Matthew Wayne Selznick

Big news, everyone! The requirement to register with this site before commenting on blog posts has been eliminated.

From now on, in order to comment on any post, simply enter your name, e-mail address (not shared; see the privacy policy) and a website if you have one. You’ll be asked to perform a simple character recognition test before you submit the comment — that’s all!

What’s A Character Recognition Test?

You may have seen them on other sites — a simple box with two words that you will be asked to type. I’ve begun using reCAPTCHA, a service of Carnegie Mellon University. Every time you solve a reCAPTCHA box, you help Carnegie Mellon’s correctly digitize an old book or newspaper, and you do it better than a computer. Learn more about reCAPTCHA.

Accessible!

One thing that’s always bugged me about the previous system I had in place was that it was absolutely useless if you couldn’t see. Accessibility is a big deal to me — I want everyone to be able to use this site. The great thing about reCAPTCHA is it includes an audio solution –and that solution helps digitize old-time radio recordings that Carnegie Mellon is attempting to archive before they deteriorate, so more good work it being done.

Should You Still Register?

Sure, if you like. If you register as a user of this site, all you have to do is log in with your username and password before you comment on any blog posts. Registered users do not have to pass any reCAPTCHA tests once they’re logged in.

Why Was There Registration In The First Place?

For a while, I had a forum on this site. Forum management is much, much easier — and spammers have a much more difficult time doing their naughty thing — if a user registration program is in effect.

Also, I felt (and still feel) that building a membership base is a great way to keep in touch with everyone who’s interested in me, my work and this site. Registered members are also added to the periodic e-mail newsletter I send. If you don’t want to register and want to receive the newsletter (one goes out every month or so; usually even less frequently than that) you can sign up on the Contact page.

These days, I think having conversations and getting your feedback is more important than harvesting your information… and I’m confident the spammers will be kept at bay by reCAPTCHA and the other anti-spam measures in place on this site.

Yay!