MySpace implements Captcha technology, sometimes
Captcha is that thing that most of us hate when filling out some online form. It is a series of random numbers and letters, usually barely readable that one must enter to prove we are human and not some machine trying to spam people. Webmasters love them however and they doo work, and drasticly cutting down on spam for most services.
Today, while logged into MySpace, I was replying to a message someone sent me. I’m not a heavy user there, a few messages daily and every couple of days someone leaves me a comment so I’ll comment back. After typing my short response I hit the reply button to see this big Captcha warning:
Now I don’t mind filling them out, but please tell me that MySpace isn’t planning on rolling them out fulltime? I have since replied to two other messages and have not seen it again, but if this becomes a regular thing, expect my use of the social networking site to be severly curbed.
Similar articles that might also interest you:
- WTF was I thinking using Twitter
- How relevant and effective is email?
- Randomn3ss turns 1! Giving away an iTunes gift card!
- iTunes spam count contest update
- Congratulations Scott! You won the $25 iTunes gift card
Comments
Adrienne Saia
Be happy you’re not in a band! Although it seems random, this capaapthahcha thing happens when you comment, msg, or friend request too frequently, in order to catch people who employ “bots” that do all the MySpace drudge work for you. I guess it serves some greater good, but whenever my friends or I do band networking, it sucks because you have to enter these codes so frequently. And I hate it when I can’t make out the letters, ha!
J-dub
I agree wholeheartedly
Tim
My understanding is that you now have to enter the captcha code for any and all messages you send to people that are not in your Friends list. This started last week and I too don’t get that many messages or send that many but entering the captcha every message is a bit silly. Just yesterday I received 6 messages from new potential friends that share my ineterests and when I responded I had to enter the captcha every time. I also sent a few messages to people I noticed in my area that had similar interests and had to enter the captcha again for each and every one. It’s a bit annoying, especially when I seem to enter it correctly but the system says I did not sometimes. Spammers will likely find a way around it but for the normal users it can become frustrating. There has to be a better way. I know I reduced the spam I received there simply by changing my privacy settings and not making it visible when I’m online.
-Tim
Buffalo GameBuffs blog