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Evolution of the 'Captcha'
FireballX301 writes "The New York Times is running an article about the small word puzzles various sites use in order to defeat automated script registration while still letting humans through. It seems many people can't actually solve them anymore, so new alternatives (image recognition) are being created. This, of course, seems breakable as well — is there a feasible alternative to the captcha, or are we stuck jumping through more and more hoops to register at places?"
As a Christian fundamentalist, I cannot in good conscience believe that catchpas have evolved, yet at the same time since I can never figure out what to type to make them work, I cannot believe any intelligence was involved in their design.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Ask the user to perform a task that only a computer is likely to succeed at, like factorizing a 6-digit number. If the user gives the right answer, and this is the cunning part: Then it's not a human!
MAN, I feel clever some times.
I find some of the most cryptic captchas on the ticketmaster site. granted that the site deserves a stringent bot control given the risk of scalpers but some of their patterns border on the ridiculous. TFA mentions someone who achieved 25% success in deciphering those ticketmaster ones and I am thinking, "how does he do that?!"
My sig has been answered.
Ummm I dont think this would work in the US, where (considering our educational system) some people might answer "yes". In fact, some celebrity (I forget which) recently thought that Japan was a country in Africa, which is why Africa has the best sushi.
No great loss in keeping people with that kind of education and/or intelligence away from the internet. Kinda like you'd like to keep the caveman with the club away from the nuclear bomb.
Well then, that's an added bonus, isn't it? It not only weeds out the spam bots, but also the celebrity know-nothings.
I've seen several sites using questions similar to yours except they were more obvious. An example was:
Which is a food?
A) pink
B) car
C) Britney Spears
D) Hamburger
There is of course the possible registration by a disturbed and horny male who would say "Britney Spears" but you get the idea.
Replace the mangled-text-and-response captcha with a skill test, like punch-the-monkey. Maybe I could win an iPod while I'm at it.
Unrelated question....how do you validate the captcha if you are browsing with lynx?
Mod self -1,weird-mood-on-a-monday
Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
Yes, users need to answer riddles like in notpron. The kind you need 10 hours to find the solution /Grin/ :D
Which is a food?
A) pink
B) car
C) Britney Spears
D) Hamburger
There is of course the possible registration by a disturbed and horny male who would say "Britney Spears" but you get the idea. Make sure you cook your Britney thoroughly first, no telling what diseases she's carrying.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Kinda like you'd like to keep the caveman with the club away from the nuclear bomb.
And then you voted for Bush, TWICE!!!!!!
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I've found that not even this is necessary, I run a site with about 1000 visitors per day and the spam messages fell to zero when I included a field that said "Type in the box to prove you're human:".
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
"OK, I am a bit shrotsighted,"
And dyslexic.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
"Unintelligent Design"?
Is that like "Despite the fact that God created the Universe, people keep getting stupider"?
Or is it some sly jab at Windows?
Or maybe it's a scientific theory derived from studying governments!
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
"pink" is a common dessert on airlines.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.