Merv is in the process of upgrading the weblogs to Movable Type 3.0. There shouldn’t be much change around here, but one of the options is for something called TypeKey, which could change how the comments work. Basically, this would require one-time registration to post comments. I don’t have to use this feature, but I’m interested in it. (For one thing, I’d have a better chance of keeping out the comments spam, which you don’t see but is endemic in archived posts.) Does anyone have any objection?
As long as you’re not as intrusive as AJC I don’t see any harm.
I like it, it makes things easier. Is there a way to make it optional though? (Then agian that would probably defeat the purpose of having it in the first place.)
I don’t know — I haven’t tried it out yet. There might be a way to set up “anonymous” as a commenter, with no linking ability (which would kill the spammers). But I haven’t seen anyone say that.
The thing is, right now I can delete the spam via the MT-Blacklist plugin, but that won’t be compatible with MT 3.0. So I’ll probably need to use TypeKey. I promise I won’t ask for anything like AJC does.
Actually, there’s an alternative which carries its own drawbacks. I could change to “moderated comments” which would, I believe require me to authorize any comment before it appears. I don’t really want to do that. There may be some combination that will allow anonymous posting without opening the gates for spammers. I’ll need to work on it.
Mac, it’s fine with me. My only problem with signing up for most sites online is i know it just invites more spam to whatever email address you might give. But i already get your emails and love ’em, and i know you’re not a commercial operation.
I don’t mind registering here to post and if it makes your life easier, well, it is your site. I hope we’ll be “recognized” by the site when we return since it would be a little annoying to have to “log-in” every time I have something to say.
If it makes your world easier for me to register, no problem. At least you are not suddenly charging a fortune for crap like the AJC.
Comments spam is the new bane of my existence. Fortunately, for the sites I host that I care deeply about, I get an email notification for new comments, so can go delete viagra ads in years-old posts, and block the IP of the abusers.
No, I have no problem whatsoever with your going to a registration system.
Because, we all know, after all, that my real name is Hugh Joonitt and I live in Roswell, NM. :)
All TypeKey should need is a valid email address. Actually, you should just have to register once for all sites that use the service. I’m not quite sure how it should work from there (I haven’t used it yet myself!) but Merv indicates that it’s actually faster after the first time because you only have one thing (a user ID) to enter.
All you need is a valid email address for TypeKey. You can sign up at the following link:
https://www.typekey.com/t/typekey/register?need_email=&_return=
According to TypeKey’s site, the only person that will get your email will be the blog owner, through their logs I presume.
You will also be logged in each time you log into the site, unless you clean out cookies every other minute.
From what I have previewed with MT 3.0, it looks very good. Unfortunately, it appears that I will have to do a clean install, so after backing up everything there may be a window of an hour or so without the site.
Also, after you sign up for TypeKey, you have to log-in separately for each blog you visit… however, once is all it takes (until you delete your cookies).
Sounds good.