14 March 2020

Comments and cookies

One of the web pages I read yesterday when I was trying to get some information about difficulties people have leaving comments on Blogger blogs included this discouraging assessment: The Blogger software is outdated, over the hill, and decrepit. It came on the market more than 20 years ago. Since blogging is a dinosaur in the new world of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, not much is being done to keep the Blogger software alive. So goes the world...

Meanwhile, I really don't like the new pop-up comment display I've chosen for my blog. I miss being able to comment to each commenter individually the way I could when comments on this blog were in the embedded format. And I read this: the problem that makes reader comments vanish into thin air resides in the person's browser settings. Enabling Accept Third-Party Cookies — unblocking them — in your browser settings will allow it to work with the embedded comments.

I use Firefox. There, the setting that might need to be modified is in the Privacy and Security settings when you open Options on the menu at the upper right-hand corner of the Firefox browser. Under Enhanced Tracking Protection, choose the Custom option. Then look at the settings for Cookies. Choose to have the browser block only "Cookies from unvisited websites"; do not choose to block all cookies or all third-party cookies.

In Safari, at least on Windows, click the little gear icon at the top right corner of the browser window. Open Preferences, and then click the Privacy option. Under Block Cookies, click Never. From the reading I've done, this will work on MacOS and iOS versions of Safari as well.

In Chrome on Windows, open Settings by clicking the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the browser window. Click Settings and then choose Privacy and Security. Click Site Settings. The first item on the next menu is Cookies and Site Data. Click that and you'll see Cookies and Site Data under Permissions. Make sure the the Block Third Party Cookies option is turned off.

I know that for some I'm asking a lot when I request that you turn off the feature that blocks third-party cookies. In Chrome, it seems to be turned off by default. In the other browsers, you have to turn it off yourself. Then the Blogger "embedded" comment page will work again and you'll be able to post comments here. Who objects?

18 comments:

  1. CHM, I just installed the Duckduckgo browser and I'm seeing if I can leave a comment using it.

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  2. I'm back on Firefox. In Duckduckgo, I got the impression the comment had not been posted. I got error messages when I tried to comment on my own blog as well as on Walt's blog. But there's the comment! Something worked, but not as expected.

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  3. I have not had problems commenting and think anything you do with your blog would be ok with me.

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  4. I don't like the pop up window option either, much prefer the embedded where comments and replies are linked together sensibly. I have reinstalled embedded on my blog.
    Blogger is sometimes a pain to use but I would hate having to move over to something else if it is discontinued. Odd that they don't continue to support it, there are zillions of successful and busy blogs out there, although mostly of a certain age group. Maybe as always it's the young folk that get everything these days.

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  5. Jean, the young folks are the ones who work at Google. Wordpress is the main competitor to Blogger, but I haven't heard many good things about its software either. I keep trying to figure out how Google makes money through Blogger. I don't see ads on my blog, or many others.

    I'm getting ready to reset my blog to embedded comments, unless somebody can convince me that would be a bad idea.

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  6. T'house, do you use Chrome or some other browser?

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  7. Ken, I was busy with something else this morning, that's why I didn't answer sooner. I just hate this pop-up thingy, plain and simple. I have no problem posting comments using Duckduckgo; except for the other day when my comment and your answer disappeared. But I think it was for the same reason that your photos didn't show. To be precise, I use Duckduckgo with my tablets, but Firefox with my laptops.

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  8. It’s been a long time since my comments appeared

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  9. I'm fine with whatever you find most comfortable. If people can make that cookies change to one browser, they should be able to post, but I realize that some people might be timid about changing things. Following your careful directions shouldn't be a problem, though.

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  10. I think you need to go with what you're comfortable with. I have no problems commenting when I use chrome.
    Pretty day here in Bama. Friday the 13th was historic.For now I'm planning on doing projects around the house, taking walks, and gardening. The schools in Alabama will shut down for 2 1/2 weeks and old folks need to stay safe. I think France is a couple of weeks ahead of us in dealing with this virus.

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  11. I use Mozilla Firefox...I have chrome but only use it to watch things on Acorn TV. My own blog is with WordPress and I think, though they are always changing some things, I don't really have problems with it. That's probably because I don't try to do much beside post photos and text.

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  12. Thanks for letting me know, Thickethouse.

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  13. I've never had problems commenting either (had some problems posting under my blogger name, but that's sth else) and to be honest, I don't like the pop-up window either/at all. However, being able to read your blog is the most important, so whatever you prefer and choose.

    I use a Windows 10-laptop, and whichever browser I use - Chrome, Edge, or Firefox - none of them have given me any problems so far.

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  14. Most of the problems I've had in posting blog comments have been while using Android tablets. Not so much with Windows. Thanks for letting me know.

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  15. Maybe you know that I get an e-mail every time anybody posts a comment on the blog, and it includes the text of the comment. Now I'm getting all those e-mails twice, not just once as before. Duplicates. Including spam comments, which I delete daily. It's not yet overwhelming, but still...

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  16. I just checked my Safari settings, and I don't have cookies blocked. Didn't before, either. I'll try Duckduckgo, just to see what happens.

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  17. Emm, let me know how it goes with DuckDuckGo. I haven't found a version for Windows, but I've tried it on Android with success. DDG is a browser that doesn't accept cookies, if I understand correctly.

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