TypeKey Feedback
2Jun2004 Filed under: LogisticaSo, the recent construction on Electrolicious seems to be just about complete. The new archives are working (love it!), and the TypeKey registered comments are finally fully integrated. I had to sacrifice my beloved SimpleComments plugin to make TypeKey work, but that’s ok. Special thanks to Jennifer Dodd and Six Apart support for their help.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve noticed comment counts dropping since TypeKey was introduced. I’m assuming this is because people don’t want to deal with registering for TypeKey, but I’d love to get a little feedback from y’all directly on the subject. What is it about TypeKey that makes you not want to comment? Once you’re registered, it’s actually EASIER to comment (no need type in your info).
Some folks have expressed concern about providing their email address to TypeKey, and here are a couple things to understand:
1. TypeKey encodes your email address whenever it displays in the comments, so spambots cannot harvest your email address off my page.
2. If you don’t want your email to show at all, simply fill in the URL field…the default setting shows the URL instead of your email. The email is only there so that I can easily respond to your comments via email.
3. TypeKey was developed in part to combat comment spam, and Six Apart has alwyas respected users’ privacy. You don’t have to worry about them spamming you.
4. Go ahead and use a spam-catching email address. That’s what Yahoo is for.
Anyway, I’d love to hear feedback from folks about what makes them comment or not comment now that I’ve switched to TypeKey. Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with TypeKey and it’s just that my posts haven’t been comment-worth lately. Or, maybe you’ve encountered technical difficulties? Let me know. If you don’t want to comment, you can email me.
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12 Responses to “TypeKey Feedback”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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Ariel
June 2nd, 2004 at 9:49 am
An emailed comment from a reader:
I hate the whole type key whatever thing. I don’t want to commit to registering my info just so I can make a passing comment on a blog. It’s like joining a club or something. I think that blogs are super-casual and organic and registering takes that away.
My response: Blogs have indeed been super casual…the problem is that this super casualness lead to mountains of comment spam. It’s not really fun for me to run a super casual blog when I’m super casually getting 50+ spam comments at a time, and super casually having to delete each comment.
One alternative is to configure my blog so that comments left by unregistered users have to be approved by me before they appear on the blog. This creates more work for me … but would it address your concerns?
*Ivy*
June 2nd, 2004 at 10:48 am
I registered. C’mon and do it. All the cool kids are. You don’t want to be left off. Everybody’s doing it. Just try it once, it won’t hurt you.
Ariel
June 2nd, 2004 at 1:44 pm
A comment from another reader:
i’m one of the people who’ve stopped commenting b/c of having to register. i don’t like it either. of course, i don’t have a problem with comment spamming, so there’s no real benefit to me, the commenter.
it really isn’t that big of a deal, i guess, but it does kind of suck whenever i’m passing a blog by and i just want to make a quick
comment that i have to fill out a form to do it. Â with yours, of course i expect to make more than one comment… but something about it is irking. Â especially for those of us who have like 1000s of email registrations to various web functions and sites and accounts. always, never fails, at some point, you are at a different computer or something, you can’t remember what email address and what password you used and so you either don’t comment or start a new account. Â i swear i need a PDA just to keep track of my login names and passwords.
some of us are just really lazy.
I’m lazy, too … that’s why it’s easier for me to manage comments with TypeKey, instead of moderating, or deleting comment spam that comes in. It’s funny, because I find TypeKey easier than filling in my name, email, url on commenting forms … but I may be in the minority on the issue.
…Keep the feedback coming!
Ariel
June 2nd, 2004 at 4:06 pm
From another reader:
By the way, regarding TypeKey: I tried to register a couple of days ago, but when I clicked on the link they sent me by email, I got an error message. I cut and pasted, same deal. *shrug* After that, I gave up, though I might try again at some point.
Oof. THAT sucks.
Jason
June 2nd, 2004 at 4:20 pm
OK, I’m on. Thanks for the nudge Ariel. It didn’t hurt one bit.
Tumbleweed
June 2nd, 2004 at 4:37 pm
Beautiful - commenting with TypeKey seems to work great, now. Congrats!
bushtit
June 2nd, 2004 at 9:00 pm
I’m completely indifferent, really. If I’ve got something to say about what someone writes on their blog, and they’ve provided a vehicle for me to say it (a comments form), then something as trivial as signing into TypeKey isn’t going to deter me. But maybe that’s because I take myself entirely too seriously.
philippe
June 3rd, 2004 at 1:31 am
No problem with TypeKey.
rebecca
June 3rd, 2004 at 10:18 am
signed up no problem - not a big deal
davebrown
June 6th, 2004 at 11:03 am
My biggest issue with the whole registering process was that it was simply one more user/pass to remember. No biggie, really, since I have my own system that I use. It’s mainly just a shame that spam has gone to that point. I’ve been getting it too (strangely enough only on old posts that haven’t been viewed in ages). Perhaps there’s statistical data to prove me wrong, but since when does irritating the hell out of someone get them to buy something?
davebrown
June 6th, 2004 at 11:04 am
Oof- also, it shows the ip of all commenters. Wazzup with that?
Ariel
June 6th, 2004 at 11:24 am
Dave, the ip showing isn’t typekey — I’ve always had ip displayed with comments. It’s been that way for almost two years.