Last modified: 2007-08-08 17:14:22 UTC

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Bug 10340 - CAPTCHA challanges keep blind users from using wikimedia's full functionality
CAPTCHA challanges keep blind users from using wikimedia's full functionality
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 4845
Product: Wikimedia
Classification: Unclassified
General/Unknown (Other open bugs)
unspecified
All All
: High major (vote)
: ---
Assigned To: Nobody - You can work on this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?t...
: accessibility
Depends on:
Blocks:
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2007-06-23 16:26 UTC by Gregory J. Rosmaita
Modified: 2007-08-08 17:14 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Web browser: ---
Mobile Platform: ---
Assignee Huggle Beta Tester: ---


Attachments

Description Gregory J. Rosmaita 2007-06-23 16:26:46 UTC
wikimedia -- at least wikipedia -- now demands not only my username and password, but if i misspell one or the other, i must also copy the contents of a visual CAPTCHA test in order to prove i'm a human and to log in.  this i cannot do, because i cannot visually process the image i am supposed to copy; in other words, i am blind.

since i cannot copy the contents of the visual CAPTCHA test, due to my lack of sight, there is no way for me to login to wikipedia if i misspell my username or password, for to do so,  i must copy the contents of a purely visual image;

this is a SERIOUS problem that needs to be addressed immediately; please consult the World Wide Consortium (W3C) Note, entitled: "Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA: Alternatives to Visual Turing Tests on the Web"

http://www.w3.org/TR/turingtest/

as for real-world examples, google is now adding an audio alternative to the CAPTCHA image, microsoft does as well; 

for a specific example, consult: 
<https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount>

wikipedia username: GJR
real name: Gregory J. Rosmaita
email: oedipus@hicom.net

i also find it EXTREMELY annoying that i can't add keywords such as CAPTCH, image, graphic, accessibility, usability, audio alternative, uni-modal UI, blindness, blind, or uni-modal -- why am i limited to keywords if they don't address the topic i'm addressing


i also could not use the "Depends on field because the tracker won't accept:
misstyping userid or password

neither could i use the "blocks" text-entry field, where i wanted to type: access to my accounts at wikimedia;

this form is a NIGHTMARE for anyone attempting to simply assist in the improvement of wikimedia, let alone use the damn thing
Comment 1 Rob Church 2007-06-23 19:41:44 UTC
I've got to say, I was under the impression we'd be finding some alternatives to help out blind/partially-sighted people when we introduced CAPTCHAs, and so far, this hasn't happened.
Comment 2 Aryeh Gregor (not reading bugmail, please e-mail directly) 2007-06-24 02:28:48 UTC
Provisionally I would suggest 1) restricting the CAPTCHA to bots and sysops, and/or 2) not introducing it until perhaps three tries instead of one.

(As for the Bugzilla form, it sucks a bit, but it's from before those fancy Web 2.0 user-provided keywords, so you get a limited choice; and "Blocks" and "Depends on" require bug numbers, otherwise they're not much more use than just entering the info in the bug itself.)
Comment 3 Platonides 2007-07-27 22:13:21 UTC
*** Bug 4845 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 Gregory J. Rosmaita 2007-07-27 22:47:30 UTC
there is currently a discussion of CAPTCHA best-practices and alternatives being conducted on the World Wide Web Consortium's wai-xtech public mailing list:

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/wai-xtech

please check out what has transpired on wai-xtech over the past 2 months, and which continues, with participation from the reCAPTCHA project from CMU, representatives of other major implementors of CAPTCHA-type challanges, and please, by all means, join in the discussion -- the more minds, the better, and the collaborative nature of the discussion and attempts to build a better bot-trap mirrors the ethos of wikimedia.
Comment 5 Brion Vibber 2007-08-08 17:14:22 UTC

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 4845 ***

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