h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is the time of year to be gracious to robots.

Bah Humbug

Stop now, or you will be edited...sheep may safely graze on all the *other* threads, so go there, please.

minorvogonpoet said: "Is there any evidence of people being put off by the robot trap? I've misidentified things - eg failing to count a car because I thought it was a van. Maybe I'm a robot!"

I know what you mean - sometimes I have to identify the squares with roadsigns in, and wonder if 0.02% of a sign counts as yes or no, so I've had to do quite a few layers of the captcha before it will let me in...

I've checked the Google Analytics for the login page and see that stats-wise there hasn't been a change recently, but on average people are taking 45 seconds to log in. I can't tell from the stats if actual people are being put off by the captcha, because the captcha is designed to put off bots so a number of 'put offs' happen each month...

I'd like to add that h2g2 isn't in charge of those Captcha pics. If we were, we'd make up ones like, 'Which of these alien creatures is mentioned in The Book?' followed by images of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, a floopy mattress from Squornshellous Zeta, a Vogon, and a Banta from 'Star Wars'.

An alternative Captcha might involve clicking on places you might find Nigel...or 2legs...

We are waiting for the day that bug...er, feature is customisable.

Yes. Just like Icy and Sasha - and probably quite a lot of other researchers I have sometimes had to identify squares with roadsigns or cars 4, 5 and 6 times before I am being let in.

And even after that I may have to click F5 several times to get where I need to be.

And I'm 42 inches away from af 25'' screen - so a small smart phone screen is not the problem

Dmitri, I hope your alternative suggestions wouldn't make it harder to log in. It's hard enough as it is. What Pierce said about identifying cars 5 times is true for me, too. Not to put too fine a point on it, Captcha doesn't seem to be as smart as Pierce and me.

You have to learn not to overthink these things...

Precisely! Bots are no match for us overthinkers.

Who is Nigel?

The Post Editor is deeply hurt by this question. A49246491

Fortunately, I have yet to encounter this new Captcha so I didn't really appreciate the frustration SashaQ and many others are feeling.

But I just saw this [NSFW:Language] video about it being the hardest game ever.

http://youtu.be/BVFYFr4Vy8I


Holy , that's insane.

I would ban Captcha for life!

I was expecting an announcement..

On the captcha system, I finally just gave up, decided its busted, found a way of bypassing it.

I don't sign out, reset to 'My Space' when I bring up h2g2, then refresh twice.

If the machine signs me out, back up a page and/or refresh.

To get back into Brunel from Pliny, back-page till Brunel comes up and refresh.

While this works for me, logging on almost every day, I'm sure the captcha system must be discouraging for occasional and casual users.

Reminds me of a passage from Stanley Coblentz's "The Moon People" in which a Lunarian advising Terrestrial visitors mentions there are places where sometimes one can get a few drops of water if one twists the pipes just the right way.

I only sign out/log out once every two to three months when I need to clean up my computer (which by the way is never turned off unless I really really need to)



PS: I hope this is still relevant in this thread, but if not I trust the will know what to do

"The Post Editor is deeply hurt" [Dmitri]



I hadn't heard about Nigel until you provided that link. The most any of us can do is learn something new on a daily basis, and then go forward. Who doesn't have gaps or lacunae in his/her knowledge? Spending inordinate amounts of time or energy regretting the past saps our ability to enjoy what is good about the present.

And if I *still* forget something I ought to have remembered, I pour another cup of and cut another slice of .

The CAPTCHA shouldn't affect casual readers, should it? It's only on login.

TRiG.

It will effect anyone wanting to join the site.