if there's one thing I hate...

...it's CAPTCHA. Okay, that's not so uncommon. No one likes CAPTCHA. And as internet mischief goes, it ranks much lower on the torture scale than, say, the Single Mom's Secret For Whitening Teeth At Home (what exactly is it anyway - Domestos?) or blogs that generate those mini-broswer pop-ups when you inadvertently hover over some random word. Or Twitter. No, my gripe is more specific, and directed at a few of you reading this, so pay attention. Right, comments on blogs. No one wants spam, or otherwise unwanted comments. There's only one way of avoiding nasty or self-promoting comments, and that's to moderate. If it's just spam you're worried about, there's CAPTCHA. One or the other. There are no circumstances that justify using both methods. A reader leaving a comment can just about tolerate CAPTCHA if their comment gets published right away. But if after going through the hell of deciphering CAPTCHA, your reader sees the mesage: "Your comment will be visible after approval," the blogger deserves to be slowly eviscerated by a very small, blunt knife. If you moderate your comments, don't make me suffer CAPTCHA-rage. Go on, think about it for a minute. You know it makes sense. I sincerely hope this is the last time we have to talk about this.

if there's one thing I hate... is a new, regular column, the sole purpose of which is for me to vent my spleen.