Why are `captcha` letters impossible to read sometimes

I recall around 2005 when websites all started to use the captcha system (i think it was myspace who really used it on a regular basis, almost every form such as sending a message, filling in ones profile etc was always demanding a captcha to be completed first)

Yes it was awkward and you sometimes got an a mixed up as an o or an l mixed up as an i, but that was it, and 9 times out of 10, any person could easily make out the letters.

Now some websites such as yahoo hotmail have virtually impossible captchas to read, sometimes i find myself refreshing the image about 6 times until i can get a new captcha which is barely readable.

Why do they do this, are spam bots that intelligent that they need to do this? or do they just like annoying people, either way i cant be the first person to loose patiences with annoying `fill in the captcha` forms

I've tried to sign up to forums so many times where captchas are so obnoxious, I just go "sod it." and move on.

Google is the worst if you are trying to talk on youtube. Absolutely ridiculous.

I cannot see a bot being that good at getting the gist of a phrase. Or random letters.. but the way they do it, the captcha makers, is pathetic..

And it's even worse if you're a legit member, and need to update your email.. gah, who ever invented captchas is a moron..

I think they do it just to annoy people. I mean there suppose to be big enough for a blind person to be able to read it and I wear glasses and still can't read it. I always mix up the letters.

reply to post by sopheruk


You answered your own question: the spam bots really have gotten that good at it

You really think websites want to make it hard to sign up? That's how they make money

Originally posted by Manhater
I think they do it just to annoy people. I mean there suppose to be big enough for a blind person to be able to read it and I wear glasses and still can't read it. I always mix up the letters.

I know, the worst thing is when between the letters theres random slashes and dashes and squiggles which have nothing to do with the letters!

I just keep hitting the refresh button that's to the right of the box that you type in, until an image comes up that I can read easily.

OMG... Maybe your a spam bot?

I agree they are a royal P.I.T.A.!!!!

I either hit refresh until I find a good one, or, try it and it tells me to do it again, or, do the audio if available.

On another note, my 3 year old once corrected me when I did 4 instead of A mama's losing her youth....lol

Captchas were created by a man/woman with no life/friends.

So they did this to make it near impossible for anyone else to have a life/friends to interact with online!

I hate Captcha myself and use a picture based system on my stuff. I've had a few bots still manage to break it and why others don't use them, but I won't put any of my users through a half dozen tries like I've had myself, just to be told it STILL isn't right.

Having said that, making it friendlier like I and other sites have is a trade-off for accepting some WILL get through and some people may not appreciate how much hell one little r0dent can raise if they get that crack to slip in 15 minutes after I've gone to bed for the night....after all, it NEVER happens when I have Google real time monitors up where I'd watch it as it was done. Never... lol

How can a bot read them? Well.... How many folks here use Dragon or another of the high end OCR and Speech to Text / Voice Control programs? They are incredibly powerful these days. 99% and higher accuracy rate for reading and correctly interpreting text on a scan, even in bad conditions.......

......and that is literally what web site owners are attempting to defeat. The r0dents put character recognition software with their little cracker toys and it's right on through most of the less obnoxious methods to catch the automated junk. Just figured some may find that side interesting....