greentapestry : Random Acts Of Blogging Kindness

Friday 9 November 2012

Random Acts Of Blogging Kindness


This week I've been the recipient of a couple of thoughtful gestures from garden bloggers. The first was when I recieved an offer of seeds from Caro who blogs over at Urban Veg Patch. Earlier in the year Caro wrote a post about the intriguing sounding Perennial Nine Star Broccoli (Cauliflower). The thought of growing this vegetable really appealed to me. Not only did it sound tasty but the thought of a vegetable that has the potential to crop for up to five years was a most positive recommendation. Caro's post contained details of a nursery where she bought her plants from as plugs. However when I visited their website I was disappointed to find out that they would not be available until 2013. I commented on this sad state of affairs on Caro's blog. Searches round other nurseries and seed companies for plants or seeds met with a blank, so I thought that I could be waiting for some time to try this out. Then sometime last week Caro sent me a tweet, asking me if I would like some seeds which she had collected from her own plants. Of course I answered in the affirmative. A couple of days ago an imaginatively decorated seed packet arrived in the post complete with a generous amount of seeds and most comprehensive growing instructions. I had to smile at her advice "Best grown on allotment unless you want your garden to smell of boiled cabbage'. Don't worry Caro the seedlings will definitely head in the direction of the allotment. She also advised that if you let the plants flower that bees love the white flowers that the plant produces. So not only a thanks from me Caro but also from our allotment bees. I will post about the progress of these plants next year.

The other act of kindness was from Michelle over at Veg Plotting, who tactfully pointed out to me that I have been using the dreadful word CAPTCHA word verification on my blog comments and offering help if needed in remedying this situation. Michelle knew that this verification process was something that I had found frustrating to use when commenting on other blogs. I was seriously thinking that either my eyesight or sanity were in need of urgent review as I've struggled to comment on some blogs and only succeeded after four or five attempts. I was completely unaware that I have been inflicting this process on visitors who may have been trying to make a comment here, as you are unable to see it at your end. I think that it may well be something that Blogger has forced upon its users without their knowledge or consent.

HUGE apologies to those of you who have succeeded in commenting (your persistence is to be admired) as well as to anybody who has wanted to but who has given up (I'm not at all surprised). Hopefully the situation is now remedied. I have now removed word verification. I imagine that this leaves me more vulnerable to spam comments but I will see how it goes. At some point in the future I may have to moderate comments but I would rather that your comments appeared instantaneously.

So a virtual bouquet or in this case a potted cyclamen to Caro and Michelle in thanks as well as to all readers by way of apology. Gardening bloggers are lovely folk as this week has proved.

PS - Please let me know - if you can whether you have have any problems leaving a comment. I sincerely hope not!

29 comments:

  1. I'm always amazed at the generosity of bloggers, such a kind community. I've removed the work verification from my blog, but I do moderate comments as I get so much spam now.

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    1. That's interesting to hear Jo - will wait to see how it goes.

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  2. There are plenty of generous and kind bloggers out there who are willing to help one way or another. I wasn't bothered that you had the CAPTCHA enable but yes, it is so much better now that you have disabled it :)

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    1. Glad to hear that is an improved service Mark & Gaz :)

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  3. I prefer to moderate comments. And the spam filters catch almost all the spam. I've begun to close comments on older posts, as those rare comments were mostly spam. Sadly some comments go and die in the spam filters, if you don't moderate and retrieve where the filters have been over-enthusiastic! (BTW Captcha wasn't 'forced' on you. You could choose, either way ...)

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    1. I'm moderating comments over a fortnight old Diana. Maybe 'forced' was not perhaps the best way of putting it but CATCHA was introduced without me being aware and sadly now that I am, I find that there is no alternative option on offer :( At least when the former word verification process was in place you could read what was on the screen.

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  4. Hello again Anna, I agree completely on the kindness of fellow bloggers. I’ve been on the receiving end of this too. Best wishes for your seeds of friendship :-)

    Ah… that CAPTCHA, being completely honest I actually enjoy the challenge when doing it! I hate spam getting through more. However, taking on board what you and others say I’ll do a trial on removing mine too. We can compare notes on this :-)

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    1. Thanks for your comment Shirl. I'm chuckling at the thought of you enjoying the challenge of word verification.
      Will be interested to hear how you progress now that you have removed it too.

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  5. It is wonderful the kindness of virtual friends isn't it. I've found the same with twitter too. I removed the captcha thing on my blog and have found that provided I don't have it set to allow 'anonymous' comments I don't get spam.

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    1. Yes it's good to discover how many lovely and thoughtful people are out there in blog land Su. Interested to read your observation about not allowing anonymous comments.

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    2. I do allow anonymous comments, because every so often, perhaps Wordpress plays up, and someone battles to leave a comment in their usual way.

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  6. Whoohoo- thank you Anna - I am rubbish at the captcha thing and it ALWAYS takes me at least three goes, and, I admit, it did make me think twice about leaving comments, especially "quick ones" I do hope that you will not be plagued by too much spam.

    The blogging community is just full of random acts of kindness, quite lovely
    K

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    1. My pleasure Karen and apologies for inflicting it on an old friend :) I'm glad to read that I am not alone in finding CAPTCHA a difficult beast.

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  7. Having had such lovely comments recently since my 'op', I can only say that the blogging community is wonderfully caring, such nice people!
    I used to find it a challenge previously to leave a comment, but it will be so much easier now, hope you don't get inundated with spam!

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    1. Thank you Pauline. Keeping my fingers crossed about the spam - time will tell.

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  8. Ooo I am glad the captcha thingy has gone, sometimes the numbers were so small I wasnt sure how anyone was meant to read it.

    Have you looked at Jungle Plant Seeds, they have some interesting veg you might be interested in. Even me, a confirmed non-veg grower, was curious.

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    1. Short of taking the most powerful magnifying glass to the screen I'm not quite sure either Helen and I don't think even that would always solve the bewildering puzzle. Thanks for the suggestion of Jungle Plant Seeds for interesting veg - will investigate forthwith :)

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  9. I have also had only positive experiences with bloggers - such a kind and good-hearted lot, full of optimism and generosity! :D
    Glad you got rid of the Captcha too Anna.

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    1. Yes I agree that bloggers are a good hearted lot Cathy - I wonder if it's also because most of the ones that I've come across are also into gardening.

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  10. Thank you (and VP) - it's much better without captcha! I usually end up reloading the page several times until I get a reasonably clear one rather than attempting the really fuzzy ones, but it's still a pain. I use comment moderation and don't allow anonymous comments, and I get virtually no spam.

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    1. Glad to hear that it's an improved state of affairs here Juliet. I am the same - if at all fuzzy I refresh again and again and again ......... :) Glad to read that you are not having a problem with spam.

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  11. Hi Anna - thanks for the lovely mention. It looks like you have lots of happy commenters as a result :)

    NB Su is right that not allowing Anonymous comments gets rid of most of the spam. That's exactly what I did when I removed WV. However, it also stops the ability for WP bloggers to leave comments too. Judging by the forum comments, Google don't seem to be in too much of a hurry to correct the problem :(

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    1. You are most welcome VP. It was a state of ignorance is bliss and I'm glad that I found out sooner than later. At least I could scream in the privacy of my home when I found out rather than if it had been at another keyboard. The consequences of blocking anonymous comments seem rather drastic - would not like to close the door to Wordpress commenters so will not go down that road now you have pointed it out. Thanks again.

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  12. I've never heard of that type of broccoli before and it was a lovely gesture to receive them in the post. Glad you've taken off that awful blogger verification as I struggle to leave comments elsewhere due to it. Google are quite good at finding out the spam and if something does get through you can report it to google.

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    1. The broccoli is an old variety apparently Rosie. Hopefully I will be able to reciprocate Caro's kindness by sharing seeds in the future :)

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  13. It does make it easier to leave a comment now, and I often find the captcha frustrating. Even though I enjoy word games, I never appreciate the time consuming step when leaving a comment. I hope you don't get too much spam.

    WordPress has a couple of excellent spam blocking plugins which I really appreciate. I noticed this week that the stats for Akismet, the main wordPress spam blocker, recorded that it had blocked 47 000 pieces of spam for the past 12 months. I could never deal with that manually.

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    1. I enjoy word games too Northern Shade but not that sort :) I'm so pleased that it is easier for you to comment. I've recently set up a Wordpress blog for our allotment association and have already been most impressed by Akismet. The mere thought of manually deleting 47, 000 comments is an absolute nightmare - you must be so relieved that Askimet is in place.

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  14. It is heart-warming to hear of the lovely people out there in the blogging and twitter world.
    I hate those word things too. Takes forever sometimes to work out what they are. I decided to set up moderation on comments before we went on holiday in the summer as I didn't want anything popping up that shouldn't have done whilst I was away. I agree with Northern Shade the wordpress spam blocker is excellent.

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    1. Even though our allotment blog is relatively young WW I've already been impressed with Askimet. Now if only Blogger could offer the same facility I would be a most happy bunny.

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All your comments are much appreciated and treasured. I wil try to reply to everyone who leaves a comment, but it may take me a few days, especially when I start spending more time in the garden and at the lottie. I know that you will understand :) I am sure that I will also visit your blog if I have not already done so. If you have any specific questions I will either reply to them here or you can email me at : thegreentapestry@gmail.com

Namasté

- Anna.