Comments on: I’m sick of CAPTCHAs

By: Gerrit

Gerrit — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:21:49 +0000

@Michael: almost two years ago you wrote this article. CAPTCHAs are still in use. And we still have the some problems, especially those people mentioned by ‘Zona Prestiti’. One solution come from ‘Flo’ [...]After several attempts (with fresh captchas) I tried another browser.. and it worked.[...] Did you find any other solutions?

By: Flo

Flo — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:17:34 +0000

When a captcha seems unsolvable, you might try using another browser. I stumbled across one yesterday which kept complaining that I entered it wrong. After several attempts (with fresh captchas) I tried another browser.. and it worked.

Looks like sometimes, there is some other kind of security mechanism in the background which can go mad.

Generally, I don't like captchas, but they sometimes seem to be a necessety (see Peter's comment). But when they are used, they should at least be easily readable for humans. I don't think the spambots are so advanced, that you need hyper-complex captchas...

By: zona prestiti

zona prestiti — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:01:45 +0000

For what it’s worth, Captchas are also a pain for those with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, for reasons that should be obvious. Sometimes I just can’t tell what in the world that blurry letter/number is supposed to be– for several images in a row!

By: Stefan Hayden

Stefan Hayden — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 18:51:22 +0000

what is everyone’s feeling on the Gatekeeper?
http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2006/03/01/gatekeeper-15-rc5/

By: Ben XO

Ben XO — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:44:51 +0000

The whole point of captchas is that robots cant read as well as people. but one day, robots will be able to read better than people, and robot's will be making ROBOTCHAS to keep us from gate crashing their robot parties.

I gate crashed a robot party once, it was rubbish. Just a bunch of hoovers trying to drink bolts out of a funnel. I hate bolts.

By: Ben XO

Ben XO — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 18:42:02 +0000

I read it as a W too; but then, I know that font pretty well.

By: Gerd Riesselmann

Gerd Riesselmann — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:05:51 +0000

CAPTCHAs sure do a good job in preventing robots from spamming. However, more simple and non-graphical CAPTCHA usually also do, like for example a couple of random choosen questions like “What is two times six?” or “Enter the forename of George Washington”. And these are easily accessible even for blind people, a problem most visual CAPTCHA systems do not adress.

By: Michael Moncur

Michael Moncur — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 21:09:53 +0000

Peter: I run a couple of forums also, and I deal with that problem by requiring email validation. It's even better than a CAPTCHA since it ensures I have a valid email for all members.

Also, CAPTCHAs are fine as long as they're readable... The ones in the Wordpress plug-in, for example, or used at Yahoo sites like Flickr, have never bothered me. It's just that lately they're becoming harder and harder to read...

By: Ted Bailes

Ted Bailes — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:43:28 +0000

The fourth character looks like a K to me. I prefer the number graphics on an angle like GoDaddy.com uses. Evidently they serve the purpose but are still easy for a human to read.

By: Peter T Davis

Peter T Davis — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 16:08:07 +0000

I'll give a point of view from the other side. I own several community websites, and allow people to sign up for a free membership. I'm not particularly fond of captchas myself, so I did not impliment them. Then, one weekend, someone decided to use a bot to attack one of my sites. The bot attacked by signing up new members, and after about 10,000 of them, he succeeded in crashing the server. So, now I use captchas.

I'm very sorry if it's an inconvenience to my members, but nobody's complained actually. Probably the ones that would have complained just never signed up anyway. But, it's better to inconvenience members with a captcha than to have my pants down again the next time someone wants to use that bot against me.