Proving You Are Not a Robot~Captcha~ Rant!

While spammers are rampant on the internet, I find captcha even more so. I don't use them or require prior approval of posts on my blog. Yes, I've been hit a few times by spammers, but not enough to add the captcha back on for people wanting to respond to my blog.

As if normally before my stroke, trying to figure out all those numbers and letters wasn't an easy thing to do. Now, it's more difficult. I am not a Spring chicken nor even a Fall hen, my eyesight is not improving with age. Now personally, I sort of understand why it is used for financial transactions, but in responding to a blog?

So as a blog reader, it is inconvenient and makes me not respond to as many blogs as I read although some I do anyhow with great difficulty. If you read the list of blogs I follow or read, you'll understand...there are over fifty that I read when new posts become available. This is sometimes daily, but at least weekly.

I know not many handi-capable or elderly people read blogs. Let me check that statement. Baby Boomers are the largest  segment or population and eligible for Social Security. We were the first to jump on the home computer bandwagon, because we were the first to be able to afford such a luxury item. We wrote the programs that computers read. And even though we are aging, we have the most disposable income. Our homes are paid for. Our children have grown up and left home. Being retired or almost retired, we are the matriarchs and patriarch of the population. We shouldn't have to prove that we are not a robot when we are reading for our enjoyment or knowledge.

Now as a blogger, I can understand if you have a traffic flow to your blog of several thousand followers or hits per day possibly using a captcha to control spammers. If you are selling things on your blogger site, you might possibly use one or prior approval to post a comment. But for the rest of you...why?

I blog as a way to open lines of communication, impart knowledge, discuss ideas, obtain feedback, and replace a newsletter I used to write.

Do I care if a spammer gets access to my account? Yes, but there is a little thing on my keyboard called a delete key which comes in pretty handy. Am I afraid of bots? Nope. I build mechanical things and can take them apart just as easily. I post my web email on my site for people to contact me. Do I get bot and spam to that account? Yep, but the delete key handles those also. Am I afraid of trackers, hackers, and viruses? Yep! But, if you don't know them why open up a link or click "open" to an attachment? Don't you have anti-spyware, anti-virus, anti-everything on your computer? You better believe that I do. If you don't, you deserve to be infected.

Have I ever had a virus or worm hit my computer? Yep, but a helpful technician, my son-in-law, fixed it for me. Besides, I back-up my information. I have online backup, thumb drives, DVDs, and CDs full of information, not to mention a slew of 3.5, zips, and 5.25 disks. I have redundant backups. No matter what machine I jump on I have a disk backup for. And yes, I still have a functioning computer that runs Windows 3.1. In case you were wondering about the 5.25 disks. Those days I used to write with Word Perfect so some of my earlier works are on it.

So why do you captcha for your blog?

Keep writing and loving the Lord.