Have you ever tried to comment on a Blogger blog and been perplexed by the fact that the blog makes you sign in with a mysterious ID or login or some sort before you can leave your two cents? You may have seen a screen that looks like this (right).
With this setup, you need either a Google or Blogger account or what's called an "OpenID" in order to comment, which I think is a bummer. Every blog author should be encouraging good, thoughtful comments, so it's best not to put any roadblocks in the way of your readers. NOTE: Let it be said, however, that I am a fan of the "word verification" function often used to prevent comment spam. This is sometimes called a "captcha".
The reason this Google/OpenID problem is so prevalent is that this particular comment mode is the default option for any new Blogger blog, which means unless the blog author changes their comment settings in their Blogger account, this is what their readers will be faced with when they want to comment. Of course, Google makes this the default because they want more people to sign up for Google accounts. I understand that Google needs ways of getting more people to sign up for Google accounts – everyone's got to make a living, even Larry Page and Sergey Brin – but I think this method of "encouragement" is a little insidious, especially because most new bloggers don't even realize this default setting is stopping their readers from commenting.
The good news is that the comment settings in Blogger are easy to change. If you're the blog author and you've got a Blogger blog, I highly encourage you to change these options and make it possible for anyone to comment!
Here's how to go about it:
When you log into your Blogger account, go to the Settings tab, then click on "Comments". Your screen will look something like this:
In this screen, make sure that you've checked "Anyone – Includes Anonymous Users" in answer to the question "Who Can Comment?". Once you make this change, scroll all the way to bottom of this page and hit "Save Settings". Check your blog again (you'll probably need to hit you refresh button) and make sure the change took effect by trying to comment on your own blog and seeing what happens. It's always good to put yourself in your reader's shoes, so this is a great exercise anyway.
If you're a frustrated reader who would like to see this change on someone ELSE'S blog, write 'em an email note if they have their email address posted on the site, and send them this link so they know how and why to make this important change.
After you try this, drop me a line here and let me know how it went for you, and whether you've seen an increase in the number of comments you receive!
Quick update (Sept.11) - A colleague of mine point out that some bloggers might not want anonymous commenters to be able to post on their sites, but unfortunately there's only one way to get Blogger blogs out of "Google-account-only" mode, and that's to open up comments to "Anyone". Once you've set your comment option so that anyone can comment, people can either post anonomously or by listing their name and URL. Most people will leave you a name (and a URL hot link back to their own blog, if they're smart about marketing), so I wouldn't worry too much!
