Just a thought on something I've noticed in commenting at some of your blogs and elsewhere:
When I begin typing various letters in those CAPTCHA boxes*, Firefox helpfully suggests to me some of the past strings I've typed, and I can't help but wonder how much such completely useless information my computer has saved up in various nooks and crannies.
But then, how much do I have myself? And more importantly, which of us has more?
Regardless, I suppose saving the entries in CAPTCHA fields isn't always useless. Recently it helped me remember that one time I was asked to type out xgvzd before commenting somewhere, and that other time I had to type xftwp... what heady, groundbreaking times those were!
* I got rid of mine a couple weeks ago, to stop annoying everyone, and I haven't yet had to deal with any spam comments at all.
38 comments:
Ah, memories. I often reminisce about rg71q, myself.
Hey, am I the first to comment on this post? Woohoo for me!
I really really really hate Captcha.
I'd be an empty shell without that uselss information ratlling around in my brain. It pushed out all of the important and vital stuff long ago.
Captcha is for losers. Thanks for joining the movement!
I hate captcha. I've never dealth with spam and I hate to type it in. Sometimes I want to boycott all blogs that have it, except that I would miss out on some good ones.
I never used the verification boxes...until one day when I got eleventy million hits from spam bots. I'd never deleted that much comment spam. I've left the boxes on out of fear.
-Chris
Weather Moose
I like the ones where you have to answer addition problems. Makes me feel like I haven't wasted all my brain cells from being on the computer all day.
I like it when some of the CPTCHA phrases make psuedo words. The other day I got farvak and adafik. I wrote these down because I thought they could be slightly dirty.
I don't even know if I have mine on or not...(yeah I am that observant) I should check. If I have it on, I will take it off just for you Dan.
Okay, so I'm going to admit something here. On wordpress blogs, I actually have trouble reading the CAPTCHA phrases. And I'm no spam bot.
alright FINE, I'll turn mine off. but if those effing spammers chase me down again I'm coming after your ass ;)
I'll never forget my first spam.
It said, "Amazing concepts. Come read mine."
Jason at blahblahblahblah
He seduced me into taking a look. I'll never forget it.
I like it when the CAPTCHA makes words.
I KNOW I should take mine off, because I can never read them, and I'm human. And not blind. Maybe I will. Right now! Inspiration...
Am I going to be the first to admit that on more than one occasion I have had to click on the handicapped CAPTCHA?
Hate the captcha boxes. When I make a mistake I feel like I either can't read or can't type.
I hate it, too, yet I have it on mine-because of Patrick the Anti-AA dude. And I sometimes have to retype it three or four times before I actually get it right.
I want more pictures.
Those little word verification things are called CAPTCHA? I never knew that.
I like to read them into words much like I like to try to pronounce the real science words (the tiny print under the trade name) for pharmacuticals like Viagra and Abilify.
only you would notice that, friend.
But, rest assured that you've inspired me to take it off my blog as well. See the difference your blog is making!?
FINE! I CHANGED IT. JUST QUIT YELLING AT ME, OKAY?!
-Chris
Weather Moose
Geez, is that all it's going to take to get you to leave a comment?
Off to change my settings...
Ha! Were you in my head yesterday? Because I was thinking the same thing when they kept coming up on my computer...that and the lovely "those letters sound like/remind me of the word..." thoughts in my head every time I type one!
I thought I was the only dork who noticed the cached captcha. I doubt it'll ever come in handy for me though, it's just an annoyance!
Yep, took mine off. Mostly it was stopping me from commenting on my own damn blog.
The new word for the day. I would never have known what those verification things are, or even had the motivation to look them up on Wikpedia.
Thanks LD for spreading the word.
Just for the record-I hate those captcha things-they are waaaay more thinking than I want to do at times.
It's just...you really should be making sense. I mean, you're certainly typing English. It's me. I just don't get it.
Both you and your computer have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips ...er should I say, after typing one or two characters.
i hate those boxes. Especially after a couple of martinis.
Luckily (?) my blog's not popular enough for the spambots to care about me.
I'm sure most of y'alls haven't used rapidshare before, but theirs are the absolute worst.
Not only are those captcha things a pain, but they seem to get more and more difficult to decipher on a daily basis.
Wow, who knew there was so much hatred of Captchas out there?? I think of them as a necessary annoyance, but I'm always happy to not find them, because it makes my life easier.
I like when people think outside the box, though, like the math problems ali mentioned, or typing the logical one-word answer to something.
As for specifics:
Jenni: Are you sure? I'm not sure I believe you... who won the 1943 World Series??
Summer: When you come to get me, I'll just disarm you by suggesting ways to squeeze a handful of posts out of it, then you'll thank me.
Candid Carrie: You never forget your first, right? One day my prince will come! I don't count the few people who have manually come here with junk, since there is no stopping them short of requiring approval of all comments. They'd be like makeout sessions, to continue your metaphor.
Threeboys1mommy: I've clicked on that a couple times before, but it kinda frightens me, and one time I could not tell for the life of me what it was saying.
Seriously Mama: Have I not commented in awhile? I could have sworn I did. If you tell me I never have, then I KNOW something is screwy, and I'll demand you search high and low on all your posts.
Middle Aged Woman: I like WordPress/TypePad for various things, but Blogger definitely wins on never making me do a Captcha to leave a comment on my own blog. To do so seems like a glitch to me. You should contact TypePad and complain.
CAPTCHA is my enemy. Sometimes I use a screenreader, and they can't see CAPTCHA, and my hearing ain't what it used to be, so those little handicap alternative aren't much help either.
I thank you for being one less CAPTCHA-er
That's hilarious. I bubble in fury when my laptop tries to autocomplete CAPTCHAs.
Firefox never tried to help me do a captcha, it must not like me as much. I totally suck at captchas, my niece has totally had to help me do the myspace ones because they are impossible! I am glad you got rid of them =). I decided to not have them on my blog, figure if I hate them I shouldn't subject others to them. I decided to go with comment moderation/approval so I can play god and smite spammers and in case someone goes nuts on me. So far neither of the above have happened, guess I haven't "arrived" yet. Oh and the handicap option has never worked for my computer, no matter how badly I needed it.
Renee: For some reason, my Firefox installation thinks it's a screen reader, and won't show most graphics. It's quite annoying, especially when reading picture posts on blogs.
I've downloaded Chrome now, like it so far, and may be making the switch.
blissfullycaffeinated: Thankfully mine doesn't try to actually finish it, it just shows me a list of options.
The Microblogologist: It'd be fun to play God, but I figure I need fewer reasons to hang around the computer all day, not more.
I think that makes you super-handicapped, somehow. Have you looked into some kind of federal grant for that?
I don't get many comments anyway so right now it is no big deal, they get sent to my e-mail and so whenever I check the e-mail (which is usually often since I don't have a life) I get to see if I got any comments and approve them and usually try to comment back then too.
They should totally give me money, or pay for me to have a monkey or something, a captcha filling out monkey! And if I could train it to fling poop at certain people that would totally rock, especially since my boss told me I can't hit people with a rolled up newspaper (what is up with her limiting me like this?!).
Yeah, I've noticed that about Captcha, too. I actually did get to pick one once, too. As for useless information, I have no room for it. This is why I forget most movies I see as soon as I walk out of the theater. It leaves me out of some conversations, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal, eight?
The Microblogologist: I agree, you need to find a new job, because your boss is just being unreasonable.
If you find a good source for monkeys, let me know, because I've been in the market for quite some time.
Mrs4444: I've struggled to forget as much as I can, for the same reasons. Each day is new, for better or worse, and To-Do lists just disappear all by themselves!
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