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I think one way to make CAPTCHA be more acceptable is to make it funny, but for some reason most CAPTCHA do not do this. Would this be seen as unprofessional or could this be a good way to make a necessary annoyance more engaging and amusing?

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But Captcha are funny knowyourmeme.com/memes/inglip – Ben Brocka♦ Dec 5 '11 at 15:21
The CAPTCHA here in StackExchange sites is funny... – Matt Rockwell Dec 5 '11 at 15:40
@MattRockwell I can't quite tell if you're a human. Please fill out this form...:) – Ben Brocka♦ Dec 5 '11 at 15:44
@Matt Rockwell good to know, thx for that! could you explain in details all the jokes? it would be very useful for normal people (not from US or whatever you guys are) – 0101 Dec 5 '11 at 15:45
The basic humor I've seen on Captcha pages is to poke fun at the user saying we don't know if you're a robot, which is what SE does. I don't know if anyone has a screenshot of it though. – Ben Brocka♦ Dec 5 '11 at 15:46
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2 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

The CAPTCHA used on the UX.SE(and most likely other SE sites) is brilliant. It is light hearted and gives a chuckle instead of annoying you. This might not appease everyone, but it sure attempts to make light of an annoying situation. Also while being funny, it gives context to why you are being asked to enter the CAPTCHA text, to prove "I'm a Human Being".

enter image description here

It also goes on to explain on the right side:

Are you a human being? We apologize for the confusion, but we can't quite tell if you're a person or a script. Please don't take this personally. Bot and scripts can be remarkably lifelike these days! Enter the CAPTCHA displayed, and we'll be out of your way.

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it was funny in the beginning of SO, its just boring. – 0101 Dec 5 '11 at 15:57
@0101 It seems you are hard to please :) – Matt Rockwell Dec 5 '11 at 15:58
You missed the copy at the side! That's the best part i.stack.imgur.com/9m7uI.png – Ben Brocka♦ Dec 5 '11 at 15:58
@BenBrocka Added it to my answer, thanks for that! – Matt Rockwell Dec 5 '11 at 16:02
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The human verification above is great!!!! I like it! – sysscore Dec 5 '11 at 16:04
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up vote 1 down vote

I think Captchas should be simple. The user has no interest to decode cryptic pictures. But I don't know how secure are some simpler captchas...

Examples for simpler Captchas: http://serie3.info/s3capcha/demonstration.php

http://uxmovement.com/forms/captchas-vs-spambots-why-the-checkbox-captcha-wins/

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what should be and what it is is not the same ;) look at SO, it should be praecursor, but its worst than facebook. – 0101 Dec 5 '11 at 16:37

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