To fight spam, I had to start requiring that people who want to post on this blog log in using TypeKey registration. (You can get an account free here; it takes about one minute.)

But if you use Internet Explorer, you may find that TypeKey doesn’t let you log in. Here are two fixes:

Simple fix

After you’ve logged into TypeKey and you’re back at the blog posting, hit “refresh”. That usually does the trick: You’ll be able to see the posting field.

If that doesn’t work …

Slightly less simple fix

… try doing this quick, easy tweak of your browser.

1. In the menu items at the top of your browser window, go to the “Tools” menu, then choose “Internet Options…”

2. When the “Internet Options” dialog box pops up, click the “Privacy” tab at the top of that popup box.

3. In the “Web Sites” area at the bottom of the box, click the button “Edit.” (If the “Edit” button isn’t clickable, that’s because your privacy options are set too low. See that slider in the area just above the “Edit” button? You’ve probably got it set at “Accept All Cookies.” Slide it one notch higher, to “Low”. Now you can click the “Edit” button below.)

4. In the “Address of website” field, type “lissa.pair.com” (don’t type the quotation marks, of course) and then click “Allow.”

5. Click “OK” at the bottom of that dialog box.

6. Click “OK” on the Privacy tab.

From now on, you should have no problem logging in to comment on this site!

(If you care, here’s a technical explanation for why this bug exists: My blog domain is www.collisiondetection.net, but the blog is hosted at a domain called pair.com. When you first try to use TypeKey to comment on my blog, TypeKey issues you a cookie for www.collisiondetection.net. But then Internet Explorer has to talk to the pair.com domain — and it sometimes freaks out because it thinks it’s a “third party”. So you have to tell Internet Explorer that cookies from pair.com are permanently allowed. Interestingly, the problem doesn’t seem to happen in any other browser — not Firefox, Netscape, or Safari.)