---
title: "Why Word Verification Isn't The Answer"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/24/why-word-verification-isnt-the-answer.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/24/why-word-verification-isnt-the-answer.html"
published: "2006-03-24T01:29:00"
updated: "2006-03-24T01:29:00"
tags: ["Community"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "I know that human user verification systems in blogs are there for a reason, but we really need to come up with a better plan. Here's what I got on blogger today trying to post a comment: That would definitely stop any…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Why Word Verification Isn't The Answer

By Roy Osherove March 24, 2006 In [Community](https://osherove.com/blog/category/community)

**Historical article** · Originally published March 24, 2006; technical details may be outdated.

I know that human user verification systems in blogs are there for a reason, but we really need to come up with a better plan. Here's what I got on blogger today trying to post a comment:

![](https://osherove.com/img/wb/a791db23_files.osherove.com_images_badtext.gif)

That would definitely stop any robot, let alone any human!

_(yes, I know that you can ask for a "new" image to be created for you, but you're losing the point of going in, leaving a quick comment and going away. It's not "casual browsing" anymore. It's a small project!)_

_**On a related topic..** If this isn't enough, you know you should stop using word verification when [Google starts using nasty words in their verification images](http://www.flickr.com/photos/amit-agarwal/35732206/) :-)_

## More in Community

[All posts in Community](https://osherove.com/blog/category/community)

- Mar 29, 2006

    ### [The Tech-Ed Israel Blog needs some \*buzz\*](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/29/the-tech-ed-israel-blog-needs-some-buzz.html)

- Mar 29, 2006

    ### [New Israeli MVPs Announced](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/29/new-israeli-mvps-announced.html)

- Mar 23, 2006

    ### [Weblogs.asp.net Community Server 2.0 upgrade sorely missed!](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/23/weblogsaspnet-community-server-20-upgrade-sorely-missed.html)

- Mar 13, 2006

    ### [Code from DevDays Belgium available: Design for Testability & Smart Client Offline Caching and Synchronization](https://osherove.com/blog/2006/3/13/code-from-devdays-belgium-available-design-for-testability-a.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

### Social

- X: https://x.com/royosherove
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osherove/

### Contact

- Contact form: https://forms.gle/jQSx5KoXvrVA1JCK7

### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/