Saturday, August 23, 2008

So -- I Guess I'm a Bot?

Okay, it's Saturday so it's playtime.

I didn't know till recently how much I appreciate the readable, workable word verifications that Blogger uses. Lately I've been running into ones with lines through them and figures crowded together that are really hard to read. Still, most of the time one or two errors is all it takes to let me through. Now, though, the ultimate has happened. "Are you a bot?" asks the site, above the little box of squiggly numbers. So I type them in. Red warnings flash up. Please correct your information! Are you a bot? Um, no. This second string looks pretty bad, but I'll try again . . . Please correct your information! Are you a bot? Okay, I expected that not to work. This new string looks clear, though. Here we go. Please correct your information! Are you a bot? What? No! How come I can read your mishmash and you can't read my typing? *Pounds keys* Please correct your information! Are you a bot? Clearly you're bound and determined I should be. Only a bot COULD read this string. *Types, employing creative guessing* Please correct your information! Are you a bot? Yes! Yes! I surrender, I'm a bot, because only a bot would still sit here typing gibberish. Take that: *Copies a string that looks perfectly clear* Please correct your information! Are you a bot? You know what? You people are paranoid. Just forget it.

I click "contact us" and fill out a complaint. At the bottom of the page, before I can click "submit," is the word verification. ONE time will I try this, before I click out of their lives for good. I type it in. Words flash up: We'll be reading this in no time. ????????? Whatever.

8 comments:

PJ Hoover said...

Yeah, some of those word verification things are impossible to decode!

Brenda said...

I think you have to be a bot to figure out those word verifications..grin...

Marcia said...

Just as long as it's not this bad on something really important . . . And I'm not even dyslexic or anything.

Anne Spollen said...

I feel like such an idiot when it tells me I've done it wrong. It's the same feeling I get when the ATM machine eats my card...

Write2ignite said...

If Shakespeare were alive right now he would state:

Bot or Not? That is the question.

hugs,
Donna

Marcia said...

Anne -- Me too. I feel like I'm trying to jump hurdles.

Donna -- Very cute! :)

Tabitha said...

Are you a bot? Hmm, seems a silly question. A bot wouldn't even answer that question, so why ask it in the first place? Especially considering they're going to ignore the answer. :)

Marcia said...

Just their attempt at humor, I guess. :)