We've all run into them while trawling the interwebz. Designed to deter spambots, CAPTCHAs are kinds of online tests that involve a visual-perception task such as identifying distorted text. The aim, of course, is to confound computers, while remaining easy enough for humans to solve.
In practice, however, many people find themselves scratching their heads over confusing CAPTCHAs. One website, CRAPCHA, parodies these "annoying registration fields you never get right on the first try" by providing impossible-to-do CAPTCHAs that feature nonsensical symbols.
Developed by Thomas Park, a human-computer interaction researcher, CRAPCHA serves no purpose other than to "annoy users by presenting a CAPTCHA with indecipherable text," according to his website. For those interested in driving people away, CRAPCHA can be added to your site.
Do you find CAPTCHAs annoying? And do they serve a worthwhile purpose? Tell us in the comments, below.