Caught by the CAPTCHAs

I just wanna join in
But sometimes it's really difficult! Have you ever had to stop doing what you wanted to do because you couldn't work out what the squiggly letters and numbers mean on a form? It's happened to me twice this week and it is so frustrating. One site had the audio alternative and after a couple of listens I didn't get that, either. They are called CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) and are a way of making sure sites don't spammed by separating the humans from the bots. Does that make me the last of the Cylons?! In fact CAPTCHAs are difficult for certain people such as those with impaired sight or dyslexia. I am fortunate to have neither, yet I still fall foul of them.


What's the alternative?
There are alternatives such as SAPTCHA, but these are not in wide use at the moment. On DoctorHorrible.net you have to solve a simple math question if you want to post, and I've not had any problem with that. If you were kind enough to want to leave a comment on this blog you would have had to pass a CAPTCHA. But I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to take this off for a few days and see what happens. Maybe the spam will flood in or maybe (who knows!) it'll be the comments that flood in! I will keep you posted.

Joss Whedon's Journal
As January comes to a close, Joss is faced with a Minion Revolt!

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Joss' Journal January's end 08

What would Bill do? That's what crossed my mind when 'The Minions' presented themselves en masse. Unhappy with working conditions? Favouritism? Strike?! Well, I know there's a strike on, they didn't need to remind me of that, thank you very much. And then I realised that they meant they were thinking of going on strike, not join the WGA picket.

I mean, it's ridiculous. I try my very best with these people, I really do. Ok, I'm not good with names but that's just me. Minion #2 did not agree with the strike, bless her. No, she tried to restore calm but it wasn't to be. In the end we got to the nub of the problem - everyone wanted to be an extra in The New Thing. Ok, they all want to be in it so they want to strike?! I can't, no matter how I look at it, see how that makes sense.

So we held a draw. One minion to be chosen (out of each gener...nevermind) to be the homeless #X. How very Galactica. Result: 1 estactic minion, lots of even more grumpy minions. You can't win. I think I need a strong glass of water...

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