The more things change...

...the more they remain the same. Last week I blocked the option for people to post anonymous comments to my blogs in order to prevent abusive trolling and the numerous spam messages I get. 

I said at the time that if it inconvenienced genuine visitors to my blogs then I'd have a rethink. Unfortunately some of you were inconvenienced because you prefer not to sign up with Google or the other similar accounts. I appreciate that, so a solution was needed.

I've given this some thought and one other option would be allow anonymous comments but with a CAPTCHA where you type in a code so Blogger knows you're human. This is a great way to prevent spam, which as I said last week, was the main problem. 

However, I don't like CAPTCHA. I find it adds even more inconvenience to commenting, especially when sometimes you have to do it twice. (But if other blogs want to use it, fair enough of course.) 

So... I've decided to go back to how things were before. People can choose to log in if they wish, or go anonymous if they wish. Although I'd prefer if you added your real name to any anonymous comments please. So Steve, Gareth, anyone else who preferred the old way; feel free to comment again if you wish.

Obviously this means the daily spam will be back, and the occasional trolling, but there are worse things to deal with in life than spambots and cowards.

One other thing; I've noticed that some people multi-post the same comment, presumably because they don't see it appearing on my blog straight away. I always have moderation enabled, so you have to wait until I'm back online before I can pass them for publication. It's the only way to stop spam being published here. 

Anyroad up. Business as usual. Carry on commenting!