Category: Geeks r Us
For those of you who have been frustrated by visual verification schemes that prevent you from completing a form, here's a chance for your voice to be heard. There is currently a petition circulating which will be presented to Google to urge them to provide an alternative to their Captcha, or visual verification procedure that people have to go through to get an account. We need a lot of signatures in order to make an impact on Google. If you want companies to stop putting up visual verification roadblocks and not providing you with an alternative, then start with Google, probably the most-used site by the blind, and tell them what you think. To sign the petition, go to www.petitiononline.com/captcha. To read how this petition will be used, go to www.blindaccessjournal.com.
That thing is the most anoying thing ever
Like half the time they have the numbers letters in all different shapes and sizes like whats the oint of that
Hate those stupid things!
I don't know anyone who likes those things, but sadly inorder to insure that it's really a person creating an e-mail account, joining a news group Ect, they must use the dumb things. Hopefully all the signitures will wake these folks up enough for them to make it blind user friendly.
Really, I only use Google's search which I don't have to sign up for. Yes, those graphics annoy me, but I admit I'm really skeptical about this petition. If I am assured that if I were to fill it out it would actually reach Google and be read by those in charge of this particular situation, I'd jump right on it. If, however, it's based on wishful thinking or a maybe, or if it's just some kind of token gesture to make us all feel like we're making a change when nobody important will see it, I'd rather not bother.
This petition will be presented to the Google CEO. To follow up on what's going on with it, check www.blindaccessjournal.com.
signed!
The real problem is that not all servers can support alternative things, as audio devices... I know that is possible in Microsoft servers, but in Linux servers everyone think it is not possible... It is possible, even more than Microsoft, by the Festival speech synth
the quality is not so high as the closed-source ones, as RealSpeak or Loquendo Actor TTS you know? http://actor.loquendo.com/actordemo/default.asp
...but it is usable!
I do not use synthesizer in linux I just use Braille, but I was saying that there ARE solutions to avoid captcha's, that is http://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest
and alternatively I found a plug-in for the blog tool "wordpress" that uses another algorythm it does not use visual captcha that is at http://elliottback.com/wp/archives/2004/11/29/spam-stopgap-extreme/
I was trying to suggest such a solution to PHPBB developers or PHP nuke or other CMS's developers, but I have no contacts :-( I tried with PHPBB italian support but no answer came
The problem is that till there is people being anonymous in these serious petitions, or just saying "stupid thing" without giving a real idea, nothing will happen.
I say this, because I work in this kind of things, as a web developer I must always fight against people's ignorance about this, but you know it is not always Google, yahoo or other companies' fault if there are these visual confirmations, they pay external developers who create solutions, and if this knowledge about accessibility is not promoted "from the lowest levels", I do not know if you understand what I mean, there will never be a real solution.
bye.
I do not see it so clear...
today i lost a battle against the ignorance of a 16-years-old nasty guy who refuses to find alternatives for visual confirmation boxes in his own small web site
It's difficult to fight, but we must still try; the petition, I did spread the link among blind people in my country but no one has signed yet
I couldn't honestly think where to put this, but, I knew it didn't belong in acccessible electronics, since that mainly has to do with accessible devices, and software for those devices from what I've been told in the passed. So, I decided to move it to geeks are us. Enjoy, and I have also signed the petition. Laters all!
Accessible electronics? Hmm, alrighty then... I signed the petition, and am currently helping my sister do the same.
I signed it because I believe it is true. I hate those things, and living on my own now makes it even harder.
Troy
I signed it even though I never had much a problem reading them. However I did sign it for those who do need/want it. The two different reasons being:
1. I know it's something you all really want because I know that you all like to be independent and don't want to have to rely on others to help when coming across one these verification boxes.
I know how it could really be pain expecially if there isn't anyone around to help you at the time.
2. I honestly believe there's a good chance that this could happen.
Yeah i sined it.
How many sigs does it have to be before it gets sent?
Also, you have to bare in mind that not only does it help prevent bot from fucking up there servers, it prevents perfectly lajit users from sining up.
BEN.
Right, here's my view on this stupid issue and that's been kind. Word varification? I'm blind, I can't read the word boxes either. However, it's not a problem for me. Know why? I have enough sighted friends who are kind enough to help me fill the boxes in. It's not just Google, it's many other companies, but as I say you'll only have a problem with word varification if you don't have enough contact with sighted people so I suggest you all go sort out your own social lives instead of picking on Google and drawing attention to what makes you different instead of what makes you similar to the rest of us, like you always do.
I think that's a little unfair, i admit, most people have this social problem, but some of us genuinely have issues with accessing stuff. I live pretty much independently, but with that comes the price of not always having access to people to read things for me. If i'm alone at home, i can't read certain things, therefore i'm stuck and can't do anything till one of my friends comes around or i can talk my land lady into doing it. so what happens there?
Well WW, why not carry out your premise to its logical conclusion. Since my screen reader doesn't allow me to read Captcha systems, then why should I bother even using it? Why not just get a sighted person to read the screen to me every time I want to use a computer? Why should the sighted world have to adjust to my needs so I can be independent, when I can just have people at my beckoned call whenever I need help? And finally, what are you going to do when this problem gets so pervasive that you have to deal with it every time you want to post something or send a message, like Yahoo was doing? The reason Google is being called out to task on this is because they are using it for more than just setting up an account. And if I was your sighted friend and I knew that you were relying on me to get things done to avoid having to advocate for your rights, I wouldn't help you. Frankly, your arrogance sickens me.
Firstly, there are several things I can't do on the internet. Guess what, oh yeah, you won't believe this, I simply don't do them. I don't need to, it's not essential to my life that I do these things which are difficult for me as a b lind person to do, so as I said, I don't do them. Yahoo are another company I have an account registered with. They sometimes ask me to fill in word varification. I e-mail them explaining how I can't, and the problem is sorted out. I don't have to sign a stupid blindies partition about it, I am able to sensibly discuss the matter with them. Now all this shit about the problem getting worse and worse is just scaremongering which I'll have nothing to do with. If I can't use wa service, I won't use it. I'm not going to moan about it. So according to my logic, I should get as much out of the net as I can realistically, and not waste time on things I can't access when I could be doing several other things with my computer and without it. If you can't get a sighted person to help you deal with word varification, ask the company by contacting customer services if you're really desperate to access it. Also, it is only right that the people at this website and all its supporters appologise to me and others who have been clustered into their blind community. Firstly, I don't recognise a bblind community and never will, but that asside, assuming I am a member of this blind community as a blind person, how dare they complain on my behalf when their complaint isn't one I support! How dare they claim to be reflecting my views when I completely disagree with them! Oh and how dare they, try and start a partition which suggests that blind people think one thing, and not enable blind people who don't share their views to say so on this partition so that Google actually get a true understanding of opinions within their community? They've taken away my right to have my view heard as much as their's is going to be, they're denying me the opportunity to have my views heard by Google in the same way theirs will be. They're withholding the views of their opponents from Google, and I deserve an appology for the offence this has c aused me, the disrespect I have suffered from them, and the total unacknowledgement that I exist which I liken to the leader of Irans unacknowledgement of what happened to the jews when the Nazis ruled Germany.