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Re: I hate captchas

for

From: John Middleton
Date: Mar 13, 2007 2:30PM

tedd wrote:
> At 12:09 PM -0400 3/13/07, John E. Brandt wrote:
>
>> I'm not sure captchas even do what they are supposed to do.
>>
>> I was using phpBB on one of my servers and despite the captcha element, I
>> was getting spam-bots by the dozen each day. It just got worse and worse so
>> I took the phpBB offline.
>>
>> It sounds like we need a new method.
>>
>> ~j
>>
>> John E. Brandt
>> Augusta, Maine USA
>> www.jebswebs.com
>>
>
> John:
>
> What kind of CAPTCHA were you using?
>
> tedd
>
---


Greetings WebAim,

I also do not accept most CAPTCHA processes as an accessible solution,
rather most often a hindrance.
Spam-bots have gotten so bad with online forms, I've had to create a
custom solution script. Although this may present some cognitive
difficulties for some, I hope it's a minimal accessibility issue.
Considering the nuisance of maintaining online Web forms and hi-jacking
attempts, this was the best I could come up with, without simply linking
encoded e-mail links. If you are savy with PERL and Server Side
Includes, I'll gladly share my cgi source code.
I simply validate the form using a simple random math question (eg.
Enter the sum of 2 and 1).

Example page: http://www.ncddr.org/webforms/feedback.html

I'll be lurking for comments and accessibility theories.

Regards,
John Middleton
NCDDR Web Administrator