[Mailman-Users] Automated Subscription Bots Inundating List Owners With Subscription Requests

[Brad Knowles]

On Oct 22, 2012, at 5:40 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull <turnbull at sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> wrote:

> I'm dubious about the net value of CAPTCHAs.  Personally, I generally
> take a CAPTCHA as a "NO TRESPASSING -- THIS MEANS YOU!" sign, and
> don't go back.

CAPTCHAs are already at the point where advanced code can apply statistical methods and solve them faster and better than many humans.

Moreover, they have been problematic for a long time -- see <http://www.tkachenko.com/blog/archives/000537.html>, <http://ezinearticles.com/?Captchas-Considered-Harmful---Why-Captchas-Are-Bad-And-How-You-Can-Do-Better&id=1104207>, and <http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/04/in-search-of-the-perfect-captcha/>, among others.


IMO, CAPTCHAs have already jumped the shark.

--
Brad Knowles <brad at shub-internet.org>
LinkedIn Profile: <http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu>