MediaWiki talk:Captchahelp-text

Link

{{sudo}}

This could perhaps be rephrased to mention the word "captcha" explicitly, and link to the article, which has more information – Gurch 09:35, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

How about:

Web sites that accept postings from the public, like this wiki, are often abused by spammers who use automated tools to post their links to many sites. While these spam links can be removed, they are a significant nuisance.

Sometimes, especially when adding new web links to a page, the wiki may show you an image of colored or distorted text, known as a CAPTCHA, and ask you to type the words shown. Since this is a task that's hard to automate, it will allow most real humans to make their posts while stopping most spammers and other robotic attackers.

Unfortunately, this may inconvenience users with limited vision or using text-based or speech-based browsers. At the moment we do not have an audio alternative available. Please contact the site administrators for assistance if this is unexpectedly preventing you from making legitimate posts.

Hit the 'back' button in your browser to return to the page editor.

'Contact the site administrators' should probably have a link too. Are the site administrators admins or devs, in this context? Riana (talk) 13:54, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Neither is likely to be able to assist much... – Gurch 22:42, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Is discussion here still ongoing, or should I just use Riana's proposed text? (As for who to contact if you can't solve a CAPTCHA... if a CAPTCHA's blocking account creation, admins are definitely the right group of people to contact, if it's blocking an edit to an account, becoming autoconfirmed is probably the best solution (or I suppose a user could nowiki the link that triggered the CAPTCHA on the talk page and use editprotected, but a non-autoconfirmed user is hardly likely to figure out how to do that), and if it's logging into an account after an incorrect password, waiting 5 minutes is the best solution (and if the solutions here are unsatisfactory, try to persuade the devs to provide an alternative).) --ais523 08:46, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

OK, use that text. But change "site administrators" to "an administrator" and link it to Wikipedia:Administrators. On the account creation screen the text, "Unable to see the image? An administrator can create an account for you." already appears below the link to this message, so there's no need to repeat it here – Gurch 10:36, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

By analogy with other messages, linking the whole contact an administrator text somewhere would be more usual, but there isn't a specific project page for this yet (and I'd imagine it would be too low-traffic for most admins to bother with it anyway). The admins' noticeboard might be a good place, possibly; what do people think? --ais523 10:53, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

I think AN might be ok. If it's just linked to Wikipedia:Administrators, our frustrated reader has to browse through kilobytes of meta-crap before they actually find out how to contact an admin quickly. Riana (talk) 19:10, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Or WP:RAA. Riana (talk) 21:06, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Done. Cheers. --MZMcBride 04:30, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Admins

{{editprotected}} There is zero the admins can do about this. The link to WP:AN is totally useless, we need an alternative piece of advice because they just get frustrated there. GDonato (talk) 17:05, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Right, other than tell someone to wait 15 minutes. I wasn't even aware that the link on the help page led to WP:AN so when a request came in I responded with "how is this an admin issue"? Maybe direct them to the Village Pump technical page?--Isotope23 17:17, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

As a user using a screen reader, I think one solution would be to add to that page sections about when CAPTCHAS are presented, and ways to get around them for each type of captcha. For example, "If you're trying to edit a page, request that another user make the chanes for you (perhaps on the articles talk page?). If you're logging in and have just entered a bad password, you need only wait 5 minutes before you can try again without a CAPTCHA.", etc, etc. I just spent a bunch of time on the admin board when they couldn't help me, and all I really needed to do apparently was wait 5 minutes; saying that somewhere would have been useful. On a related note, someone posted above about becoming an autoconfirmed user; can someone tell me how to do this on my talk page, so I can perhaps avoid these problems in future? Thanks! Fastfinge 17:25, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

There seem to be three contexts in which this help screen will appear; creating an account, logging in, and adding external links to articles. I have created bullet points for each. Hopefully this will help. Thatcher131 18:29, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it does, there is still the 15 minute inconvenience but it is far better. I didn't think of that. Thanks, GDonato (talk) 18:43, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

The other ways to bypass the captcha entirely is either to email yourself a new password, or change your IP address and delete your cookies (you must do both, either one alone and the server will still remember you) which, depending on various variables, could take even longer. Any long term solution would have to come from the developers, I think. Thatcher131 18:48, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

This one has resurfaced - apparently from an user who was trying to add text to his homepage from a new account. Is this a fourth category of event? (see WP:AN#captcha received; I'm blind). --Alvestrand 06:07, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

No, it's the 'external link added by non-autoconfirmed user' trigger that's designed to catch spambots and warn would-be human spammers about nofollow. The CAPTCHA can be bypassed by simply asking a different user to add the link, or by waiting 4 days. --ais523 12:58, 17 September 2007 (UTC)

back button

{{editprotected}} Please could you remove (or alter) the phrase 'Hit the 'back' button in your browser to return to the page editor.' as it is not always relevant - I got to message from clicking on 'more about captcha' from MediaWiki:Fancycaptcha-createaccount for example. cheese --Lee∴V (talk • contribs) 18:16, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

 Done. People should know how to use the back button in their browser anyway. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 20:24, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Spelling error

{{editprotected}} Please correct:

On Wikipedia you may be asked to fulfil a CAPTCHA when adding new web links to a page

to any of the below:

On Wikipedia you may be asked to fill in a CAPTCHA when adding new web links to a page

On Wikipedia you may be asked to solve a CAPTCHA when adding new web links to a page

On Wikipedia you may be asked to answer a CAPTCHA when adding new web links to a page

If anyone can think of something else, that would be great. Most importantly, the current text has an error that should be corrected. PleaseStand (talk) 21:00, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

 Done. It was not totally an error, "fulfil" (British English) can mean "fill in" - but the UK spelling might confuse some editors, so it's been changed to "fill in"  Ronhjones  ^(Talk) 23:51, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 27 August 2023

In the "Options" list, please add something to the effect of

• If you are unable to solve CAPTCHAs, you may request a CAPTCHA exemption on meta.

The wording of the bullet point could probably use some work.

This permission is designed for people who cannot solve captchas (e.g. because they are visually impaired), I think it would be a good idea to signpost its existence. 86.23.109.101 (talk) 23:47, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

I'll let another admin make the final call here, but is this really a good idea? Logged out users can't make use of this advice, because permissions can't be granted to them. For logged-in users, since CAPTCHAs are only triggered when adding a link, it's almost always easier to make enough edits to become autoconfirmed and thus not need to solve CAPTCHAs anymore than to beg the stewards for an exemption. The one exception is if emergency CAPTCHA mode is enabled, however in my experience the emergency will almost certainly be over by the time the stewards would have granted the right. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 23:59, 27 August 2023 (UTC)

 Not done that isn't available to logged out users, and the fix for here on the English Wikipedia is to become autoconfirmed (or even locally confirmed) - not to go send someone off to go ask about an extremely niche global flag. — xaosflux ^Talk 00:11, 30 August 2023 (UTC)