Thursday 26 September 2019

Sorry ....

I've just had my sixth anonymous spam comment of the day, following on from 13 yesterday, and have therefore disabled the ability to leave anonymous comments. I didn't want to, as I know a) Not everyone has a Blogger account and b) There are sometimes good reasons for choosing to leave comments anonymously and c) I want to encourage rather than discourage people from leaving comments. However I'm getting so fed up with the spam, it was this or stop the blog.

On the plus side (I do try to find positives!) I probably don't need to moderate comments now, which will save me time and mean they appear immediately.

There is still a way to comment anonymously if you wish. It's a faff, but you can set up a separate Blogger account with a nickname or pen name.

There's no need to have a blog in order to comment here – you can create an account without going on to do that.

If anyone has a brilliant suggestion for avoiding spam and still allowing anonymous comments, please let me know!

9 comments:

Patsy said...

(Me testing I've done it right.)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I turned off anonymous comments years ago and never had anyone complain. Since so many have gmail accounts, they already have a Google account. I do have moderation turned on for posts over a week old though.

Rosemary Gemmell said...

It's such a pain for you, Patsy, but will keep you sane!

Bigga Day said...

It makes sense, so no need to apologise.

Gail Richards said...

Sorry you've had to go through this, Patsy. Really appreciate all you do to keep this page going.

Maureen Brannigan said...

I'm a big fan of people using their own names. If this comes up as anonymous, I've done something wrong:-) Considering how helpful this blog is I would insist on real names. Patsy, I don't know where you find the time, but it is much appreciated. I love to hear of your adventures in your caravan as well.

The summers fly by here in Winnipeg, but I did want to pop in and give some info regarding Woman's Weekly.
For every story I sold them - including the first one - they paid me two hundred and thirty pounds. I haven't submitted to them in ages so was a bit dismayed about the All Rights decision and the poor pay now. It won't be the same without Clare, Gaynor, and Maureen, I imagine.

Btw. If there are any West of Scotland writers on here, there is a writer who could be from Glasgow or Kilmacolm. Her name is Alex Gray. I picked the book up in the library last week. Title FIVE WAYS TO KILL A MAN. It starts with a double murder in Kilmacolm. My sister lives in Bridge of Weir, so it was great to read a novel set around there. Thanks again, Patsy.

Patsy said...

@ Alex - I looked to see if I could just have moderation for older posts, but that option isn't available to me.

@ Rosemary – Hope so!

@ Bigga Day - Thanks for understanding.

@ Gail – Spam, junk mail, cold calls etc seem to be a common part of daily life now.

@ Maureen – I'm very happy for people to use their real names, but if they write (or intend to write) under a pen name then it makes sense to use that here. There are also times when people may want to pass on information without making it about them, so use a different name.

You're right that WW isn't the same without Gaynor, Clare and Maureen – they're much missed.

Maureen Brannigan said...

Hi Patsy, yes, of course, pen names make sense. I wrote a lot for womags under Kirsty Peters (my children's first names;-)).

As to the markets I've sold to they've all been covered on here. The others were Canadian Farm Newspapers, a Canadian children's magazine, an RV mag, and tourism magazines.

I'm always on the lookout for new markets and will post any new womag info on here.

I have a question about Writers' mag UK. I subscribed to it for years then took a break, does anyone here still subscribe to them? It costs a bit from here but I do miss all the latest info and the competition news.

To answer the question about weather helping or hindering, writing in winter here is perfect. Sunny but too cold to be outside for long:-) I have noticed over the years that writers who live near the sea seem to write and sell lots.

Thanks again for this great blog. I have passed the info on to other writers here. Maureen.

Patsy said...

@ Maureen – You can now get Writing Magazine on Readly. Maybe that would be a better option for you?