Geek Query

[Denny]

Why is it that we have to type in those funny security words and letters whenever we want to sign up to anything? Why are they written in such an odd, skewed way they are hardly readable at all?

[Platypus]

Why is it that we have to type in those funny security words and letters whenever we want to sign up to anything? Why are they written in such an odd, skewed way they are hardly readable at all?

You are a Spambot and I claim my 500 spam messages per day!

[TheFaQQer]

It's called captcha.

It's so that robots / screenscrapers etc. can't keep signing up automatically as they need some kind of manual check. I used to have it on my wiki, but I kept forgetting that I needed to type a word in each time, so gave up in the end.

Since no-one ever visits it, there wasn't much point

[Denny]

It's called captcha.

It's so that robots / screenscarpers etc. can't keep signing up automatically as they need some kind of manual check. I used to have it on my wiki, but I kept forgetting that I needed to type a word in each time, so gave up in the end.

Since no-one ever visits it, there wasn't much point

You need to type in a security number if you want to post on ITContractor now. It's a damned nuisance and I keep forgetting.

[BrilloPad]

It's called captcha.

It's so that robots / screenscarpers etc. can't keep signing up automatically as they need some kind of manual check. I used to have it on my wiki, but I kept forgetting that I needed to type a word in each time, so gave up in the end.

Since no-one ever visits it, there wasn't much point

but why does it have to bbe soooo difficult to read? usually takes me several goes...

[BrilloPad]

Why is it that we have to type in those funny security words and letters whenever we want to sign up to anything? Why are they written in such an odd, skewed way they are hardly readable at all?

what a good question - did sasguru suggest it?

actually I dont think he did - r thread would have been in technical...

[TheFaQQer]

but why does it have to bbe soooo difficult to read? usually takes me several goes...

Generally, there is a parameter to provide (if it's an image) that details how scrambled the image needs to be. If enough users complain, then they may change it.

I demoed a system to the Scottish Executive a couple of years back, and it took 10 attempts to log in. They suggested we make the images a bit easier to read.

[NickFitz]

but why does it have to bbe soooo difficult to read? usually takes me several goes...

Because if it was easy to read, a piece of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software would be able to read it, thereby defeating the whole purpose.

Although some of them nowadays are quite ridiculous... and any serious spammer will devise ways around them, anyway.

[BrilloPad]

Because if it was easy to read, a piece of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software would be able to read it, thereby defeating the whole purpose.

Although some of them nowadays are quite ridiculous... and any serious spammer will devise ways around them, anyway.

so then why have the one on http://www.itcontractor.com/ ?

For security purposes - Please enter the sum of the day number and the month number eg Day = 6 + Month = 2
Enter 8 in the box!

Apologies in advance if this is a really stupid question!

[Denny]

It's called captcha.

It's so that robots / screenscarpers etc. can't keep signing up automatically as they need some kind of manual check. I used to have it on my wiki, but I kept forgetting that I needed to type a word in each time, so gave up in the end.

Since no-one ever visits it, there wasn't much point

A CAPTCHA (IPA: /ˈkæptʃə/) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether the user is human.

Did they think it would be read by the family cat then?