My email provider has apparently decided I am not human. Every time I try to send an email, it posts strangely twisted letters for me to identify to prove that I am not a machine. Since I have a hard time seeing some of the twists and turns, occasionally this email provider kicks me off its site for not being human.
Does anyone else see the irony of trying to prove to a computer that I am other than it? And losing?
Perhaps the computer should be trying to prove to me that it exists. Or at least that it knows what it’s doing. My email provider says there has been too much spam being sent from my IP address, which is why they need this proof of humanity (as if humans never send junk email) but the IP address they say is mine, the email address all that spam is originating from is in Kansas City. Huh? What does that have to do with me? I am more than a thousand miles away from Kansas, though maybe I fell down a rabbit hole without being aware of it? No, wait . . . rabbit holes have to do with Wonderland, not Kansas. Must be all this email jabberwocky that’s confusing me. Or perhaps to a computer — which I may or may not be — Wonderland and Oz are the same place.
I do understand the rationale behind the captchas — spam is getting way out of control. In the last few weeks, three people I know had their email accounts hacked, and two lost the accounts and everything in them. At least a dozen Facebook friends had their profiles hacked in the past couple of days and naked photos were posted through their accounts (photos that have over five hundred thousand likes, I might add — apparently I’m going about social networking all wrong. I’m lucky to get five likes per post).
And on top of all this, every few minute a png file tries to open itself on my computer, files with bizarre names such as jkjsylddw.png or qwxxcvjks.png. Perhaps a computer or two has decided I’m one of them and they are coming on to me?
Ah, well, I’ll just have to continue traveling the twisted path of trying to prove I am human. But I still think it’s bizarre I have to continually prove it. I mean, whatever happened to “I think, therefore I am”? Shouldn’t that be proof enough?
Bertram's Blog 
November 14, 2011 at 8:17 pm
It’s bad enough to have to prove your human – but wouldn’t it be nice if we could actually read the
letters they want us to type? Not to worry. I’ll vouch for you Pat. You’re the most human person I know. 🙂
November 14, 2011 at 11:01 pm
So sweet of you to say, Deb. Now if you can just tell that to my email provider!!
November 14, 2011 at 9:18 pm
And the older you get, the more difficult it is to read those stupid, wonky letters. BTW, I just heard some utility is going to refuse to take cash for its services and will charge you a fee if you persist in doing so. It has become a jabberwacky (no typo) world.
November 14, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Oh, my. They have been promising a cashless society for a long time, I just hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with it.
November 15, 2011 at 2:25 pm
I feel sorry for those who need to send spam to make a living. That’s beyond pitiful. It also makes me grateful that I’m not a computer. As for the secret letters, it’s probably better I don’t say what I think.