# Just experienced worst CAPTCHA I've ever seen **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265 "2023-07-19T17:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/1 "2023-07-19T17:11:34Z")
For my HP printer. Just to scan something, (haven’t used it for a while), it forced me to go through this CAPTCHA process. You have to click on the set of dice that add up to 14. Firstly the instructions weren’t sized correctly, I had to zoom out my browser to 50% to even know what to do, next it’s a combination of pip dice and numerical dice, shot from weird angles, badly lit. Anybody with any visual impairment would have nearly zero chance. Anybody with poor maths skills will have almost no chance. You have to do it 10 times, with no feedback, and at the end if you got even 1 wrong you have to start again. I got it on the second attempt as I swear none of them added up to 14 in one trial first time round. Who the hell came up with this, and how did they think this gatekeeps humans rather than robots, (who would probably have less trouble)? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/2 "2023-07-19T17:13:47Z")
HP printer drivers are malware. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/3 "2023-07-19T17:34:00Z")
I thought this thread was going to be about those maddening online photo captchas, where it’s, for example, a photo of a city street divided into squares, and the instruction says “click on every square that contains a stoplight”. Does that single red pixel 5 blocks down the street that might be a red light count? Or, in the foreground, one square obviously contains a stoplight, but about 7 pixels of it overlaps into another square. Should I click that square too?!? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/4 "2023-07-19T17:37:43Z")
And the ambiguity! “Click on every square that contains a motorcycle” What about the guy’s helmet? How about a sliver of knee? How about the motorcycle’s shadow? With the traffic signals, do they count the pole and wiring or just the boxy thing with three lights on it? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/5 "2023-07-19T17:43:38Z")
What the OP describes is its own parody. I cannot imagine going through that. Are they (the people who created it, not the OP) insane? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/6 "2023-07-19T18:12:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I thought this thread was going to be about those maddening online photo captchas, where it’s, for example, a photo of a city street divided into squares, and the instruction says “click on every square that contains a stoplight”. Does that single red pixel 5 blocks down the street that might be a red light count? Or, in the foreground, one square obviously contains a stoplight, but about 7 pixels of it overlaps into another square. Should I click that square too?!? Everyone always stresses the what-ifs for these, but how many times have you seen someone complaining about failing one? Google is smarter than that: They know that some of the tiles will end up being ambiguous. The OP’s case, though… why is there even a captcha to use your own scanner in the first place? What robot use do they think they’re protecting against? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/7 "2023-07-19T18:16:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The OP’s case, though… why is there even a captcha to use your own scanner in the first place? What robot use do they think they’re protecting against? Cats. It’s to stop your cats from scanning their butts. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/8 "2023-07-19T18:17:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The OP’s case, though… why is there even a captcha to use your own scanner in the first place? What robot use do they think they’re protecting against? The CAPTCHA was there to stop me logging into my HP account, not to stop me scanning per se. As my scanner is not connected physically to my PC I log into HP to scan stuff. I’m sure there’s a better way to set it up, but I do it so infrequently that I’ve never bothered working it out. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/9 "2023-07-19T18:19:56Z")
[![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP_l7buXsAIQzZz?format=jpg&name=small) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP_l7buXsAIQzZz?format=jpg&name=small) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/10 "2023-07-19T18:21:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Everyone always stresses the what-ifs for these, but how many times have you seen someone complaining about failing one? Google is smarter than that: They know that some of the tiles will end up being ambiguous. I’ve had to go through up to 3 different images sometimes, because presumably I ‘failed’ the first two. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/11 "2023-07-19T18:47:52Z")
> [@colinfred](#): > > You have to do it 10 times, with no feedback, and at the end if you got even 1 wrong you have to start again. That is particularly ridiculous; why the need to repeat the test ten times? And BTW, why do so many of Google’s CAPTCHA’s involve identifying stop lights, or stop signs or such? I’ve heard the suggestion that this is to train AI in operating a self-driving vehicle. Any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/12 "2023-07-19T18:57:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Everyone always stresses the what-ifs for these, but how many times have you seen someone complaining about failing one? Google is smarter than that: They know that some of the tiles will end up being ambiguous. My job involves interfacing with a lot of different online services from different companies, which means I do a lot of captchas. It’s not remotely unusual that I have to run through one four or five times before I get it “right.” A really frustrating one I got recently asked me to identify all the pictures with motorcycles, and then included a lot of pictures of motor scooters. Failed that one pretty consistently, and could never figure out if I was supposed to avoid the scooters as something that would look like a motorcycle to an AI, or if the captcha had been set up assuming that anything with two wheels and a motor counted as a motorcycle. Given my inconsistent results, I suspect it was both at the same time - some scooters were counted as motorcycles, and some were not. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/13 "2023-07-19T19:55:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And BTW, why do so many of Google’s CAPTCHA’s involve identifying stop lights, or stop signs or such? I’ve heard the suggestion that this is to train AI in operating a self-driving vehicle. Any truth to that? I suspect its more to do with the fact that busy street scenes have a lot of visual noise that makes it hard for AIs, and thanks to Street View, Google has access to millions and millions of street pictures that they own outright and don’t have to pay any sort of royalty on. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/14 "2023-07-19T20:49:44Z")
That is the rumor, and reliably identifying bicycles, motorcycles and stoplights tends to loom large in the minds of the public’s general acceptance of “self driving” cars. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/15 "2023-07-19T20:56:25Z")
If this is the HP Smart driver, see if you can get the regular scanner driver. The regular scanner driver shouldn’t have any sort of login or CAPTCHA. But HP doesn’t make it easy to find the regular driver. They really want you to use the HP Smart driver where you have to log in to do anything so they can get your usage info for marketing purposes (my assumption). ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/16 "2023-07-20T00:46:57Z")
I once got the “select all squares with motorcycles” captcha and the guy on the motorcycle was flipping off the Google Street View camera. But knowing the mercurial nature of captchas, I thought “Maybe it’s actually the captcha flipping _me_ off.” I didn’t get the captcha’s approval on the first try try despite selecting all the motherfucking motorcycle squares, so I can only assume it was the latter. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/17 "2023-07-20T00:51:43Z")
Agree with @CairoCarol !!! > What the OP describes is its own parody. I cannot imagine going through that. Are they (the people who created it, not the OP) insane? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/18 "2023-07-20T04:44:12Z")
[Rodney Dangerfield] CAPTCHA asked me to click on pictures of Whores then showed me a picture of my Mom with my wife and sister! [/Rodney Dangerfield] ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/19 "2023-07-20T06:45:07Z")
Good one. Was thinking “The captcha asked me to identify the village bicycle, it showed me a picture of my wife!” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265/20 "2023-07-20T08:02:03Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And BTW, why do so many of Google’s CAPTCHA’s involve identifying stop lights, or stop signs or such? I’ve heard the suggestion that this is to train AI in operating a self-driving vehicle. Any truth to that? So the purpose of CAPTCHAs isn’t to weed out robots; it’s to train AI, which can then be ported to a robot to pass CAPTCHAs? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-experienced-worst-captcha-ive-ever-seen/987265.md?page=2)