# Worst CAPTCHA ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 7, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218 "2012-05-07T20:56:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/1 "2012-05-07T20:56:57Z")
[http://postimage.org/image/dexfjk7x7/](http://postimage.org/image/dexfjk7x7/) WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/2 "2012-05-07T21:15:22Z")
What is a dedural anyway? Looks like a cross between deduce or deduction and natural. Maybe it’s like an epidural. Or a Dead Sea type of thing in the Urals. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/3 "2012-05-07T21:19:10Z")
Every CAPTCHA is the worst CAPTCHA ever. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/4 "2012-05-07T21:24:10Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Every CAPTCHA is the worst CAPTCHA ever. I agree. Most of the reCAPTCHAs I get are not real words. At least not English words. And half the time, it takes me multiple passes before I get it right. Man, do I hate those things. (And, yes, I know I can “refresh” it if I can’t read it, but sometimes, even when I’m sure I got the CAPTCHA right, I’m sometimes wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/5 "2012-05-07T22:18:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I agree. Most of the reCAPTCHAs I get are not real words. At least not English words. And half the time, it takes me multiple passes before I get it right. Man, do I hate those things. (And, yes, I know I can “refresh” it if I can’t read it, but sometimes, even when I’m sure I got the CAPTCHA right, I’m sometimes wrong.) I hate when I refresh ten times or more and each new image is less legible than the previous. The image in the OP is actually not difficult to read at all, even if it isn’t an easily recognisable English word. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/6 "2012-05-07T22:25:07Z")
I’ve never seen one that was a portion of an image rather than a scan of a book. Maybe they have added in recognition of text in images as part of an image search. Or maybe it was a photo in a book that got its text grabbed along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/7 "2012-05-07T22:33:04Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > I hate when I refresh ten times or more and each new image is less legible than the previous. The image in the OP is actually not difficult to read at all, even if it isn’t an easily recognisable English word. You’re missing the point. There are two words and you’re supposed to enter both of them. The first word ‘dedural’ is easy enough. The second word is some weird image, I cant even tell what it’s supposed to be. How the hell am I supposed to enter that? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/8 "2012-05-07T22:33:15Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > I’ve never seen one that was a portion of an image rather than a scan of a book. Maybe they have added in recognition of text in images as part of an image search. Or maybe it was a photo in a book that got its text grabbed along the way. I didn’t know that, either, but here’s literally the first two CAPTCHAs I got from the [recaptcha website](http://www.google.com/recaptcha/learnmore): [First reCAPTCHA.](http://www.pawinskiphotography.com/public/captch1.png) [Second reCAPTCHA.](http://www.pawinskiphotography.com/public/captch2.png) First one has the weird image thing going on, the second one doesn’t. Both are stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/9 "2012-05-07T23:13:39Z")
I’ve noticed these things getting worse and worse (meaning, harder to read) over the past year or so. It’s infuriating, especially because a few poorly-coded websites wipe out everything on the form you’ve filled out if you botch the captcha. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/10 "2012-05-07T23:25:26Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The second word is some weird image, I cant even tell what it’s supposed to be. How the hell am I supposed to enter that? “11”. It’s a house number. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/11 "2012-05-07T23:26:45Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The second word is some weird image, I cant even tell what it’s supposed to be. How the hell am I supposed to enter that? It’s an eleven. I don’t understand how you failed to comprehend that, but that’s why you’re allowed to select another. And for the record, you don’t have to get precisely mirror the text given. Most captchas are +/- seventy percent. So if you get an algebraic equation, enter the 11 instead of x+(4/3)\*2. Or enter the longer part. It doesn’t matter. In this case dedunal or dedunai would likely have passed as easily as dedural. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/12 "2012-05-08T01:08:19Z")
Whatever you do, DON’T listen to it. I tried that once and the recording was like falling through a black hole. Into hell. Seriously, stuff of nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/13 "2012-05-08T01:19:57Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > You’re missing the point. There are two words and you’re supposed to enter both of them. > > The first word ‘dedural’ is easy enough. > > The second word is some weird image, I cant even tell what it’s supposed to be. How the hell am I supposed to enter that? I missed the point because I read it as 11 straight away. I’ve seen other house number CAPTCHAs recently so I understood what I was looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/14 "2012-05-08T01:28:34Z")
[BTW, you have Google to thank.](http://www.infoworld.com/t/security/google-takes-captcha-security-the-streets-189867?mm_ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26client%3Dms-android-google%26source%3Dandroid-home%26sky%3Dmrdr%26site%3Dwebhp%26source%3Dhp%26q%3Dstreet%2Bnumber%2Bcaptcha%26oq%3Dstreet%2Bnumber%2Bcaptcha%26aq%3Df%26aqi%3D%26aql%3D%26gs_l%3Dmobile-gws-hp.3...1982.15862.0.16572.27.19.2.4.5.1.600.5244.2-4j7j1j2.14.0...0.0.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/15 "2012-05-08T02:53:12Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > It’s an eleven. I don’t understand how you failed to comprehend that, but that’s why you’re allowed to select another. > > And for the record, you don’t have to get precisely mirror the text given. Most captchas are +/- seventy percent. So if you get an algebraic equation, enter the 11 instead of x+(4/3)\*2. Or enter the longer part. It doesn’t matter. In this case dedunal or dedunai would likely have passed as easily as dedural. Then I wonder what in the hell I’m doing to get it wrong so often. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/16 "2012-05-08T06:48:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Then I wonder what in the hell I’m doing to get it wrong so often. Are you sure you’re actually human? Ever had the Turing Test taken? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/17 "2012-05-08T07:35:45Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > [BTW, you have Google to thank.](http://www.infoworld.com/t/security/google-takes-captcha-security-the-streets-189867?mm_ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26client%3Dms-android-google%26source%3Dandroid-home%26sky%3Dmrdr%26site%3Dwebhp%26source%3Dhp%26q%3Dstreet%2Bnumber%2Bcaptcha%26oq%3Dstreet%2Bnumber%2Bcaptcha%26aq%3Df%26aqi%3D%26aql%3D%26gs_l%3Dmobile-gws-hp.3...1982.15862.0.16572.27.19.2.4.5.1.600.5244.2-4j7j1j2.14.0...0.0.) That’s brilliant. Use images of street numbers–that the Google algorithm has already determined are street numbers and what they are. No algorithm will ever be able to figure that out… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/18 "2012-05-08T07:39:48Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > It’s an eleven. I don’t understand how you failed to comprehend that, but that’s why you’re allowed to select another. Because why in the world would you think something as simple as a two digit number would be hard for a computer to read? My mind sure didn’t see the 11 until a few seconds later, and even then I only would have posted 11 because I wouldn’t know what else to try. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/19 "2012-05-08T18:31:32Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > Are you sure you’re actually human? Ever had the Turing Test taken? 😉 Anyone who has had to solve a CAPTCHA has taken a Turing test. It stands for **Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.** ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218/20 "2012-05-08T18:47:15Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Anyone who has had to solve a CAPTCHA has taken a Turing test. It stands for **Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.** That acronym is worse than I ever imagined. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-captcha-ever/621218.md?page=2)