Community captcha bias against color blind people

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1

This is the only web site I have  ever encountered where you are asked to enter in only the characters in black.  I struggle with this a lot of times due to color blindness issues.  If I focus on it, it finally comes through, but I think that there should never be a value associated with color, and this is no exception.

I would like to see WD drop this requirement.

2

The captcha has prevented these boards from getting spammed with advertising and bots. Around 3 years ago these boards were just full of them because there was no protection for that until the captcha  kicked in, which is something several veteran requested for a loooong time before it got implemented.

If you’re color blind then a color revision could help and you should tell a mod about colors that could work, but dropping the captcha as a whole? No thank you…

3

flashfearless wrote:

 

This is the only web site I have  ever encountered where you are asked to enter in only the characters in black. 

To that specific “challenge” (that being diferentiating red from black), I agree with you – but if you’ve never encountered other color-based catpchas before, you must not have been around long.  :)

WD used to use reCAPTCHA, which had an optional audio component, but even normally-sighted folks complained that they couldn’t solve them.

By their very nature, captchas (regardless of type) will always exclude a certain group of people.

  • Visual captchas will exclude those with vision impairments.
  • Audible captchas will exclude those with hearing impairments.
  • Switchable captchas (such as reCAPTCHA) will exclude those that are both deaf and blind.
  • Problem-solving captchas exclude those that lack the skills to solve the problem.
  • Etc, etc.

There’s just no way around it yet.

1 Like
4

Did I say “remove the captcha?”  NO.  Read the post before you criticize.  My issue with this particular captcha is the nature of having to pick out red from black.  It is annoying as **bleep**.  And yes, I have been in the IT field for 28 years, so I have been around the block a few thousand times, and I have never ever before encountered a captcha reliant on colors.

Can we just pick a different style of captcha?  As a developer of over 25 years experience, it was always considered poor design to incorporate data elements in the form of color just for this specific reason.  When the pointy haired boss wanted the number colored red if the customer was delinquent, it was pointed out how that is bad design, and there is a more intuitive way to communicate that information.  Like a checkbox next to the number indicating delinquent.

5

flashfearless wrote:

 

Did I say “remove the captcha?”  NO.

Yeah, you kinda did…  Your first post said:

flashfearless wrote:

 

I would like to see WD drop this requirement.

I, too, took this to mean drop the captcha…

flashfearless wrote:

 

Can we just pick a different style of captcha? 

Well, as I stated above, you either leave out one group or another.   I guess it’s up to WD to decide whom to cross.  I guess, in this case, WD decided to exclude the group that represents a small percentage of people.

6

flashfearless wrote:

 

Did I say “remove the captcha?”  NO.  Read the post before you criticize.  My issue with this particular captcha is the nature of having to pick out red from black.  It is annoying as **bleep**.  And yes, I have been in the IT field for 28 years, so I have been around the block a few thousand times, and I have never ever before encountered a captcha reliant on colors.

 

Can we just pick a different style of captcha?  As a developer of over 25 years experience, it was always considered poor design to incorporate data elements in the form of color just for this specific reason.  When the pointy haired boss wanted the number colored red if the customer was delinquent, it was pointed out how that is bad design, and there is a more intuitive way to communicate that information.  Like a checkbox next to the number indicating delinquent.

 

 

I will definitely let it be known that there is an issue with our color captcha and those that are color blind.  Although I can’t promise that it will change anytime soon, every so often we do re-evaluate how effectively the Captcha is working.  And we will keep your request in mind. 

2 Likes
7

I have just joined the WD Community as a new user and am already impressed by the useful and lively discussions being generated by WD Community members. It makes me feel confident about my new WD purchase and I look forward to being an active member of the community. 

However, I just want to reiterate what other users have pointed out about the color-based capcha. I certainly understand the need for anti-spam measures since this enchances the community for everyone. However, I have an extreme case of color vision deficiency (strong protan) and it seems I will never be able to solve the simple capchas without the assistance of others or resorting to a third-party color software. It seems that this was last acknowledged in 2013 and that the WD team would evaluate alternatives (at least this is what I understood…I do know no promises were made). 

I strongly urge the team behind the forums to consider alternatives. This is still very much a real issue and is a frustrating aspect of an otherwise excellent community-based support forum. Even a tiny change (such as changing to strongly contrasting colors i.e. yelllow & purple) to the current system would greatly improve usability, as I will never be able to distinguish between red and black.

8

an easy way to spot the black characters is … they are the 1st , 2nd and 4th

eg. i clicked Reset Capcha around a dozen times and the black chararters are always the same order … 1st,2nd and 4th

eg.

124.jpg

9

dibbzlive wrote:

I have just joined the WD Community as a new user and am already impressed by the useful and lively discussions being generated by WD Community members. It makes me feel confident about my new WD purchase and I look forward to being an active member of the community. 

 

However, I just want to reiterate what other users have pointed out about the color-based capcha. I certainly understand the need for anti-spam measures since this enchances the community for everyone. However, I have an extreme case of color vision deficiency (strong protan) and it seems I will never be able to solve the simple capchas without the assistance of others or resorting to a third-party color software. It seems that this was last acknowledged in 2013 and that the WD team would evaluate alternatives (at least this is what I understood…I do know no promises were made). 

 

I strongly urge the team behind the forums to consider alternatives. This is still very much a real issue and is a frustrating aspect of an otherwise excellent community-based support forum. Even a tiny change (such as changing to strongly contrasting colors i.e. yelllow & purple) to the current system would greatly improve usability, as I will never be able to distinguish between red and black.

Joey’s let out the super secret sauce.  So, now you know the easy fix.  Nevertheless, I just wanted you to know that there will be a change in the captcha by mid-October, and this will be much easier for all.