Hrm. My settings still show that I allow anonymous users to leave comments - which *should* indicate that people w/o blogger/google accounts are ok to comment.

I'll poke around and see if I can find any announcement that they've changed it. Cause if they did, that might just push me to another platform as that's rather ridiculous.

Re the update - I suspect that this has something to do with the "Blogger in Draft" thing they're doing where they're pushing OpenID. But because it's in draft and not something that's out there for everyone, I'm confused why they would take away functionality in the mean time.

Guess it boils down to getting what you pay for.

If you figure this out, let us know. I've been having the same problem.

my blogspot blog still allows nameless comments, it is an option I allow.
Whether or not I approve your comment is a different story.

Ok, from what I can easily google (it's a slow day at work today), it appears that this is, indeed, related to their desire to push for OpenID - which is of course based on their stuff.

This has a pretty good summary of the change and some ideas for what blogger folks can do to try and make it a little nicer and/or work around it with 3rd party commenting tools.

I like the google kool-aid, I'll admit it, but I don't like it when it gets forced down other people's throats.

Grumble.

The blogger has the option of allowing anon, Blogger ID, or whatever. Also of turning on or off word verification and owner approval. I let anyone comment at my blog, but I moderate every comment. Easy to do when you're a zit on the butt of the blogosphere like I am.