Cow Pasture Chronicles : CAPTCHA, ReCAPTCHA, NoCAPTCHA, Please

Okay, some days are meant for stories, others for delving into important writer issues, or spouting off an opinion. Today, is bitching day. I’m annoyed to hell with Google. I admire their tenacity in combating spam and abuse. As a blogger, I sincerely appreciate the effort, but please for the love of God, get rid of the reCAPTCHA. You know, the little rectangle box that asks you to prove you’re not a robot by asking you to fill in distorted words, or pictures. Seriously?

Photo courtesy of simonkewin.co.uk & Google

Photo courtesy of Google

Do any of the geniuses at Google understand America is turning gray?

According to Forbes, “The gray wave has arrived. Since 2000, the senior population has increased 29% compared to overall population growth of 12%. The percentage of Americans in the senior set has risen from 12.4% to 14.1%, and their share of the population is projected to climb to 19.3% by 2030.”

And, what happens as we age? We can’t see!

“Beginning in the early to mid-forties, most adults may start to experience problems with their ability to see clearly at close distances.” American Optometric Association.

Google

You’ve got to be kidding me!!! What in those genius minds made them think requiring a visually challenged and aging population to place distorted words and pictures into boxes to prove they were not robots!

prove_you_no_robot (apr7)

If you believe CAPTCHAS protect you from spammers, perhaps. But it’s also frustrating the bejesus out of your visitors to your site. Don’t believe me? Tim Allen of Moz wrote a great post in 2013, Having a CAPTCHA is killing Your Conversion Rate.

Although, CAPTCHA was designed as a user friendly system, a study conducted by Standford University showed otherwise.

The study found, on average:

71% can’t agree! That’s huge. Think of that in terms of visitors to your site. In fact, according to Moz, CAPTCHA’s became such a problem for Ticketmaster, in 2013 they stopped using it and went to another system.

I don’t want spammers screwing up the Cow Pasture Chronicles, anymore than the fortune 500 corporations or Amazon. But, I don’t want my readers and visitors frustrated and, therefore, discouraged from returning either. I want my site to be many things; welcoming, warm, thought-provoking, humorous, a resource for other writers, and a place people want to return time and again. For me, Cow Pasture Chronicles shall remain CAPTCHA free.

Google, I am NOT a robot! And, by the way has any of this nonsense worked with China? Hmmm?

What do you think about reCAPTCHA’s? Do you hate them as much as I do? Have you ever given up and left a site because you couldn’t fill the damn thing out correctly?I’d love to hear from you. Talk to me. Tell me your story. You can follow me on Facebook at SheilaMGood and Twitter @cofcmom.