CAPTCHA? Do not!

    Many website developers consider the use of captcha almost a sign of good taste, almost a sign of respect for the user. The invention of a new way to make it difficult for a robot to send data from an input form to a server is a very popular activity among bored programmers. The methods are becoming more sophisticated; captcha with distorted letters - already the last century, they are replaced by captcha-turn-me-up-head, captcha-solve-puzzle-in higher mathematics and captcha-compose-Chinese-character. Undoubtedly, people who invent them are well done. Only these captchas are used far from always appropriate.

    In general, why did you come up with captcha? In general, then, to protect some users from unwanted actions of others. The most obvious example is to protect users of messaging services - forums, blogs, social networks - from spammers. To protect against registrations on public mail services of robots, which again can be used for spam mailings or other, at best, unpleasant actions. That is, the meaning of captcha is to make good good people. Great idea!

    Everything would be fine in general, if there was a way to separate robots from humans, it was completely invisible to humans, so that they did not have to prove their biological origin. But at the current stage of technology development, this is not very possible. Thus, captcha is a compromise solution. And this solution must be used appropriately.

    Suppose when captcha is used when registering a mailbox on rambler - this is correct. A popular blogger allows unregistered users to leave comments - here, too, captcha plays a rather positive role.

    But when a resource with registration by invitation invites you to solve a sickly puzzle during authorization, this is already a bust. A striking example of this is the leper colony, where it is extremely difficult for an outsider to get there, that is, it is unlikely that there are many registered robots, but a captcha in the form of a login is truly hellish. And a modest online store doesn’t need such a thing at all.

    In addition, many captchas are implemented using javascript or flash, which may affect users who have these things disabled. Of course, there are solutions when the captcha is not shown immediately, but after a certain number of unsuccessful attempts to submit the form, but this does not greatly affect the general trend.

    Conclusion. The developer should always remember that captcha is not a beautiful thing with which users will play on long winter evenings, but first of all - the necessary inconvenience, designed to make these users well. And, accordingly, to clearly understand when the advantages of captcha outweigh its disadvantages.

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