Your comments are really appreciated on The Kneeslider and in the ideal world, everyone would be nice, traffic lights would all be green and spam comments would not exist. Unfortunately, things sometimes don’t work out that way.
Every now and then, you might notice a spam comment that slipped through our filter. What you do not see are the hundreds or sometimes thousands of spam comments we deal with every day. Even if they do not appear on the site, it increases the load on the server and it makes things slower for everyone.
To reduce the spam, there are really 2 options, I can either require everyone who leaves a comment to register first or I could install a CAPTCHA form, where you fill in 2 distorted words. I opted for the CAPTCHA. It’s quicker than registering and easier for someone just stopping by one time.
The reCAPTCHA form we use here is actually pretty cool. Those images shown are words from scanned books that a computer could not read, but humans are often able to see what computers can’t. When you fill in your response, you’re helping to digitize books written long before computers were around, making them available to everyone. Neat! If you can’t read the words in the form, just hit the reload button and you’ll get 2 more. One or two times and you should have something you can read without too much difficulty.
Everywhere you go on the Internet, fewer and fewer sites have open comments without any restrictions. I tried not to do this for a very long time, but I finally added the form today. Keep those comments coming!
Thanks in advance for your understanding and cooperation!
Bigshankhank says
Had to test it out. Anything to beat spam, now if we could get rid of insurance cheaters we’d be a better society.
kneeslider says
Bigshankhank, Thanks for jumping right in! It’s pretty easy and everyone benefits. Thanks again.
John says
No problem and a good idea.
Matt Fisher says
arequipa ottawa
Works fine.
taxman says
yeah. had to check this out. many sites i visit have something like this. won’t bother me at all. i don’t post as often as many but i do toss in a tid bit here and there.
Brad says
Man that really is no bother for me and I know it will help you guys so you don’t get swamped with this crap, GREAT Idea and keep the articles comming for many months and years to go, this site is one of my main stops in my day to get really neat and even useful info from, Just kidding, guys great site keep up the good work.
RATS
Matt in NC says
Doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem, but I do think it’s funny to see one of the words is actually a monetary amount complete with the dollar sign in the one I have to answer
kneeslider says
Matt, you will see some odd combinations, it just adds to the fun!
Chris says
Since when is “tthem” a “word”? :-p
cl
Narflar says
This really is a much better way than having to register. I’m sick of having to register to a site just to comment. Most of the time I rather not comment.
Dorzok says
actually, CAPTCHA is completely computer generated. the computer starts with a word that it knows then “dirties” it up. humans can still read it but computers cannot, for now, not even the computer that created it. anyway, the first word is the computer generated CAPTCHA word and the second is the scanned book word, referred to as reCAPTCHA. the idea is, if the human can decipher the CAPTCHA word then they will most likely be able to do the same for the reCAPTCHA word thus telling the computer exactly what the scanned word, that it cannot identify, is. you will find misspelled words in the reCAPTCHA.
Paul Woodford says
I can’t believe you had open comments until now. I have a little blog with maybe three regular readers (okay, it’s just my mom), and I was clobbered with spam. I went the registration route, and I STILL get tons of spam . . . thank goodness for spam-catcher programs that deal with it all!
Jimmy says
I personaly don’t care for captcha mostly because a lot of site’s are using it wrong. the way I was to understand ,it’s supposed to be two word’s. site’s like yahoo.ca use a jumble of letter’s that mean nothing and it’s very difficult to figure out.
That being said I also don’t like giving out any of my personal info on the net. So it look’s like you are doing this in a proper way that’s is at least deciferable. Just my opinion,if it keeps this open go for it,I like this site very much.
Kevin NYC says
Great idea, and I welcome anything to stop spam spreading.
FREEMAN says
This is much better than registering. Saves the time from logging in just to leave a comment. Most of the time I check out the site from work anyway from a tablet pc so it becomes a pain to log into anything. However, for thekneeslider.com, I would be more than happy to do either. Thanks Paul for the great site and keep it up.
“rewind com-“
Scotduke says
This sounds a good idea to me – Facebook uses a similar system and it seems to work ok.
Robert Horn says
OK. So this is going to improve content…………how?
Registration would be a great idea. Especially with REAL names. It would keep the broken record/cliche’ spewing to a minimum. Forgive me if that’s not desirable.
Or, instead of a captcha thingy, how about a simple test? A “Yes” to any of these would toss you out:
“Did motorcycle design peak in the 1970’s?”
“Are you here on a motorcycle news blog to whine about motorcycle news?”
“Did the search engine that artificially bumps up the stats send you here?”
“Does anything you have to say contain anything remotely original?”
“Is your comment pasted from the other 37 blogs on which you waste your time?”
“Do you think that, by commenting on the news, that you then become part of the news?”
“Are you qualified in any way to comment on other people’s work?”
There goes 99% of the comments! Deleted in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…………….
kneeslider says
Hi Bob! Glad to see the “captcha thingy” works for you. And in the future, you might want to try decaf. đŸ™‚
FREEMAN says
@ Mr Horn: like kneeslider said the whole point is to decrease spam, even the kind you don’t ever see from this side of the webpage. Nobody’s forcing you to read other’s opinions. Feel free to skip over them or rag on them all you like.
@ kneeslider: lol.
Billy B. Tso says
haha! very checky mister kneeslider!
steve w. says
no problem at all. Have to use it on things like Craigs list when listing things so I see no big deal with it.
norman bowen says
good idea.hope it helps the site, keep the good news articles coming
hoyt says
While Bob’s approach is sarcastically blunt, the overall message is valid. Comments can add value or detract. The worse thing that can happen to an open forum would be for dumb comments to dissuade engineers, mechanics, builders, manufacturers, etc. from participating. This open forum can bring great ideas and minds together as an extension to the Kneeslider’s topics.
Niel says
CAPTCHA is good, actually should have been done a long time ago.
FREEMAN says
@ hoyt: A doer would never let some comment (dumb or valid) dissuade them from doing anything.
kneeslider says
Bob, Hoyt, and others,
There are many ways to raise the level of discussion and all take considerable and ongoing effort. If you read a few sites that require registration, you’ll see it isn’t magic and rarely changes anything. I added those words above the comment form to clearly state some minimum rules here and combined with some deletions and bans, comments have improved, probably not to the level Bob would like, but things are definitely better.
Anything short of a closed, invitation only or members only forum, will fall short of the expectations of some participants, but while those forums have their place, they are VERY time consuming and not possible just yet.
In the meantime, if everyone concentrates on adding “interesting thoughts and ideas” as I outlined above, I think these comments will be just fine.
Grant says
Raising the level of discourse and blocking spam are entirely different things. For the latter, I fully support the spam-busting measures taken here. As to the former, I’ll try to not be too much of a drag…;-)
Paul says
Nice to know now now how CAPTCHA works. Makes it better knowing I’m helping digitize books, and why the word is sometimes very difficult to decipher. Like this one, not sure if it’s rose or roge? Hate the registration thing, go back a month later and your name/password doesn’t work is frustrating.
Question-Does it ignore capitalization?
kneeslider says
Grant, yes those are two different issues. I bring up level of discourse because of Bob’s comment and Hoyt’s response, it is something I try to address, though this change had nothing to do with it.
kneeslider says
Paul, my simplified explanation was expanded upon by Dorzok, above, the one word that is usually more clear is the CAPTCHA, purely computer generated, the reCAPTCHA is the scanned but unrecognized second word. There are more in depth explanations of the process on the reCAPTCHA site and elsewhere and it’s pretty interesting.
Capitalization DOES seem to matter, though I can’t say for sure, probably does since in the scanned book it would be necessary.
hoyt says
Freeman – don’t fool yourself when it comes to participating in an online discussion when comments go awry.
Kneeslider- clarification: I don’t like the idea of registration but do agree with the use of reCAPTCHA. I agree with Bob & most of your readers that dumb, off-topic comments interfere
Dorzok says
Mr. Kneeslider and Paul,
reCAPTCHA cannot be case sensative since no computer knows what it says. So, if you see a captital letter in the reCAPTCHA and type all lower case it will still pass. However, in the interest in deciphering these scanned and as a courteousy to those that are digitally transfer these documents, it would be a good idea to capitalize where you see it.
hoyt says
one look at the CW forum and you can see how bad comments can make that a horrible experience. Even their own technical editors don’t participate much, let alone other knowledgeable people. That forum also has registration
Al says
OK, back to the topic…
Any word on the CB1300?
FREEMAN says
@ hoyt: I understand where you’re coming from in that negative comments about something someone’s spent so much time and effort on is hurtful and discouraging. However, there is no possible way to please everybody and if you’re going to put yourself out there for all the world to nitpick and admire alike, you’re just going to have to not dwell on the negative. There’s no way to keep an open forum and force everyone to just play nicely. Look at how the world/media treats celebrities if you need examples.
Gavin says
If we’re interpreting words the computer can’t, how does it know what we type is correct??
kneeslider says
The computer knows the correct answer to the CAPTCHA because it created it and adds the reCAPTCHA from a scan. If you get the CAPTCHA correct, it assumes there is a good possibility you will correctly solve the reCAPTCHA. If the reCAPTCHA is then shown to many people and they all give the same answer, that answer is probably correct and can be used to interpret the scanned image. The CAPTCHA is the solution you need to get correct. The reCAPTCHA is the one you are helping to solve.
Dorzok says
Ah! i was wondering how they’d overcome bogus replies to the reCAPTCHA.
Don says
$$$ GO TO MY WEBSITE AND BUY BUY BUY $$$$
Psych! Just kidding.
CAPTCHA is great. reCAPTCHA is such a super idea. I heard about it on a Nova program, I think.
Love this site. Thanks for keeping it working smoothly.