Category: the Rant Board
Solona needs to get more operators who can administrate it. Seriously, I've tried to solve captchas at 9 in the morning and there's no one standing bye. Firefox is a far better solution in my opinion because it is automated and is thus available 24 hours a day.
I'm very impressed with Solona. They apparently don't have volunteers in all time zones yet so things can only improve.
I didn't like Solona either, but unless something happens to Web Vissum, why complain about it? Just stick to that if you're comfortable with it, I tried Solona once and didn't like it, but at least I know now what it's lacking, so I won't go back to it.
apparently, with web visum, you are only allowed to submit so many captias a day. Solona doesn't have a limit as long as someone is available. I love the ability to submit captias using qwitter. But we're on the rant board so I'll keep the positive comments to a minimum. lol
Hmm...I have no idea what this is, at all. Anyone want to fill me in? A web browser is my guess.
No, Solona is a way to solve captchas. It's a service that's driven and administrated by human beings, so when you submit the captcha, someone actually sees it and returns the result back to you.
The limit for Web Vissum is 20. I've never gone over that. I don't see how anybody could, but maybe that's just me. Why put your captcha-solving on hold for when it's convenient for someone else? What if you need the solution right then, and no operators are standing by? I understand that the service could improve, but like I said unless I'm forced to switch, I'm sticking with Web Vissum because I like the freedom of being able to solve a captcha any time I want and with no sighted assistance.
I was using webvisum for a long time and liked it, but as of a couple months ago, it completely stopped working for me. I've tried to solve multiple captchas with it over the last while, and after I submit the captcha, it just sits, and sits, and no result comes back. I use Salona with Qwitter, and have never had a captcha come back unsolved or incorrect, so I'm staying with it.
That problem could have to do with you using the latest version of Firefox. I had the same thing happen to me, so I went back to 3.5, disabled auto updating and that solved it. You could also try logging out of Web vissum and logging back in, that was a suggestion that I was told to try.
Thanks, Turtle. I have tried the logging out and in thing, but that didn't work. May try the other thing you suggested, too. But as I say, I do like the ease of using Salona with Qwitter. I use IE as my main browser: the only reason I installed Firefox was for captcha solving. And it's a bitch when I'm doing something in IE, only to realize too late that there's a captcha, have to close out, then switch over to FF. Makes me growl. LOL.
I also like solona because it is browser independent and not only that but it is also platform independent so somebody on the mac or linux could use it.
Now about not being able to solve captchas because there isn't an operator to help us I think it is up to us to improve the situation. If we talk to our sighted friends about solona and get them to get in touch with the developer they could help when they can and hopefully solona could be up all the time.
I did use selona when my powerbook was working, and it was pretty nice. I use web vissum now, but I always know that if I ever need a backup, Selona is ready. To answer your question dez, I could probably go over 20 uses of web vissum when I want to get some anime off of megaupload and their is over 20 episodes.
I will use Solona when on the Mac, with Safari, or in cases where Webvisum won't work on the Linux box. Examples of the latter include captchas in apps other than the web browser and captchas for which Web Visum returns incorrect solution or no solution.
It's interesting to read comments by other people about this topic. Here are the main points that I would like to present: 1. Solona is the way it is so that it can be universally accessed by any system. 2. I disclose everything up front so that there are no gotchas or unfounded speculation. 3. With the current capture methods, most images reveal absolutely nothing about the user, the webpage, or even the browser being used. Qwitter captures only a small percentage around the captcha image. I've publicly stated that we are not in the information gathering business. Solona is in the Captcha solving and accessibility business. Hence, the website openly advises users to submit the captcha before filling out the form (if there is a form). 4. The back end of Solona has been examined by members of the Solona Steering Committee. That committee consists of people from the blind community, mainly people who are technically minded. I did this to illustrate to them how operators solve captchas, what information is retained, and how Solona is organized. Both Solona and Raive will continue to evolve, improve, and be integrated into popular applications. The Qwitter integration represents a major leap for independent Captcha solving. In the second half of 2010, Solona will be integrated to more programs, and there will be additional utilities to deliver real-time accessible solutions even beyond inaccessible Captchas. In closing. I'd say that it's important to use what suits you best. Figure out what your needs are and which service meets those needs. In closing again, I'd like to say that some Captchas can be very difficult to read. We strive to provide accurate codes, and explanations if we cannot solve the Captcha for some reason. There's a reason that websites have a 'Refresh Captcha' button. It's because they know that people may need 2 or 3 images before they see one that they can actually translate. The more popular the web property, the more likely it is to have a difficult Captcha. Face Book Captchas can be downright chicken scratch. If anyone has a question, I'm happy to answer it openly. Bernard.
Solona's API, as used by Qwitter, is really good and the only reason I use Qwitter to be honest.
But there's one part that hasn't been mentioned here: Solona is the only captcha solving service that can solve the two-word captchas, where there is a phrase rather than just a ratty combination of letters and numbers. Test it yourself with both WebVisum and Solona. The reason is there is a human solving the captcha.
I have uninstalled Webvisum from Firefox to be honest, much as I applaud their efforts.
Solona has an API. To users that means it can be integrated, as they say, into more software. Need we say more?