I wondered about it...saw some rather odd words and a few times I couldn't decide if the words were right or not. The verbal cues for numbers are hard to hear...I tried this a couple of times and abandoned it, went back to the words instead.

I get notifications for each comment to my post, so I have to approve them before they're posted. Obviously I don't get the traffic you do, but it's worked for me (I figure probably the word verification is overkill), and I've also only had a couple of spam posts...I wonder if I took the word verification off, I'd have more spam?

I go back and forth on this. Like Jodi, I get notifications on every comment and must approve new commenters or comments with multiple links. This gives me ample opportunity to eliminate these spam comments before they go on my blog.

But I'm getting hundreds of these each day, and it's taking a good deal of my time to go through each notification to find the legitimate comments buried in the dung heap of spam comments.

I tried captcha a while back, but a number of regular commenters complained, saying they couldn't get it to work and their comment got dropped. Not good. So after a couple of blissfully spam-free weeks I removed the captcha and am back to hand-filtering the spam.

Perhaps the technology has improved since then. Did you use a particular captcha program, and have you had any trouble with real comments getting lost?

Pam - I can certainly recommend this one to you. I haven't lost any comments (as far as I know) and those that have mentioned problems with it have had both comments go through. So while it may seem problematic to some, it actually isn't and may just take some time for your readers to become familiar with it - hence the reason for the post.

I'm guessing you use the Wordpress blogging platform and there is a WP plugin available here if you're interested.

Attempt #1

I've seen these gizmos on a few other blogs, and figured out how to reload the images when they're a garbled mess. But does your blog confirm when the comment has gone through? I don't remember now, probably because I did it so many times the other day.

I am going to click on POST, instead of preview (I'm documenting this because I've had problems with it before).

Attempt #2

With my first comment, I clicked on the POST button (instead of preview). The page reloaded, without any confirmation of whether my comment went through or not. That comment is NOT under the comments section.

So this time I will click on the PREVIEW button to see if it goes through.

(Perhaps the first comment will show up later, but if we don't know that it might take a while, and don't see our comment, then of course we'll either comment again, or eventually give up commenting.)

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PS: Now with this 2nd comment using the preview button, I do see my first comment in the area below (the preview area). This problem is far more confusing to me than the weird captcha thing.

Final attempt (follow up)

Using the PREVIEW button, I saw my comment (2nd) go through as soon as the page reloaded. And using the preview button forces us to redo the captcha thing again (which I almost always have to cycle through the images because they're so freaky hard to read).

But on my 1st attempt, when I used the POST button, the page reloaded without my 1st comment, or any confirmation. Granted, it did go through eventually, after re-commenting, but I had to take additional steps in order to see it.

I don't think bloggers should have to spend hours wading through their comments to remove spam, and this is a good idea, BUT:

1. This company needs to improve their images.

2. Fix the POST button problem (I'm not sure if it's because of the captcha service, or in your blogging software). But my choices are to hope the comment went through when using the POST button, or suffer through TWO captcha challenges with the PREVIEW button. Give the captcha folks some feedback; if enough users complain because their readers are having difficulties, hopefully they'll improve things.

Thanks for the additional info, Stuart. I notice the Captcha program strongly advises users to turn off comment moderation. Otherwise, they say, you'll keep getting the spam comments in your moderation folder. I'm really nervous about turning off the moderation. I like having the ability to approve each new commenter, ones that I haven't previously approved. I want a program that will filter out spam comments for me but still allow me moderation control. What are your thoughts on that?

And I agree with Sherri that it would be nice for there to be confirmation in your comments section that one's comment went through. Right now one's comment just goes into the void without any acknowledgment.

I've noticed that on many non-blogspot blogs once you hit "post" the blog returns to the original page with the new comment not showing. If you try again you'll post duplicate comments.

I started hitting the refresh button once the the page reverts and the reloaded page usually displays my comment.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Thanks Sherri for going through the process for me. It's amazing how blind I have become to my own system after putting up with it for so long.

Annie is right in that if you push the refresh button for the page you will see your comment displayed.

However, I agree that there should be an acknowledgment notice of some sort and will add this to the HIGH priority to-do list. Thanks for sharing this.

Pam - I can certainly understand your fears. For all the spam-bot messages the captcha will stop them completely. However, once you turn your moderation off it allows any person to comment as they wish. It's a bit of a trade-off and my resolve is that I will just delete any comment that is not constructively negative or abusive.

I haven't had to do this yet (fingers-crossed).