Grrrrr, is that an “i” or an “l”?
Anyone who’s ever tried to register on a website or leave a comment on a blog has probably encountered this: an image with strange letters in different sizes and positions. Nothing is as tricky as telling a lowercase “l” apart from an uppercase “i” or an uppercase “o” from its smaller counterpart. There are plenty of crazy examples, but mostly just frustrations.
Those strange codes are called CAPTCHA codes. CAPTCHA stands for“Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.” In short, it’s a test to distinguish humans from computers.
Why do websites use CAPTCHA?
The reason websites use CAPTCHA codes in their registration process is to combat spam. Those strange little letters are a way to verify that the person trying to register is actually a human being and not a computer program trying to access the website in order to flood it with spam.
Yes, it’s frustrating to have to keep entering those annoying codes from the images, but it’s worth it in the long run. Anyone who’s ever set up a blog or website knows what spam looks like up close, even if your website or blog barely generates any traffic. Smaller websites or blogs are actually easier to find because they’re usually not as well secured.
CAPTCHA protects websites.
If a website or blog owner didn’t use security measures like CAPTCHA, they would receive dozens of spam registrations and messages every day. And we’re only talking about smaller websites or blogs here—just imagine the amount of spam larger ones would receive.
So the next time you come across one of those fun images with weird little letters and get frustrated because you can’t tell the Q from the O, don’t blame the website this time—blame all the spammers instead. Spammers are the reason these codes exist!
