There’s been a big uptick in the number of spam comments on Transatlantic Gardener recently, and I apologize for that. In spite of using Captcha, which asks readers to type in some randomly generated characters before posting, it’s got worse and worse with one comment made up of 3000 words of gibberish getting through since yesterday. Typepad, who host this blog, tell me they’re working on it but I’m not at all satisfied.

So until they get their act together, commenters will have to sign in. I know this is a pain, and I know it puts people off posting comments. Using Captcha puts people off too. But it’s better than twenty or thirty batches of nonsense appearing every day.

Although, I have to say – spam can be funny. Here’s a few recent examples:

“Affinity often is the Coptis groenlandica that may scarves our hearts and minds with the marketplace”

“Will I get travelling expenses?”

“The other two cats were able to make the leap with the grace of gazelles”

“In 1829 he made a considerable success with a fantastic volume entitled A Journey on Foot from Holman’s Canal to the East Point of Amager, and he published in the same season a farce and a book of poems.”

But there’s been far too much spam recently, even though I go through every morning and delete all the new stuff. Rest assured, we’re working on it.

UPDATE: The only way to stop it seems to be for me to check comments individually before they're posted. This creates a delay before they appear, for which I apologise, but at least you're not confronted by waves of gibberish.
SECOND UPDATE Well, Typepad now say they're improved things so I'm relaxing everything again. We'll see...