Poll: How do you feel about marketing captchas?

[Flatfrog]

In the past few months, the SolveMedia box has introduced a new twist: instead of a captcha-like test, it sometimes has a piece of marketing. 'Describe this brand...' or in the case of the one I'm looking at now, enter the name of a gambling website to get a free bet.

I hate these things. Every time one comes up, I refuse to answer it, or occasionally answer it with a phrase such as 'no, fuck you'. It offends me that they've found yet another way to insinuate marketing messages into my life. I understand that advertising pays for this site. But I think I put up with enough of it waiting 30 seconds for a video and seeing banners and borders everywhere. I don't have an ad blocker for that reason. But for some reason, this particular piece of marketing gets right up my nose and makes me actively hate the companies they're advertising.

Am I against the zeitgeist here? Is this just one more thing I have to accept?

(After I requested an alternative to the gambling one, Captcha seems to agree - "I want control". And also - sorry, Captcha, I'm aware you and SolveMedia are completely different people. But everyone calls it Captcha. Victims of your own success, I'm afraid)

 

[IceForce]

The captchas I've been getting recently have had "Free download! Click here!" on them.
They don't actually say what the download actually is. And I haven't clicked on any of them to find out either, because it's probably some sort of malware.

I get that this website needs money, but sheesh, some of these captcha shenanigans is like selling your soul to the devil.

 

[teqrevisited]

Reluctantly put up with bordering on hate.

I wonder every time I see one why I'm being shown products and services that aren't available to anyone in my country. They're one step away from being Nigerian phishing scammers.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't mind "Describe the brand" ones, because "wgrwhrhbklnerg" is a valid response.

I don't like multiple choice ones where you have to pick which company is having a sale or whatever.

 

[Silvanus]

I dislike them. I dislike marketing in general, and how companies feel obliged to stick their tendrils into every facet of society.

I wouldn't say I hate them, though.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I refresh any advertisement captcha that comes up until I get one that isn't trying to sell me something. I will leave the ones that let me describe the brand or whatever, because they'll accept nonsense words. I do wish that advertising would get smarter. My Hulu account gets like 50% Disney ads now, because I keep telling it I like those. But over here, I get ads for television programs I'll never watch and the like. Try to sell me things I'd be interested in buying, and I might care more.

 

[Wickatricka]

I don't get captchas that much. Not sure why just don't get them enough for them to be a problem. Most of them are dish captchas or just write these words captchas, most them are funny lol.

 

[Esotera]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them. My answer will pretty much always be fuck you apart from when the brand is related to the US government or banks in which case it will be facist pigs.

 

[IceForce]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them.

Is that why spambots keep getting through?

I have to say, it doesn't make much sense for them to implement something that inconveniences the users, but doesn't actually stop the bots...

 

[antidonkey]

I tolerate them but I'm no fan. I understand why they are used and very much appreciate that. At least the ones here are easy. I've been at some sites where the captcha is crazy hard to figure out and using the speech function is pretty much pointless.

 

[Lilani]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them.

Is that why spambots keep getting through?

The thing about the "spambots" we get is I'm pretty sure they aren't "bots." I think they're just real people whose job it is to sign up for Internet forums and post shit. Because some respond to the threads in way too specific of a way to be a bot.

 

[Bluestorm83]

You're absolutely right. Advertising is annoying, but necessary. But FORCING me to write "Energizer Batteries Are The Best" or I can't make my comment is bullshit. It enrages me, because now I've said a thing that I do not believe. Sure, it's not as bad as forcing me to type "Allah is one, and Muhammad is His Prophet" which I do not personally believe as a theological thing, but it is still putting words into my mouth, or my fingers which are the mouth of my hands, against my will.

Good Gravy, the Solve Media Whatever has just popped up, and the goddamn thing really IS an Energizer advertisement! Mother fucking bullshit. Well, here I go, lying to a machine in order to be able to TALK TO PEOPLE.

 

[RJ 17]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them.

Is that why spambots keep getting through?

The thing about the "spambots" we get is I'm pretty sure they aren't "bots." I think they're just real people whose job it is to sign up for Internet forums and post shit. Because some respond to the threads in way too specific of a way to be a bot.

Some of them do, but there's a lot of spambots out there that have been programmed with a bank of advertisement responses. So I have to agree with those saying that in the end it defeats the purpose of the Captcha in the first place.

And really that's why I don't like them. Nevermind the fact they generally require larger responses to type in the company's slogan or specifically what's being advertised (I'm lazy and don't like typing something as long as "NFL.com for fantasy football" just to have my post put up), in the end I just don't think they work as well as the standard "type this random phrase" Captchas. Hell, there's some where it just says "Describe this brand using any word(s)."...you can literally put ANYTHING in the box and it'll accept it...how is that serving the purpose of a Captcha?

 

[Nielas]

Here is a creepy one I encountered:

In a previous post in a thread, I mentioned that I was born in Poland. I have not actually lived in Poland for close to 25 years and I can barely read Polish anymore. However, the captcha system decided based on the parsing of an off-hand comment that it would be a good idea to show me a marketing ad in Polish about a company I have never heard off.

 

[evilneko]

The captchas I've been getting recently have had "Free download! Click here!" on them.
They don't actually say what the download actually is. And I haven't clicked on any of them to find out either, because it's probably some sort of malware.

I get that this website needs money, but sheesh, some of these captcha shenanigans is like selling your soul to the devil.

Well, ads are the number one vector for malware, it was only a matter of time until SolveMedia started distributing some.

 

[tardcore]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them.

Is that why spambots keep getting through?

The thing about the "spambots" we get is I'm pretty sure they aren't "bots." I think they're just real people whose job it is to sign up for Internet forums and post shit. Because some respond to the threads in way too specific of a way to be a bot.

Yeah I think you are correct Lilani. Hang on a minute, people can get PAID to go to forums and post SHIT!? And to think I've only been doing it as a hobby all these years.

On the whole advertising in captcha, I don't like it. The rank stink of force fed advertising is everywhere now days thanks to these companies forgetting that telling us about their products is a privilege and not a right. Companies can espouse the wonders of their products all they want but we as consumers have absolutely no responsibly to listen.

 

[Worgen]

The ones that make you type in some marketing bullshit like 'the clap is only available from dish' are pains in the ass, but the ones that ask if you now what a specific brand does or something, are fine.

 

[Esotera]

It completely defeats the purpose of a captcha, which is to make it highly impractical for robots to solve them.

Is that why spambots keep getting through?

I have to say, it doesn't make much sense for them to implement something that inconveniences the users, but doesn't actually stop the bots...

I guess it's technically possible to write a program that can solve the easier captchas like describing brands. But most spammers will just rely on cheap human labour to solve the captcha, then get the program to do the post.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I simply make a point of not buying said products.

Things like JEEP and random American brands not avalible in New Zealand are easy.

Groups like The Red Cross, I just stop donating to.

Its petty and won't amount to much but I like to think of it as a personal 'fuck you' to whoever thought it would be a good advertise like this.