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captchas considered painful!


klossner

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The captcha on the new email page http://www.geocaching.com/email/Default.aspx is really hard to puzzle out for us in the bifocal set. I've looked at several examples and find that some of them I can't read at all.

 

How about omitting the captcha for logged-in premium members? Surely spam is not a problem in this case.

 

I second that thought.

Captchas are evil.

 

I agree, are they really necessary?

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Well, others HAVE received spam mail and abusive mail. Sometimes this is whinged about in the forums. The captcha will cut back on the spam from, for example, "geocaching cruise" operators. Unfortunately it also adversely affects the event organizer who wants to send a message to everyone who's logged "will attend." And the strengthened reminder about IP address logging and not abusing the e-mail feature *may* deter some of the anonymous flame mails that fly around.

 

Unless you have access to Groundspeak's mail server logs and customer service complaint database, it's hard to state definitively that spam and abuse is not a big problem. I've heard of and personally seen enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that it may be.

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Well, others HAVE received spam mail and abusive mail. Sometimes this is whinged about in the forums.

 

Unless you have access to Groundspeak's mail server logs and customer service complaint database, it's hard to state definitively that spam and abuse is not a big problem. I've heard of and personally seen enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that it may be.

 

Well, while this may be true, captchas are only to tell the difference between a human and a machine--nothing more.

 

Additionally, I was not aware that anyone could use the email function of this site without being logged in. Even then there was some kind of throttle. So, unless either of these two things were changed I don't see the need for a captcha.

 

This actually feels like a step backwards in functionality, not one forward.

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Yeah, it's fairly rare to see a captcha where the person is known and logged in.

 

I'm wondering if this new "feature" is because the mail limit has been removed. Otherwise, I don't see the reason to implement.

 

The limits are still there.

 

How does this work?

We respect our users privacy. As a result, we allow you the ability to email other accounts through online forms without exposing your email address. In order to reduce abuse, there are a limited number of emails you can send per session, and your IP address will be sent to the recipient along with your message. Commercial emails are not allowed through this tool.

 

I, too, do not understand why this "feature" (the captcha) is needed for logged-in members.

Edited by Stunod
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I want to believe that the powers that be are clueful enough that they wouldn't implement something like this if it weren't necessary. It sure seems that it shouldn't be necessary for premium members, tho.

 

Whatever the case, it would be nifty to hear the official story.

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Well, others HAVE received spam mail and abusive mail. Sometimes this is whinged about in the forums. The captcha will cut back on the spam from, for example, "geocaching cruise" operators.

 

I wasn't stating that it never happens, just that it's never happened to me. I have heard of instances where the feature was abused in the past, but I was unaware that anyone had automated the process of sending out bulk unwanted emails through the contact form. Still, I fail to see how adding a captcha will prevent people from manually sending out bulk unwanted messages, though it makes the process a little more difficult and I agree that it can slow the process down and at least deter people to a degree.

 

And the strengthened reminder about IP address logging and not abusing the e-mail feature *may* deter some of the anonymous flame mails that fly around.

 

I completely agree with you here. I'm glad they made the warning more obvious.

 

(edit: typo)

Edited by DavidMac
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Add my vote against the captcha (as if "my vote" had any weight in the decisions around here...both because there is no "vote" and it's "mine").

 

The only reason to include it is to stop a scripted mailer, but wouldn't a time limit between e-mails be just as efficient? A second-order time limit for stopping someone from pushing the time limit repeatedly would end scripting effectiveness for good.

 

In the end, I personally use the mail function so infrequently if the captcha remains in place, I'm not going to care too much.

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Ok, ju66l3r.. because you asked for it.. I removed it from showing for Premium and Charter members.

 

I wasn't going to, until you asked :D

 

-Raine

 

Raine, could you please explain why they should be there for non PMs but not for PMs? Perhaps we should introduce some nag screens for all who are no PMs. "If you want to remove this 20 second timeouts you can become a PM here."

 

Shhhht... search for the irony... :(

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Ok, ju66l3r.. because you asked for it.. I removed it from showing for Premium and Charter members.

 

I wasn't going to, until you asked :D

 

-Raine

 

Raine, could you please explain why they should be there for non PMs but not for PMs? Perhaps we should introduce some nag screens for all who are no PMs. "If you want to remove this 20 second timeouts you can become a PM here."

 

Shhhht... search for the irony... :(

 

I have just spoken with Raine. We have had spam problems before and and this was added to aid in preventing it from happening again.

Edited by Michael
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Ok, ju66l3r.. because you asked for it.. I removed it from showing for Premium and Charter members.

 

I wasn't going to, until you asked :(

 

-Raine

I don't care what Hydee Michael says about you, I think you are a great guy!

 

A big thank you!

Corrected!

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Ok, ju66l3r.. because you asked for it.. I removed it from showing for Premium and Charter members.

 

I wasn't going to, until you asked :(

 

-Raine

 

Raine, could you please explain why they should be there for non PMs but not for PMs? Perhaps we should introduce some nag screens for all who are no PMs. "If you want to remove this 20 second timeouts you can become a PM here."

 

Shhhht... search for the irony... :D

 

Never spoken with Raine... BUT... If someone is concertedly spamming people through their Geocaching accounts, they aren't too likely to do it with a premium member account. Why? Because to do so would require that they provide their credit card number to someone, and that means their real identity. If its not anonymous any more, its less likely to be abused. (at least this is my guess...)

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The irony of this discussion is that I have never received any SPAM through GC.com, until today.

 

I keep receiving Validation emails -- seven so far -- from GC.com, but none of them have contained valid code for me to once again become a Validated Premium Member, as I was this morning . . . :(

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The irony of this discussion is that I have never received any SPAM through GC.com, until today.

 

I keep receiving Validation emails -- seven so far -- from GC.com, but none of them have contained valid code for me to once again become a Validated Premium Member, as I was this morning . . . :laughing:

 

It doesn't count as spam when you're the one that keeps sending validation emails. When you do this it changes the validation code each time, so anything before the last one sent to you won't work.

 

I'm not sure if the emails were being throttled today but it's possible depending on your provider.

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The irony of this discussion is that I have never received any SPAM through GC.com, until today.

 

I keep receiving Validation emails -- seven so far -- from GC.com, but none of them have contained valid code for me to once again become a Validated Premium Member, as I was this morning . . . ;)

It doesn't count as spam when you're the one that keeps sending validation emails. When you do this it changes the validation code each time, so anything before the last one sent to you won't work.

 

I'm not sure if the emails were being throttled today but it's possible depending on your provider.

But . . . SPAM is mail I don't want and I am not "requesting" any validation emails. Before the day was over yesterday, I had received 13 "Validation Instruction" emails. :o

 

I just interjected this into this thread because I have never had a problem with SPAM from or through GC.com, so I didn't understand the need for the captchas.

 

The problems I am experiencing are obviously not real SPAM, but they are unwanted, unrequested emails . . . :)

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