Okay, captchas are a necessary evil in this spammy world. If you join forums, comment on blogs, submit or join anything anywhere you’ve run up against this “prove your are human” security hoop. But some make me rub my eyes in doubt and I stop to capture them in the wild. Here are a few examples from my captcha safaris.
A couple Exotics
These first 2 are exotic variants of a normally easy to identify species. One with a “warped B”/6 and the second “is something cutoff?” and “is that a ghost or an 8?”
These are not especially challenging, but they are notable for rarity and valuable to a keen eyed captcha collector such as myself.
Weird Letters
Another normally tame species of captcha will throw an unusual font at you now and then. It took many encounters with this capital Q before I decided it definitely wasn’t an O. Next looks easily like a rotated c, but then self doubt enters and I think…hmmm it could be a funny L.
Then there is this whole Hybrid V/U thing. A definite V at the bottom, but very u-like with its parallel upper sides. Oh what will those crazy captcha geneticists think of next?
Is there life after death for captchas? Sometimes those ghost captchas just beg to be included and I throw one in. Doh!
The last one in this series looks straightforward OJVGE. But just before you hit <ENTER> you look closer. Is that maybe a D? Damn these captchas for filling me with self doubt!
A Friendly Captcha Wave
A speckled sinewave background with fairly clear lettering.
This series isn’t too bad once you are familiar with the normal variants of the breed. The “fancy i/ slender j/ or dotted s”
And my old friend, the unangled q-dangler.
Are My Eyes Going Bad?
This dangerous variety of captcha has been seen in a variety of colored leopard prints. Though they are actually readable with a bit of effort, they have a numbing disorienting effect. Approach with extreme caution!
Do not stare at them directly for they have developed the ability to control our optic nerves and make our vision go out of focus.
I have a theory that the evil scientists behind these vulgar captchas is grooming them for even further mind control. Eventually they will command us to enter our account numbers and passwords.
If you encounter one of these blurry mind control captchas or a variant and feel your self becoming numb, quickly recite as many of the google webmaster guidelines as you can remember to bring you back to full consciousness and then close your browser!
Do not try to squint and focus these images. You will only hurt yourself.
Some think they can take one of these blurry captchas when they are young and raise them as a pet.
One such mistake recently escaped in a small town outside Omaha.
It took investigators days following a trail of random letters scratched into the ground or in the dust of parked cars before it was caught and sent to the intergalactic bit bucket.
Random Letters?
Now and then a captcha will spell, or almost spell something. I really find it hard to believe this last example is random. I think it sums up my reaction to the whole lot!
No captchas were harmed in the writing of this post, though I was very tempted.
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