I enjoy visiting fiber arts blogs to see what other like minded wool addicts are up too. Sometimes I find a link to a new project (such as the Mystery Stole 3), a tip on a technique I would like to try, or inspirational photographs of WIP's. When I visit, I try to leave a comment to let the blogger know that I stopped by their site.
If you visit a lot of blogs and leave comments, then odds are you have come across a "robot trap". The trap is a bunch of letters and/or numbers that have been stretched and pulled until they resemble a drunken chorus line melting into a lamp post. Right below these distorted runes is a little box. The commenter is asked to type the letters/numbers into the box "as they appear above". The reason? It supposedly it prevents "robots" from leaving spam comments.
If you visit a lot of blogs and leave comments, then odds are you have come across a "robot trap". The trap is a bunch of letters and/or numbers that have been stretched and pulled until they resemble a drunken chorus line melting into a lamp post. Right below these distorted runes is a little box. The commenter is asked to type the letters/numbers into the box "as they appear above". The reason? It supposedly it prevents "robots" from leaving spam comments.
When first ran across these little gems, the grouping seldom exceeded 5 letters. Lately however, these sequences are getting much longer. Sequences like "Jfjur" or "yerhn" have now morphed into "gjrnfbbdjfklmblj" or "okgjvjjiivwwvmmnxvvwv". Trying to decipher these encryptions often requires perseverance, luck, and a good, stiff drink.
Not much better is the dreaded "grey box". This trap consists of a rectangle infused with what appears to be swirling sticks and stones in deep, grey, foggy mist. Interspersed within the greyness are six random letters/numbers that appear to be jumping rope out of sequence. They are about this tall, which makes them difficult to see without the use of an scanning electron microscope. Don't get me wrong. I am all for keeping spam out of the comments. I just sometimes wish there was a simpler method.
13 comments:
And, may I point out, if you get it wrong three times, your comment gets deleted and you have to start over. Let's not get into why it takes me more than three times to get it right, 'k? (BTW-I had to type ppudovng to leave this comment. I think.)
I noticed the change in length as well. I wondered if they ran out of all of the statistical combinations with the fewer number and had to crank it up a notch.
unjdsd
Thanks for dropping by and saying hi:)
I decided to forgo the coding on my blog. I don't get that much spam. I think it's easier to just delete them.
...and I just thought is was my bad eyesight !
I am happy to know that there are other folks with the same myopic afflication !
Wow! I'm glad I've never stepped on a slug that big!
I agree on the robot-catcher...Seems like a necessary evil for the time being.
I hate those, too. I have the robot-catcher on my blog, but I'm thinking about getting rid of it and just putting up with the occasional spam.
Am I the only one, or do other people try to make words out of the alphabet soup? Or try to imagine what the definition of "kjlzuujo" would be? What language is that, anyway? I'm obviously easily entertained.
Now wait. This coming from the blogger who has to approve all comments before they're viewed.
Honestly, though, yeah, they're a royal pain in the arse.
I usually always type it in wrong, especially when it's that grey box thing...who can read that anyway?
Too funny! I was just thinking the same thing last week, about them suddenly getting longer! The grey ones remind me of one of those color-blindness tests with number disguised in a bunch of colored dots!
now that you mention it, those codes look more and more like a bad Scrabble hand...
I decided to take this feature off my comments and have only had 2 "off the wall" comments in six months - and I think they would have left them anyhow - so I just deleted them.
I must confess that I try to make words out of them as well...T.
My favorite is when they make you decide if it's a 0 (zero) or an O (letter O).
Or 1 and 7 and l. sigh.
It drive me crazy I tried to figure out if my blog makes you use one but I can't tell. I hope not. What also makes me go a bit nuts is when you try to leave a comment but blogger will only let you sign in with a blogger identity and if you don't have one no comment for you (this only happens will some blogger sights not yours). Oh and I really like you afghan.
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