It\u2019s my own fault, really.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our e-commerce system got attacked recently and the company that runs this decided to implement a CAPTCHA on all the sites. \u00a0This is one of those where you see some characters and lines and have to type the characters in to get past it.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s annoying, but it can help if done well. This one wasn’t. I didn\u2019t see this in action until I was getting ready to launch a new and complicated e-commerce site. I had put a lot of work into this and when I clicked the link, it went first to the CAPTCHA.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine if you went to Amazon.com and had to decipher and type in some characters before you could even see a logo. Not good.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sent a note to our cashier\u2019s office since they manage our local instance. The subject was: CAPTCHA implementation = terrible
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I gave an example, railed against having this as the starting page, expressed outrage at the lack of accessibility, and grumbled at how our users will think this is a mistake and lack confidence in the links.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wrapped up this gem of an email by asking if I could have the contact information for our rep so that I could scold them.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a good rapport with the folks in the cashier\u2019s office and we appreciate the work that goes into these systems and interacting with the users. I figured I\u2019d get a quick note back and I could take it from there.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INSTEAD\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cashier\u2019s office forwarded the note to the rep directly with all my text intact – who then forwarded it to some regional rep. With my request to \u201cscold\u201d right there above my signature.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uh-oh.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a few minutes, my phone was ringing with an unknown number. I was already on a call and I dreaded the voice-mail that was left. And it was the regional guy looking to set up a conference call with us.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He followed up with an email, admitting this was a rushed implementation, and would like to talk to us about the situation. The guy from the cashier\u2019s office replied with, \u201cAnthony is the primary on this one and can take the call, he\u2019ll update me if needed,\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, instead of UA vs. the e-commerce company – it\u2019s the e-commerce company vs. well…me.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t really expect it to be quite this dark under the bus where I\u2019ve been tossed.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though my language could have been more professional – and would have been if my flippant note hadn\u2019t been forwarded – I\u2019m not wrong. The CAPTCHA should have been on the payment page to do the most good and the version they are using is old tech and not accessible. I\u2019ve got users that literally get confused if there\u2019s more than one item to choose from – a CAPTCHA on the homepage is going to blow their minds.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, on Monday, someone is going to get scolded. Might be me, might be them. My plan is to be reasonable, but firm, and express my concerns in a professional and user-advocating manner.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the cashier\u2019s office? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are off<\/u> my Christmas cookie list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
O-F-F.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s my own fault, really. Our e-commerce system got attacked recently and the company that runs this decided to implement a CAPTCHA on all the sites. \u00a0This is one of those where you see some characters and lines and have to type the characters in to get past it. It\u2019s annoying, but it can help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_bluesky_dont_syndicate":"","_bluesky_syndication_accounts":"","_bluesky_syndication_text":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2491\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderofwade.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}