I Can’t Type The Characters In The Picture
September 20th, 2005
Cofumrs? Is that a word?
What about zbpuwz or rehwgw or xvume?
How about you tell me why lately, as I attempt to leave a comment on someone’s Blogger blog, I am met with this combination security measure/physician’s hard-to-read scrawl? How about you tell me why I am finding it harder and harder to focus, read and type said words into the little box just so I can leave a comment? How about you tell me why they can’t just make them real words instead of the kinds of words I have to repeat over and over out loud while I attempt to type in the word just to keep my mind sharp and on track?
Cofumrs. Cough-femers. Co-foomers. C.O. Fumers. Kahfummers.
What about coughers instead of cofumrs? Who said these words have to be the kind of words you’d find in a Lord of the Rings or Dune novel? Why can’t zbpuwz be zapruder or the poohs? Why can’t rehwgw be red wig or ready whip? Why couldn’t Blogger just change xvume to exhume or zoom?
Why must these words be presented to me in font sizes that I would never use in a Powerpoint Presentation? Why must the characters be so closely jammed together? Why must I constantly have to send screen grabs to my allergist (who has really bad handwriting) just so I can get her to tell me what the word is so I can submit it into the window so I can get my “great post” comment onto the site in question?
I’m losing my mind.
i’m even baffled by the words that ticketmaster uses. and i’m pretty sure those are words. at least they seem like they could be words.
Comment by kristine — September 20, 2005 @ 6:47 am
They are not words, KristineL. They are simply there to taunt, tease and torture you.
Comment by Pauly D — September 20, 2005 @ 7:02 am
I think I just stubbed my tongue.
Comment by Ballpoint — September 20, 2005 @ 7:07 am
I am thinking of starting a game or something - who can come up with the best match for their blogger-comment word?
Comment by Cas — September 20, 2005 @ 7:36 am
I’m sure that everyone already knows this, but here’s a brief explanation:
The reason for fake words that are hard to read is to throw off would-be spam bots, which can brute-force their way through a security measure by using a dictionary of common words. The warp/texture effects given to the text is to throw off bots that are able to distinguish text from within a picture, much like a scanner that can take a document and re-create the textual content.
So, while this process may be tedious to the end-user, the tradeoff is allowing Blogger to become a cesspool of cheezy advertisement spam comments. My solution would be to have everyone switch to Textpattern, as it forces a Preview before a comment Submit button appears, but the world isn’t perfect.
Comment by Nathan Smith — September 20, 2005 @ 8:02 am
This doesn’t surprise me at all considering the word blog isn’t even in Blogger’s spellcheck.
Comment by Hilary — September 20, 2005 @ 8:29 am
I’m glad for the word verification because I don’t like getting spam, but is it necessary for them to be like 10 letters long? Won’t 4 or 5 letters be equally as effective? And they’re so squished together sometimes that I can’t read them correctly, then I get denied and have to type in more ridiculous nonsense, all the while feeling stupid because the computer thinks I can’t read. Ugh.
Comment by Amber — September 20, 2005 @ 8:39 am
Yes, but the real question is… how many points do you get for “cofumrs” if you land on a triple-word square?
Comment by Keith — September 20, 2005 @ 8:55 am
Lousy spam bots. Making me waste more time than I was already wasting.
Comment by Dave — September 20, 2005 @ 8:59 am
I agree - those letters are WAY too much of a pain to read.
Darn spammers.
I still have an offer open of a free T Shirt to the first person who finds one of them and kicks him/her in the shins.
Comment by PeggyArcher — September 20, 2005 @ 9:07 am
no wonder i couldn’t post comments on other people’s blogs…i thought it was a word jumble! silly me.
Comment by meme — September 20, 2005 @ 9:08 am
Hole a thick glass Coke bottle up to the screen. It helps.
Comment by monkeyinabox — September 20, 2005 @ 9:27 am
Excuse me, but the title of your blog is “Words For My Enjoyment”. So make up your own words with the letters! That’s what we do. Here is an example from one of my old comments:
afjzihlc
after jazz inhale locally
Comment by Brooke Rose — September 20, 2005 @ 9:48 am
Yeah, I thought I was having a flashback once while trying to post a Craigslist ad. The text had all these nifty, multi-colored geometric shapes and the wavy lines of a newly made passport. It was bizarre and unsettling. I didn’t sleep well that night.
Comment by Matt — September 20, 2005 @ 10:26 am
you know.. if i was a bot trolling along trying to post spam on someone’s blog i wouldn’t be able to read a normal word nor would i be able to read a word that was written legibly. so really, why the hell DO they make these words all swooshy and hard to read. what happens if i am a visually impaired person and i have trouble reading things like that? huh? what if?
this rant was brought to you by the girl whose computer monitor is so old and blurry that she always gets those verifications wrong.
Comment by cat — September 20, 2005 @ 10:49 am
Getting older is a bitch on the eyes and the rest of the body.
Comment by Jack — September 20, 2005 @ 1:03 pm
It got to the point where I was trying to post a comment on my own blog the other day, and after three failed attempts I stopped trying. It was easier to turn off word verification, post my comment, and then turn it back on. I haven’t felt that dumb since my last NY Times crossword puzzle.
Comment by Dan — September 20, 2005 @ 2:01 pm
The person who came up with the idea should be shot along with the guy who invented leaf blowers!
Comment by Cathleen — September 20, 2005 @ 2:16 pm
Nathan, Nathan, Nathan we all *know* why they do it (sheesh!) - but the concept that not only does it have to be wavey-gravy, but nonsense just frosts my buns. It’s like falling through the rabbit hole. And, the greatest embarrassment of all: have you every screwed up and been made to do it over? And over? And over again? Arrgggh!
Comment by anon — September 20, 2005 @ 2:35 pm
I was just thinking the same thing today, as I wind up jumbling up these codes because our fingers just aren’t meant to type out: kdsohigdk on purpose.
Comment by Becky — September 20, 2005 @ 4:19 pm
I’m hardly ever able to type in the code non-word in correctly the first time. And lately I’ve been just bailing on leaving a comment all together if I miss it the second time around.
Comment by groovebunny — September 20, 2005 @ 6:19 pm
I swear you are in my head.
Well, this is one idea I can cross of my list of “post ideas.” You said it better than I would have, anyway. I never would have thought to make the connection to the phrase “the poohs.”
Comment by Will — September 20, 2005 @ 7:46 pm
OhmyG*D! Pauly–you beat me to this post! I was JUST.ABOUT.TO.POST.THE.SAME.THING. The letters are ILLEGIBLE. You have no idea how many times I fail to recognize the letters.
The weird thing is –it just has to be an image of letters, it doesn’t have to be letters so stylized that only a pharmacist (someone used to reading bad handwriting for those of you who need it “spelled out” pun intended) can read them.
Great minds….
Comment by C(h)ristine — September 20, 2005 @ 7:53 pm
Glad I could vocalize for you Will & C(h)ristine — it’s good to know I’m not the only idiot who can’t recognize consonants out here in the digital realm.
Comment by Pauly D — September 20, 2005 @ 7:55 pm
Sometimes, when I read your posts, I laugh so hard that my cofumrs hurt. Seriously.
Comment by Eve — September 20, 2005 @ 8:09 pm
I hate that it is hard to read the letters sometimes. Sorry that I am someone who has to use it… I just really hate getting spam-attacked! Before word verification, I felt so violated when I would go into my comments and see 5 spams in a row. And it’s no fun for the readers either, unless they are in desperate need of tax advise or hair regrowth medicine!
Comment by danielle — September 20, 2005 @ 9:42 pm
someone was just telling me about holoscan…it could rememdy this lame situation..maybe?
Comment by jenny — September 21, 2005 @ 12:07 am
I feel your yWupstN.
Comment by Paige — September 21, 2005 @ 12:50 am
Thanks so much! I thought it was just me. I dont need any additional help with the suspicion that I may be a moron, and these were certainly supporting the notion.
Comment by That Girl — September 21, 2005 @ 5:13 am
on johnaugust.com you have a random sentence and to post a comment you must ‘enter the 8th word’, but that would entail using those untapped math skills lying dormant since high school..we can’t win
Comment by The Moviequill — September 21, 2005 @ 5:31 am
I am always curious why the words have to be distorted, sideways, etc…
I mean, it’s an image, right? Why can’t it just be easy to read? If it’s an image, it doesn’t matter whether it’s straight forward or skewed.
Maybe I am off my rocker. Please let me know.
Comment by Bryan — September 21, 2005 @ 9:35 am
As a designer, this form of security pisses me off. It’s not friendly to anyone that has visual impairments, dyslexia… or really anyone that’s been staring at a computer screen all day.
Sadly, the picture above is one of the NICER ones I’ve seen. I love it when they mIx çä$e añd sp3c1al ch@raC+ers.
Comment by Mercury — September 21, 2005 @ 3:16 pm
That would have to be one special blog for someone to go through that kind of torture to comment on it!
Pauly’s WAY special but at least he’s easy.
Comment by nic — September 22, 2005 @ 7:01 am
I’ll have you know I’m totally EASY.
Wait a sec, that’s not exactly how I meant it to come out.
Comment by Pauly D — September 22, 2005 @ 8:03 am
Oh, but I think it is.
Comment by nic — September 22, 2005 @ 8:11 am