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Ask HN: Is anyone else sick of reCAPTCHA?

7 points by sidwyn 16y ago

So they're meant to distinguish humans from computers. But 30-40% of the time, the text is unreadable. Or are we just turning into computers?

Khao 16y ago
I've never really had a problem with reCAPTCHA, I think it's one of the best out there (I hate websites with home-made text captchas that are crazy impossible to read). Also, there's a nice "refresh" button right next to it if you find it too hard to read.
JonnieCache 16y ago
I also would say it is the best one out there. It is easily readable most often for me, and the 'generate new captcha' button responds instantaneously anyway.
frobozz 16y ago
Part of the point of reCAPTCHA is to crowdsource the digitisation of printed content that conventional OCR couldn't manage. This is why you occasionally end up with strange things like fractions and foreign characters, that you don't know how to input. Use the refresh if you can't read it.
hardik988 16y ago
I may be mistaken, but I've found reCAPTCHA to be often forgiving, sometimes the words are just not clear, and I just type what I think it is. I don't remember ever being incorrect on the reCAPTCHA.
- frobozz 16y ago
  reCAPTCHA only knows what one of the words should be, so you only have to get one of the two words right. The other word is being transcribed by crowdsourcing.
  - aDemoUzer 16y ago
    what he said.
thewordpainter 16y ago
i thought one of the best startups i came across last year was Solve Media. that's an enormous problem you're referencing, and not only did their startup solve the problem, but they also created value for brands by advertising within the password boxes check out the venturebeat writeup from last year: http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/20/the-latest-ad-frontier-solve-media-lets-you-advertise-on-authentication-tests/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/20/the-latest-ad-frontier-sol... they also put together a great youtube overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dZvZasg0o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dZvZasg0o it's one of those ideas you come across every so often that just makes too much sense. i'd bet they'll have their fair share of competitors soon enough.
- ig1 16y ago
  It won't work. With a finite number of ads you can just store all the answers in a database. Captchas only work because they can be generated on the fly and don't need to be re-used. Reusing a captcha is like reusing a one-time pad or a condom. Just asking to be broken.

7 points by sidwyn 16y ago

So they're meant to distinguish humans from computers. But 30-40% of the time, the text is unreadable. Or are we just turning into computers?

Khao 16y ago

I've never really had a problem with reCAPTCHA, I think it's one of the best out there (I hate websites with home-made text captchas that are crazy impossible to read). Also, there's a nice "refresh" button right next to it if you find it too hard to read.

JonnieCache 16y ago

I also would say it is the best one out there. It is easily readable most often for me, and the 'generate new captcha' button responds instantaneously anyway.

frobozz 16y ago

Part of the point of reCAPTCHA is to crowdsource the digitisation of printed content that conventional OCR couldn't manage. This is why you occasionally end up with strange things like fractions and foreign characters, that you don't know how to input. Use the refresh if you can't read it.

hardik988 16y ago

I may be mistaken, but I've found reCAPTCHA to be often forgiving, sometimes the words are just not clear, and I just type what I think it is. I don't remember ever being incorrect on the reCAPTCHA.

frobozz 16y ago
reCAPTCHA only knows what one of the words should be, so you only have to get one of the two words right. The other word is being transcribed by crowdsourcing.
- aDemoUzer 16y ago
  what he said.

thewordpainter 16y ago

i thought one of the best startups i came across last year was Solve Media. that's an enormous problem you're referencing, and not only did their startup solve the problem, but they also created value for brands by advertising within the password boxes check out the venturebeat writeup from last year: http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/20/the-latest-ad-frontier-solve-media-lets-you-advertise-on-authentication-tests/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/20/the-latest-ad-frontier-sol... they also put together a great youtube overview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dZvZasg0o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-dZvZasg0o it's one of those ideas you come across every so often that just makes too much sense. i'd bet they'll have their fair share of competitors soon enough.

ig1 16y ago
It won't work. With a finite number of ads you can just store all the answers in a database. Captchas only work because they can be generated on the fly and don't need to be re-used. Reusing a captcha is like reusing a one-time pad or a condom. Just asking to be broken.