Consider removing CAPTCHA from registration process

[caden]

Hi--

I have just registered for the forums. I'd like to request (beg, actually) that you remove the CAPTCHA validation. CAPTCHA has been a long-standing accessibility problem. For example:

http://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest/
http://webaim.org/projects/screenrea...vey2/#problems

Even though I have normal eyesight, I had to reload the captcha field about 13 times before I could get one where I could discern any letters. Since you have 2 additional text-based turing tests, why continue with the CAPTCHA? Why exclude people with disabilities? Why make the site ADA-non compliant?

Thanks,

Caden

[adam.fitzgerald]

Hi Caden,

Thanks for your message. I'm sorry that you had difficulty with the CAPTCHA validation, I certainly know what a pain those forms can be at times. Running such a large and active community as Spring brings some real challenges and it has been a constant balancing act between combating spammers on the forum and providing a low barrier to participation for our community. I know that other popular online communities struggle with this same dilemma and thank you for your suggestions. We will take them into consideration during our next usability and design review.

Adam FitzGerald
SpringSource

[curtEvans]

Hi

I too had to reload the captcha field about ten times before I could discern the alphabets.
I never had a problem with them in other forum registrations. It would be great if the
difficulty level is reviewed.

Thanks
Curt

[haroldoats]

I agree. The current captcha is a bit too over the top. Seriously, I had two more people with me, all of us with WTF faces, squinting our eyes to discern what those characters were, trying the captcha over and over and always getting a negative result. You need to be a transhuman cyborg with superhuman vision in order to use that captcha.

[AlexCzar]

I've just wasted half an hour of my life and work time just to register!!! At least change the text requesting the captcha:

Please enter the six letters or digits that appear in the image opposite.

As a non-native English speaker I was trying to enter captcha in opposite direction, e.g. 654321 instead of 123456
Also make the error more visible, as I was blaming captcha all the time my e-mail format was wrong... the error text should be near the erroneously filled field, not somewhere above the form, and it should be BOLD RED, or just another color, not the same as all the text on the page.

[pdeva]

+1.
The captcha is almost impossible to understand. Took me many, many tries to register.
Its actively preventing people from registering.

[Jakes Daddy]

+1
Agreed, it is quite possibly the worst, most unusable captcha ever!