encourages accountability, though it wouldn’t eradicate non-automated comment spam.

A major plus is that either system should ensure that all legitimate comments get through.

As with any third-party commenting system, when these services are down, you won’t be able to comment here and I won’t be able to do anything about it. I’m not thrilled with that. Neither of these platforms would provide me with exactly what I want, which is to spend all my blogging time creating content for you and connecting with you. I would still have the aggravation of non-automated comment spam and the frustration of relying on a third party company, for my comments to work.

Although not perfect, I’m very happy to work with one of these systems if enough readers want to comment on the blog.

Option 2: Turn blog comments off and have feedback from you via social networking sites

This is already where the vast majority of reader feedback comes from. It would mean there was no spam to deal with. Also, there would be no need to slow my site down with plugins or worry about the third party commenting systems slowing the site down or not working. Time wise, as I am already responding to people’s comments about my posts on social networks, there would be a huge time saving for me. This would give me more time to produce content and connect. However, none of these benefits matter, if they result in the value of the blog decreasing to enough of it’s readership. That’s non-negotiable and it’s why I am keen to get your feedback.

What do you think?

I’d love to know what you think and I truly respect your opinions. This is especially the case, if you are one of those who comments on my posts, either here on the blog or via a social networking site. Which option would you prefer to see?

Photo: j9sk9s