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  3. Why are the CAPTCHAs so unreadable nowadays ?

Why are the CAPTCHAs so unreadable nowadays ?

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  • B Offline
    B Offline
    bbirajdar
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

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    • B bbirajdar

      I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

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      Nagy Vilmos
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      Worse than a KAKACAPCHA is a broken link. It's like saying you don't believe in Tim[^].


      Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. or "Drink. Get drunk. Fall over." - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often *students*, for heaven's sake. -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)

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      • N Nagy Vilmos

        Worse than a KAKACAPCHA is a broken link. It's like saying you don't believe in Tim[^].


        Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. or "Drink. Get drunk. Fall over." - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often *students*, for heaven's sake. -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)

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        S Offline
        Slacker007
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I think a CAPCHA that asks you to do math and authentication is based on the correct answer sounds good to me. Probably already tested and/or rejected though because I have yet to see one in action.

        -- ** You don't hire a handyman to build a house, you hire a carpenter. ** Jack of all trades and master of none.

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        • B bbirajdar

          I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

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          Daniel Scott
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Because OCR is getting better. Things like KittenAuth are much harder to break for a computer, but easy for humans.

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          • S Slacker007

            I think a CAPCHA that asks you to do math and authentication is based on the correct answer sounds good to me. Probably already tested and/or rejected though because I have yet to see one in action.

            -- ** You don't hire a handyman to build a house, you hire a carpenter. ** Jack of all trades and master of none.

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            P Offline
            Peter Mulholland
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Yeah, that's be better than character recognition, cause computers aren't all that good at math. :-D Maybe if authentication was based on wrong answers?

            Pete

            S 1 Reply Last reply
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            • P Peter Mulholland

              Yeah, that's be better than character recognition, cause computers aren't all that good at math. :-D Maybe if authentication was based on wrong answers?

              Pete

              S Offline
              S Offline
              Slacker007
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Peter Mulholland wrote:

              Maybe if authentication was based on wrong answers?

              Not only the wrong answer but you have to translate the wrong answer into another language that uses symbols and characters instead of letters and numbers. :)

              -- ** You don't hire a handyman to build a house, you hire a carpenter. ** Jack of all trades and master of none.

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              • B bbirajdar

                I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

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                NormDroid
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                So they captcha out :)

                Software Kinetics - The home of good software

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                • B bbirajdar

                  I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  Dan Neely
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Balaji Birajdar wrote:

                  http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/
                   
                  I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering.

                  Of the 4 samples there I found 3 obvious. The 3rd one is bad since the swirl obfuscates too much of one letter.

                  3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

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                  • D Daniel Scott

                    Because OCR is getting better. Things like KittenAuth are much harder to break for a computer, but easy for humans.

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    Dan Neely
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    But are easier for 3rd world sweatshop captcha breakers since they don't even require the peon to know the latin alphabet.

                    3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

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                    • D Dan Neely

                      Balaji Birajdar wrote:

                      http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/
                       
                      I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering.

                      Of the 4 samples there I found 3 obvious. The 3rd one is bad since the swirl obfuscates too much of one letter.

                      3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

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                      A Offline
                      Anthony Mushrow
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I thought all of them where pretty obvious, some of the easiest captchas I've seen in a while.

                      My current favourite phrase: I've seen better!

                      -SK Genius

                      Source Indexing and Symbol Servers Vehicle Simulation Demo - Mostly Works

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                      • D Daniel Scott

                        Because OCR is getting better. Things like KittenAuth are much harder to break for a computer, but easy for humans.

                        S Offline
                        S Offline
                        Steve Mayfield
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        or...Computer vision is getting better and human vision is getting worse :~ ... I really need new pairs of glasses (yes pairs) ;)

                        Steve _________________ I C(++) therefore I am

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                        • B bbirajdar

                          I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

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                          AspDotNetDev
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          Because you're a frackin toaster.

                          [Managing Your JavaScript Library in ASP.NET]

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                          • B bbirajdar

                            I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

                            K Offline
                            K Offline
                            Kim Breugelmans
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            The recaptcha ones are bad because they are used to digitise books. Basically, every recaptcha consist of 2 words, 1 word that is known in their sytem, and 1 word that could not be digitised. If enough people give the correct answer for the valid word, and the same answer for the second word, they assume that the second word is correct to. So if you get a recaptcha, and you can only read one word correct, just type in random stuff for the second one it should work :) The ones on a colored background are a real PITA though.

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • B bbirajdar

                              I am wondering why the websites nowadays are showing up the CAPTCHAs so dirty that even a software guy is not able to read it. He keeps on clicking the re-captcha button 8-10 times till a clearly readable (for humans) appears. The facebook CAPTCHAs are the nightmares for me... Some of the worst captcha samples online http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=84108 http://www.luuux.com/technology/unreadable-website-captchas http://www.socialreflections.com/unreadable-captchas-can-destroy-your-business/ I would like to give the worst captcha award to tagged.com . Try registering for the site and I bet 50% of the new users will close the browser without registering. Why dont these people go for a simple captcha with a varying background? Any thoughts? :^)

                              S Offline
                              S Offline
                              Stefan_Lang
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              What I hate most are those sites that clear every single field you've painfully filled in before and have you start all over again just because you didn't get the captcha right! Try log in at yahoo and you see what I mean (not to mention they even require you to manually type in the @yahoo.com suffix of your ID - how stupid is that?). The stupid thing about captchas is that it doesn't really matter how hard they are: if a bot does have a built in OCR software, it can just try over and over again and eventually it will find a match. It doesn't matter to the bot how hard the captcha is. It's not like it's running out of time somehow. If a bot does not have OCR built in however, even the most simple captcha would do. I highly doubt there is a significant difference between successuful bot registrations on sites with simple or hard captchas! Has anyone ever done a study about their effectiveness?

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