Do you despise those online verification codes?

[yoda313]

So does anyone here dislike those online verification codes they make you input on some websites?

The ones I really hate are the ones that are really wavy on backgrounds that make it virtually impossible to read. There are some that are decent but sometimes they get really out of hand.

I mean I can understand that some places don't want to get swamped with automatic regristations but you got to make it clear enough for real people to sign up.

ANyone else feel the same way??

[Supreme2k]

I despise the bots and spammers that/who make it necessary for sites to use all of this cloak n' dagger crap. Just like virus authors, bunch of pricks.

[bendixG15]

So does anyone here dislike those online verification codes they make you input on some websites?
ANyone else feel the same way??

Don't blame the wavy codes...
You do what you got to do to keep the bads guys away.

[gadgetguy]

I too find them annoying. As I have mentioned in the past, I have distortion in my left eye that makes it hard enough reading normal text, much less text that is deliberately distorted with lines and whatnot across it. But I, like others, don't blame the websites that use them, but rather the spambotters and such that make them necessary.

[lordsmurf]

I hated the kitty cats on rapidshare.

[redwudz]

If I can't read them, I see if they have a way to reset and get a different one. If not, I leave. Some sites have a setting to read them back to you in a audio format for people with disabilities. Well worth it if you can't see them properly.

AFAIK, the verification is used to keep internet 'bots' from automatically hacking the sites. Our site has a similar system for new members.

[gadgetguy]

If I can't read them, I see if they have a way to reset and get a different one...

I once had to reset 23 times, (yes, I counted), to get one that I was able to decipher. IIRC it wasn't even for registration, it was a blog site and you had to put in the verification just to leave a comment. Damned annoying.

[raffie]

Maybe on some forums there should be a little IQ test to sign up instead xD

Seriously though, it's a bitch when the characters are almost unreadable. But, having coded a forum myself I can tell you it IS a necessity. Without that image verification your database is gonna get swamped with automated signups, and even though email verification is required, all these signups keep comming in sitting in your database. One might wonder what the point of it all is?

[betwixt]

I agree with raffie.

On a forum (similar to this one) I run, within a few weeks of starting I was getting 300+ spams and junk adverts every day. I introduced CAPTCHA wiggly text about six months ago and still haven't had any attacks since.
Usually, if you get into real difficulty with reading the text, there is an alternative plain text method or another way of contacting the webmaster.
Brian.

[mpack]

I understand why they're there, but I find them annoying too. The way my brain works is kind of to lock on to the text and filter out the graphics, so it usually takes me a while to recognize that nothing is happening, and there's something else on the page that I have to pay attention to.

[jman98]

I've seen a few that were so clever that they couldn't be read by anybody because there was so much garbage in front of the characters. Russian mobile phone operator Megafon had probably the worst one I've ever seen.
After typing in my SMS I learned to save it in a buffer before entering the characters because it would usually take 2 or 3 different sets before I could get one that was readable.

[yoda313]

@redwudz - the audio idea is a good one to try to remember next time.

I'm glad others find them annoying too. I know they're needed but some take it too far and make it near impossible to read.

[usually_quiet]

reCAPTCHA is supposed to be part of a project to digitize books. When the OCR chokes, they use human input to decipher small chunks of text. So, at times we're doing something else that's useful, in addition to keeping the spammers out.

[JohnnyMalaria]

It's a necessary evil...