Submitted by Michael Brydon on Sat, 10/09/2010 - 09:07.
Sites like this are vulnerable to attacks by spammers. Spammers use automated programs ("bots") to post unwanted advertisements (typically porn, Viagra, Nigerian scams, etc.). These advertisements arrive in the thousands and completely overwhelm the legitimate content on the site.
Over time I have been forced to add barriers to automated attacks to the Area 'F' site. For example, you now have to answer a "local knowledge" question if you want to create a user account. If you live in and around Area 'F', you will have little difficulty answering the question; you will have more difficulty if you are a Russian teenage spammer or a computer program. When you create a user account you will also have to deal with a puzzle consisting of distorted letters and/or numbers. This system, which is known as Captcha, is a technique used to foil bots and is increasingly common on discussion forums and community sites. Whereas people can usually decipher the characters (granted with some effort and inconvenience), all but the most sophisticated bots cannot. This prevents bots from creating accounts or posting comments.
If you register for an account on this site, you will only have to do one Captcha puzzle. Once you are authenticated as a real person, you can respond to posts without the annoyance of the Captchas. If you choose not to register (and thus remain anonymous) you will have to do a Captcha each time you submit a comment.
If you absolute refuse to do the Captcha, simply send me an email with your preferred username and email address and I will create an account for you.
Why all the hassle to create an account?
Sites like this are vulnerable to attacks by spammers. Spammers use automated programs ("bots") to post unwanted advertisements (typically porn, Viagra, Nigerian scams, etc.). These advertisements arrive in the thousands and completely overwhelm the legitimate content on the site.
Over time I have been forced to add barriers to automated attacks to the Area 'F' site. For example, you now have to answer a "local knowledge" question if you want to create a user account. If you live in and around Area 'F', you will have little difficulty answering the question; you will have more difficulty if you are a Russian teenage spammer or a computer program. When you create a user account you will also have to deal with a puzzle consisting of distorted letters and/or numbers. This system, which is known as Captcha, is a technique used to foil bots and is increasingly common on discussion forums and community sites. Whereas people can usually decipher the characters (granted with some effort and inconvenience), all but the most sophisticated bots cannot. This prevents bots from creating accounts or posting comments.
If you register for an account on this site, you will only have to do one Captcha puzzle. Once you are authenticated as a real person, you can respond to posts without the annoyance of the Captchas. If you choose not to register (and thus remain anonymous) you will have to do a Captcha each time you submit a comment.
If you absolute refuse to do the Captcha, simply send me an email with your preferred username and email address and I will create an account for you.