A regular commenter emailed me to tell me that his comments weren't appearing--when he hit "Publish" the comment disappeared but wasn't published.
I've turned off "word verification" to try to rectify the problem--that was recommended on a troubleshooting blog for Blogger.
However, it appears that some browser security settings may be the culprit if you're having a problem with comments. These are things many people may not even be aware of. For example:
* I read that commenters should have Third Party Cookies enabled on their browsers. I don't know why that should be the case--I'm only reporting what I read.
* Also, "cross-site tracking" should not be blocked in your browser settings. Again, this doesn't have anything to do with any settings on this blog that I'm aware of.
Has anyone else experienced problems of this sort?
Commenter Brad Crawford summarizes:
Mac OS
Safari: must uncheck "prevent cross-site tracking"
Chrome: must uncheck "block 3rd-party cookies"
Firefox: works fine with or without cross-site tracking
iOS
Safari: must uncheck "prevent cross-site tracking"
Chrome: seems there's no way to block tracking, so it always works
Firefox: works fine with or without cross-site tracking
I've gone back and forth with each browser both on iphone and Mac, toggling tracking on and off, and the above results were the same every time. Haven't yet checked Windows or Android, but I doubt they're different.
I am not experiencing any such problems.
ReplyDeleteWell, at any rate, maybe disabling word verification will have eliminated an annoyance. To be honest, I didn't realize I had it enabled and, since I moderate the comments, there really was no reason to enable it.
DeleteYes. Occasionally. Just happened a moment ago.
ReplyDeleteBebe
Occasionally. And sometimes I can view and click on the requested items on the photo grid, other times it shows only a white field. I press on regardless and use the Oral word identification route. Once in a while the whole thing fails. If I hit a roadblock I usually copy my comment and paste it into type pad so that it will be there if I want to try again.
ReplyDeleteHas happened every time. I've stopped trying, but let's see today.
ReplyDeleteSo, it worked today!
DeleteMy comments always get published :-)
ReplyDeleteI could certainly count on my digits the comments I've not published. Hopefully, disabling the word verification will make it easier. I have to assume the problem had something to do with security settings on a browser.
DeleteThe same thing was happening to me. Then I discovered I could publish comments if I used a different browser. I figured that it was just a browser issue. But your suggestion that it might have to do with cookie settings makes sense. I’ll check to see if that does the trick and let you know.
ReplyDeleteGreat, thanks.
DeleteIt turns out I had “cross-site tracking” blocked. I switched it back on and now I can publish in my usual browser.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's another thing I noticed in my searches, but I forgot to add that. I'll update. Thanks again.
DeleteTesting from Firefox...
ReplyDeleteWhat are you testing? :-)
DeleteI have, but I reconciled that might point was not significant enough to approve.
ReplyDeleteNo, I only look for comments that are offensive.
Deletetesting from MS Edge.
ReplyDeleteProblem occurs in Firefox browser; it skips the step after the first press of the "PUBLISH" radio button; instead of displaying the "Captcha" stuff to prove I'm not a 'bot, it skips straight to an empty comment box.
Normally, it would display the "Captcha" checkbox, after completing, it would normally display the coment text with another PUBLISH radio button, which when pushed, completes the posting process.
I just tried Firefox a few minutes ago, and it didn't work.
I approved your "Testing from Firefox..." and I responded to it--it's still visible--so it DID work. I've disabled the "word verification" so you shouldn't be seeing "Captcha" anymore.
DeleteI've had occasional problems in the past, but I always thought that it was on my end.
ReplyDeleteEither something in your browser settings, or possibly the "word verification" thing which I've now disabled.
DeleteI always ascribed it to our DSL speed, but I am far from an expert.
Deletetesting from Firefox
ReplyDeleteSee--there you are again.
DeleteEZ's comment pushed me to make another comment. Sometimes Captcha doesn't fire up and my comment goes straight to the message that "Your comment will be visible after approval. I almost always use Firefox.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha is disabled now, right? It's disabled in my settings now, so it shouldn't show up anymore.
DeleteYes, thank you and it is very smooth.
DeleteSomething else that happens is if I fail to change "Reply as" from Google Account to Name/URL, and then I see my error, I lose my comments. If the comment is a longer one, I make sure to copy, just in case, so I don't lose all that effort.
Yup, it's working.
ReplyDeleteThe problem earlier, before you shut off "word verification," was that Firefox would not display the "Captcha" "Click here to prove you are not a robot" graphics, ans just deleted the comments entered in the comment box.
Looks we are good to go know. Thanks!
I wasn't aware that I had that enabled--it doesn't show up for the blog author. When I searched I found a site that said that Captcha caused problems and should be turned off. Hopefully that and the security settings will cover all problems that people have encountered. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
DeleteIt is nice to 'talk' with you in real time.
ReplyDeleteHa, well, I have back problems in many chairs, but my computer chair works well for me, so I spend time just reading in front of the computer. Which is what I'm doing now.
DeleteOoops: "now," not "know."
ReplyDeleteThis should help:
ReplyDeleteMac OS
Safari: must uncheck "prevent cross-site tracking"
Chrome: must uncheck "block 3rd-party cookies"
Firefox: works fine with or without cross-site tracking
iOS
Safari: must uncheck "prevent cross-site tracking"
Chrome: seems there's no way to block tracking, so it always works
Firefox: works fine with or without cross-site tracking
I've gone back and forth with each browser both on iphone and Mac, toggling tracking on and off, and the above results were the same every time. Haven't yet checked Windows or Android, but I doubt they're different.
Thanks, Brad. I'll add that above.
DeleteNot to beat a dead horse, since now that you instituted the changes you made have resolved the problem I had, but the key point we do not know the answer to is this:
ReplyDeleteI had for months had no problem with the "Captcha" utility intervening between the first and the final "
"Publish" radio button pushes to post a comment, until about the first of the month, give or take a few days.
The change you implemented was to deactivate the "Captcha" check.
Thus, we still don't know why I was unable to post comments around the first of the month.
I'm stipulating it is an entirely academic question, since deactivating "Captcha" is a "work-around" to the original problem.
But it bugs me not knowing why things that had worked for months suddenly stopped working.
Compounding my sleuthing challenge is the fact that Firefox went through an update, as did the Windows 10 OS on my pc, during the time fraem when the problem started.
SO, it remains a mystery.
Perhaps the updates changed default settings?
DeleteHAving the saem problem sa before, it seems.
ReplyDeleteWhen hit the first "Publish" radio button, all the text disappears.
Well, obviously it's working again, but it did eat a really important comment...
ReplyDeletegrrr....
Testing again.
ReplyDeleteSome stuff didn't go through Thursday. Concurrent with a Windows Update.