Strike One: Asirra
May 3rd, 2008
And so it begins. I mentioned some issues with reCAPTCHA, and received a this comment:
Have you tried Asirra?
So I tried it. Here are the results of my usability study:
- The images are really tiny until you hover over them.
- I found it awkward because I really can’t quickly identify the correct images without hovering over each one. It requires too much mouse precision, which slows me down.
- After selecting a few cats, I made the mistake of clicking the “Adopt Me” link, which took me to a different web site.
- When I finally clicked “Score Test”, it told me I’m a bot. (I’m not, unless of course I’m a replicant and simply don’t realize it. Hey…what’s that origami Unicorn doing on my desk?)
I suspect it thinks I’m a bot because I clicked that “Adopt Me” link, making it forget the previous selections.
In summary, this is another CAPTCHA that tries accomplishing a “mission” — adopting pets — which detracts from its usability as a CAPTCHA. In particular, the “Adopt Me” links get in the way.
Haha!
Just write a program, which vists the adopt Link, match Animal:(Dog|Cat), and mark the image as $1 ;).
This can’t be the way to beat spammers.
I did something very similar on my own blog. I make people pick non-fluffy animals.
Since it’s my own implementation I would be very surprised if a bot every managed to get through. It’s not worth automating to spam a single blog that has no traffic.
I’ve got to agree with you about that “Adopt Me” link. Maybe I’m just a really lazy mouse user… well not maybe, I am a very lazy user, and I accidentally clicked that adopt me link twice before giving up on even trying to finish the captcha.
That Asirra is possibly the worst captcha I’ve ever seen for a number of reasons.
1) As was already pointed out, its primary goal seems to be adopting animals.
2) The whole concept totally fails on accessibility for the blind.
3) Its still just proof of concept and they are already using it for advertising. yuck.
4) It fails for anyone who has bad mouse dexterity (me apparently)
Hmmm. I loved the idea. I found it much faster to use and way less eye strain then normal captchas. Maybe its time you guys clean out your mouse track balls!
And I’ve tried it a bunch of times and have yet to click on the “adopt me” link. And I disagree, I don’t think their primary goal is adopting animals, but I do know it was an agreement with the other website so get the 3 million+ pre-classified images of dogs and cats to fill a database (which is pretty smart if you ask me).
I do agree however that it’s main issue will always be that it can’t accommodate people with accessibility problems and for that reason will probably never be able to be mainstreamed.