Be you human or be you bot?

XML blogging using flickr could get you marked by Blogger as a spam robot.

As a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened to this blog. (hello Blogger staff)

I noticed this when I logged into blogger today trying to find out why blogging via flickr didn't work anymore. In reality Blogger had completely remove XML blogging ability from my blogging account, meaning theoretically, I couldn't (and still can't btw) blog to Blogger using any device or software using XML. All posts made using Blogger API to my account are saved as draft and not actually published.

In the Blogger Posting / Create page, (for me) there's now a "Word Verification" section for me to use. Grrr.

Blog Locked message page:

Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What's a spam blog?) Since you're an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and we sincerely apologize for this false positive.

Before we can turn off mandatory word verification on your posts we'll need to have a human review your blog and verify that it is not a spam blog. Please fill out the form below to get a review.

Find out more about how Blogger is fighting spam blogs.

I hope this "human review" is a one time thing only or this could get seriously annoying.