Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
Apr3Written by:
2009/04/03 08:36 AM 
Captcha have become a normal part of most websites when it comes to filling in web forms of some sort. THe idea is to stop spam by being able to tell the difference between a human being and a bot or automated program. It does this by asking a question that a normal human being is able to answer. Then a computer grades that answer to determine if you're human or not. All is fine until the thing does not work.
A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and grade tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below, but current computer programs can't:
The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University. At the time, they developed the first CAPTCHA to be used by Yahoo.
Some of the uses of captcha are:
- Preventing Comment Spam in Blogs.
- Protecting Website Registration.
- Online Polls.
- Preventing Dictionary Attacks.
- Search Engine Bots.
- Email Worms and Spam.
This is all great, but when you get to a website where you have to fill in the captcha, and it does not work, then it is very frustrating. I have been to numerous websites these last two months where the capture clearly has a problem. When you double check you answer, when you get someone else to double check your answer, and clearly the answer is correct, but when you submit the form you are presented with the error message: The security code you entered did not match.
Frustrating. frustrating. frustrating, is all I can say. I have just recently filled in a web e-mail form asking a question on a site that is important to me, but cant get it through. On this particular persons site, there is not other form of contact, so I cant even tell him that his web form and capture are not working.
This blog uses captcha, I sure hope it works. If not why don't you email me at "robert at integralwebsolutions.co.za" (purposely done so that spam bots do not pick up on the email address).
Have you ever been frustrated at a captcha that clearly does not work?
blog comments powered by 6 comment(s) so far...
There are alternatives
Robert,
At least you're thinking about the potential frustrations of your site visitors, unlike most who apparently go grab the most used one out there without doing their homework on the effect it's going to have. I've had several people tell me that their site visitors fail 1 in every 5 times on their reCAPTCHA, and another Web 2.0 entrepeneur tell me he's calculated that he loses 1 in every 12 potential site registrations because of the frustrations that reCAPTCHA being on their site causes. So many of the big sites have engineers who see this kind of data, but for some reason they don't think they have any alternative but to let their visitors continue to fail so often and be frustrated or defect as a result.
That's why we came up with VidoopCAPTCHA - to make things easier on real people but still stop the spambots. Check out the demo with the 3 different ways it can be displayed and let us know what you think.
http://demo.vidoop.com/captcha
-Troy
By Troy on
2009/04/03 07:06 PM
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Re: Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
Troy,
Thanks so much for this info. I am on my way to have a look. I am sure others will benefit as well.
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/03 07:06 PM
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Re: Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
I know many people with vision impairment who simply cannot use web sites that require captcha codes.
I've had no problems with Blogger (their captcha codes are big enough to be readable, and still effective - though sometimes they form "almost-words" or "near-phrases" that are so funny as to be almost blog-worthy). I use js-kit and Commentluv on my blog, and have had only two or three comments from spammers - the kind that fly by, leave a halfway relevant comment, and a link to a site that's just one big ad. I don't think the bots are getting through, but js-kit uses Akismet, too.
By Holly on
2009/04/26 08:23 AM
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Re: Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
I realise that it is not a perfect solution, I don't see one out there. But I think I will have a look at your suggestion of js-kit.
Maybe I just have that face that attracts spammers
Thanks
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/26 08:29 AM
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Re: Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
I realise that it is not a perfect solution, I don't see one out there. But I think I will have a look at your suggestion of js-kit.
Maybe I just have that face that attracts spammers
Thanks
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/26 01:50 PM
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Re: Don't you just hate captcha - especially when they do not work.
Man what's going on here, Seems like there is double comment posting from me. My apologies, it is not me I promise
By Robert Bravery on
2009/04/26 01:55 PM
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