[Wsuug] CAPTCHAs

[Jason Wilson]

Absolutely right. We have to keep in mind that we write websites for  
our users use and enjoyment, not ours... that's why they call it work.

On 18 Nov 2008, at 16:04, Joshua McDonald wrote:

> Captchas aren't terrible.
>
> What makes them terrible is when developers err towards spammers.
>
> I look at my captchas as spam reducers, not spam eliminators.   I  
> found a while ago a great way to do a transparent captcha that the  
> user never sees.
>
> Basically, create a text field named "email" (or something common,  
> email, password, name, etc) that doesn't conflict with any other  
> form element name in your form.   using a common name is a must  
> though, as many spam bots wont fill out fields that arent common  
> names.   Put a label next to the field saying "Leave this field  
> blank".  Then, hide both of them.  setting the style to  
> display:none works, but some spam bots ignore them as well, so its  
> best to hide with javascript, or by placing another element over  
> top of them.  Make sure if you do the latter to remove the field  
> from the tab order.
>
> After that, check for that field being blank.  If there is content  
> (a bot cant resist an "email" or "message" field) then you know  
> it's spam.
>
> As long as it's labeled correctly, you shouldn't have any problem  
> with usability as people should be smart enough to leave it blank  
> if you tell them to do so.
>
> Now, this didn't kill all of the spam, but it did cut back on false  
> positives and failures due to the captcha.  It also still caught  
> the majority of spam on the few forms I used it on... it got about  
> a 80% capture rate... which is good enough for me.  I can deal with  
> a little spam...
>
> The rule should be to err on the side of human...
>
> Joshua McDonald
> Grow Interactive
> www.thisisgrow.com
> 757-248-5274
> 757-248-5275 (f)
>
> On Nov 18, 2008, at 3:47 PM, Andrew Jaswa wrote:
>
>> In my ongoing crusade against CAPTCHAs:
>> http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1048763/Worst-Captchas-of-All-Time
>>
>> I didn't make this... but I think it shows why using CAPTCHAs is bad.
>> really bad...
>>
>> -- 
>> Andrew Jaswa
>> andrewjaswa.com
>> wsuug.org
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>
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