CAPTCHAs - A necessary evil?

Earlier this week, one of GottaQuirk's readers commented that our CAPTCHA system wasn't working properly on IE7 (BTW - this has since been fixed) and it reminded me of how much I hate them (I hate CAPTCHAs - not the readers).

I understand why they exist, and I've sort of come to accept them as a necessary evil, but they still cause me a fair bit of annoyance.
I don't know if my vision is just poor, but I'd estimate that at least once a week I misinterpret a CAPTCHA code.

I've just come across this article over at web log tools collection and it raises a few interesting points.

For me, the big one is,

 "Any extra work required to comment is likely to deter some people from commenting at all."

So now, having been reassured that my own anti-captcha view is not a completely irrational one, I'm wondering how many readers of this blog feel the same way.

Does a CAPTCHA ever deter you from posting a comment? Let me know in the comments section.

(Yes, I do realise the irony of asking people to enter a CAPTCHA code to comment on their dislike for said codes)

Comment on "CAPTCHAs - A necessary evil?"

Original post by Darren Ravens