# reCaptcha is the Worst **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598 "2012-08-15T20:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/1 "2012-08-15T20:05:39Z")
Yes, [url-“[reCAPTCHA](http://www.google.com/recaptcha)”]reCaptcha is the worst. It is worse than Britta! I understand the need for security and bot protection, but there has to be something anything better than this illegible piece of garbage. Christ, I have to refresh 10-15 times or more just to find something I think I can read and I usually do it with my fingers crossed because I am guessing on a couple of the symbols. Hmm is that a capital s, no wait is that is a …w, an n, the number 3? What the fuck, is that? It looks like a monkey playing a Wii. It might help if maybe they were actual words. So fuck you reCaptcha and double Fuck you to those sites that use it. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/2 "2012-08-15T20:18:39Z")
_Þø33¶@\_\_^ÆsØs__moid_\*\* Please type what you see in this window before I reply to your post. ---
**Author:** ![nogravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@nogravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogravity)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/3 "2012-08-15T20:19:56Z")
I agree, recaptcha sucks more than anything. There’s quite a few alternatives out there so I don’t know why places insist on using it. Worse, if you’re on a phone. Also, you’re basically working for Google by translating OCR text into digital. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/4 "2012-08-15T20:20:27Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Yes, [url-“[http://www.google.com/recaptcha](http://www.google.com/recaptcha)”]reCaptcha is the worst. It is worse than Britta! I understand the need for security and bot protection, but there has to be something anything better than this illegible piece of garbage. Christ, I have to refresh 10-15 times or more just to find something I think I can read and I usually do it with my fingers crossed because I am guessing on a couple of the symbols. Hmm is that a capital s, no wait is that is a …w, an n, the number 3? What the fuck, is that? It looks like a monkey playing a Wii. It might help if maybe they were actual words. > > So fuck you reCaptcha and double Fuck you to those sites that use it. Fixed Link [reCaptcha](http://www.google.com/recaptcha) ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/5 "2012-08-15T20:26:01Z")
Lately, their trick that’s been pissing me right off is cutting off the top or bottom half of a word. Christ! The whole word ends up looking like “ooooooo”. How am I supposed to know if that’s a “p” or a “q” or a “d” or a “b” or a… ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/6 "2012-08-15T20:36:05Z")
You really need a special pair of glasses to read a lot of them. Or a new pair of eyes. Amen to the OP! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/7 "2012-08-15T20:42:39Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Yes, [url-“[http://www.google.com/recaptcha](http://www.google.com/recaptcha)”]reCaptcha is the worst. It is worse than Britta! I understand the need for security and bot protection, but there has to be something anything better than this illegible piece of garbage. Christ, I have to refresh 10-15 times or more just to find something I think I can read and I usually do it with my fingers crossed because I am guessing on a couple of the symbols. Hmm is that a capital s, no wait is that is a …w, an n, the number 3? What the fuck, is that? It looks like a monkey playing a Wii. It might help if maybe they were actual words. > > So fuck you reCaptcha and double Fuck you to those sites that use it. Worse than Britta? But she’s awful! ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/8 "2012-08-15T20:48:12Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I usually do it with my fingers crossed because I am guessing on a couple of the symbols. It’s almost like that’s what you’re supposed to do. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/9 "2012-08-15T21:55:25Z")
> [@Mekhazzio](#): > > It’s almost like that’s what you’re supposed to do. My theory is they are collecting all that random stuff and they will eventually compile it into Shakespears Works version 2.0 . A billion monkeys with typewriters and all that jazz. Bastards probably won’t even give anybody residuals either. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/10 "2012-08-15T22:04:49Z")
Maybe it’s designed to detect rage. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/11 "2012-08-15T22:28:53Z")
> [@nogravity](#): > > Also, you’re basically working for Google by translating OCR text into digital. Um, if Google doesn’t know the correct answer in advance, then how can they tell if you got the challenge correct? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/12 "2012-08-15T22:32:32Z")
> [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](#): > > Lately, their trick that’s been pissing me right off is cutting off the top or bottom half of a word. > > Christ! The whole word ends up looking like “ooooooo”. How am I supposed to know if that’s a “p” or a “q” or a “d” or a “b” or a… No kidding. They put the bottom 10% of one word and the top 10% of the other word. And they want you to guess it. I do my best to avoid sites that use it. ---
**Author:** ![Rubixcube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Rubixcube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubixcube)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/13 "2012-08-15T22:54:23Z")
I like reCAPTCHA far more than the alternatives, rather than hiding random nonsense under under layers of noise and colors and distortions they display actual words that are usually just a little fuzzy/squished but remain mostly readable. Plus they actually do something nice since they help to digitize old texts. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/14 "2012-08-15T22:56:18Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Um, if Google doesn’t know the correct answer in advance, then how can they tell if you got the challenge correct? That’s why there’s two words. One is known and the other is not. You only have to get the known one right, while your answer for the unknown one is entered into their database and compared to all the other answers for that particular image. If the answers are too statistically divergent or there’s too many refusals to answer (shown by refreshing the captcha to get a new one instead of answering it) they’ll pull it for further study. But if 999 people out of 1000 say that an image reads ‘fartf’, they’ll take the crowd’s word for it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/15 "2012-08-15T23:21:28Z")
> [@Rubixcube](#): > > I like reCAPTCHA far more than the alternatives, rather than hiding random nonsense under under layers of noise and colors and distortions they display actual words that are usually just a little fuzzy/squished but remain mostly readable. Plus they actually do something nice since they help to digitize old texts. That’s what they say, as well as the words are all words from old texts, but I’ve seen many that could not possibly have been words in any language. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/16 "2012-08-15T23:25:52Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > That’s what they say, as well as the words are all words from old texts, but I’ve seen many that could not possibly have been words in any language. Maybe not in any \*human \*language. [Cue theremin] ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/17 "2012-08-15T23:38:01Z")
I recently encountered it for the first time, and kept getting ones in which one word was literally a black rectangle. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/18 "2012-08-16T00:59:14Z")
It’s fun to make [comics](http://www.captchaart.com/) from them though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/19 "2012-08-16T02:39:46Z")
And, they ask you to type the word- and it’s not a WORD. It’s nonsense. They also mix in zeros and O’s in there, which are impossible to tell apart with widely differing fonts. ---
**Author:** ![nogravity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@nogravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogravity)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598/20 "2012-08-16T03:12:06Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Um, if Google doesn’t know the correct answer in advance, then how can they tell if you got the challenge correct? Go and read what’s directly on their [site](http://www.google.com/recaptcha/learnmore) Some of the pertinent info: > [@](#): > > reCAPTCHA is a free CAPTCHA service that helps to digitize books, newspapers and old time radio shows… > About 200 million CAPTCHAs are solved by humans around the world every day. In each case, roughly ten seconds of human time are being spent. Individually, that’s not a lot of time, but in aggregate these little puzzles consume more than 150,000 hours of work each day. What if we could make positive use of this human effort? reCAPTCHA does exactly that by channeling the effort spent solving CAPTCHAs online into “reading” books. > > To archive human knowledge and to make information more accessible to the world, multiple projects are currently digitizing physical books that were written before the computer age. The book pages are being photographically scanned, and then transformed into text using “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR). The transformation into text is useful because scanning a book produces images, which are difficult to store on small devices, expensive to download, and cannot be searched. The problem is that OCR is not perfect… > > But if a computer can’t read such a CAPTCHA, how does the system know the correct answer to the puzzle? Here’s how: Each new word that cannot be read correctly by OCR is given to a user in conjunction with another word for which the answer is already known. The user is then asked to read both words. If they solve the one for which the answer is known, the system assumes their answer is correct for the new one. The system then gives the new image to a number of other people to determine, with higher confidence, whether the original answer was correct. > > Currently, we are helping to digitize old editions of the New York Times and books from Google Books. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recaptcha-is-the-worst/631598.md?page=2)