The nasty ‘CAPTCHA’. . .
How many times have you been annoyed by the ‘CAPTCHA’ only to be trapped in its clutches over and over again as you attempt to simply leave someone a comment? First, you may receive “the CAPTCHA code does not match.” Second attempt might reveal “the CAPTCHA solution is incorrect.” Then, yet another attempt could come back with “the CAPTCHA wasn’t entered correctly” followed by yet another that simply states “the CAPTCHA is wrong.”
Are you screaming yet? Pulling out your hair? Pounding on the keyboard? Spitting out a few expletives? When all else fails, you lay your head on the keyboard expecting to look back up at the monitor and see the message ‘gotcha‘ – do not pass go – do not collect $200!
On most occasions a CAPTCHA is no more than a fuzzy, jumbled-up mess of letters and numbers with no apparent meaning whatsoever other than to test if I am indeed a robot. But, one this morning really got me: 10a handhrs! Was it trying to tell me something robotically speaking. Was there a message needing to be decoded? Had I already been at the mercy of the computer for 10 hours? Nah! It was only 8 A.M.
Why the term ‘CAPTCHA’ anyway? Does sound a lot like ‘gotcha’ so maybe there is a connection. Let’s analyze it and see what wee ‘meaning’ might be lurking in its prank-fulness.
Did you know it is actually an acronym? It stands for…
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
Has our world become so technologically oriented that we must prove beyond any shadow of doubt that each of us is not a robot? Is life becoming so controlled that decisions must be confirmed via distorted images before moving on? Are we completely at the mercy of spambots? Heaven forbid!
This CAPTCHA of “smwm” obscures its message from computer interpretation by twisting the letters and adding a background color gradient.
Check out the CAPTCHA Madness Infographic…
How much of the Internet hates CAPTCHA? How many are out there on the Internet anyway?
Why do they exist?
CAPTCHA Madness Infographic: CAPTCHAs, the twisted and distorted text challenges, aka the scourge of the internet, are everywhere. And the madness is growing!
Ever heard of Assira? It has been around for awhile (since 2007) but can’t say I have encountered it like the CAPTCHA. Sounds much more interesting that the nasty ‘CAPTCHA’ anyway!
ASIRRA
Asirra is a human interactive proof that asks users to identify photos of cats and dogs. It’s powered by over three million photos from our unique partnership with Petfinder.com. Protect your web site with Asirra � free!
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catnipoflife 
Anyone who used CAPTCHA doesn’t get how hard it is for many of us to decipher. We aren’t robots, quite the opposite. We just can’t see past the weird swirls and whirls and personally, there’s only so much effort I’ll put into commenting. I give up quickly and permanently, refusing to ever come back to that blog or website again. I don’t think that’s what they were intending.
So that’s what that insanity is called! Didn’t know it had a name, and now that I know, I still hate it.
There’s got to be a better way!
The better way is to not use it. I don’t and I don’t get any more robots or spam that anyone else.
I don’t use it either! I am like you and often just leave a site without commenting when that is required 😉
I give it one try. If I get through, fine. If not, i’m outta there. I thought it was only because I’m old. I guess it aggravates people other than me. I’m sort of comforted by that knowledge.
The CAPTCHAs are quite a puzzle sometimes. They can be tough to read/decipher. I get why the check (sometimes). But – why does it have to be so illegible?
The Captcha is quite irritating sometimes… from time to time I need to try 5 to 6 times until I’m sure I got it either wrong – or that thing just doesn’t work!
On the other hand: I’ve used it once in a while and it kept a lot of illegal commercial, pishing and spam on my former blog.
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