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Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

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Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#151

Post by ScottBurson »

raganwald wrote: post #78
corin_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people smarter than the vast majority of HN users (how can this really be judged, sure, but I'd place money on it, certainly far, far smarter than me) who wouldn't know those, and I know many, many people who are damn smart (just not fitting them into the "smarter than most people here", but definitely smart enough to belong here if they wanted to) who also wouldn't know them.

I beg your pardon, I was trying to crack a funny. It seems it is impossible to parody an extremist belief without somebody mistaking it for the general article. I was attempting to parody the fundamentalist debating pedant point of view. Poe’s Law strikes again: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poes_Law

Oh crap. I caught your joke about pope-approved condoms the other day, but this time you had me going.

I found this puzzle both entertaining and educational. I guess that means I'm not qualified to post here ;-}

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#152

Post by drv »

kilburn wrote: post #96

I am a non-native speaker, and to me it looks like the second captcha is wrong. According to what they've taught me, it should be "Do you know _____ are we going?" instead of the proposed "Do you know _____ we are going?" , shouldn't it (notice the "we are/are we" swapping)?

No, "Do you know where we are going?" is correct; however, without the "Do you know", "Where are we going?" would be correct.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#153

Post by jmilloy »

jmilloy wrote: post #148
boredguy8 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the ESL comment: that's cute. But to your broader point I ask, "Why?" If I can comment in an online discussion group or I can post on an online discussion group, why is the relation of my temper any different than the relation of my post? The OED is useful here: it literally defines in as equal to on in the second definition of the prepositional form of 'in'. There's an extended history of the relation between…

While "on" sounds much more natural to me, I think "in" works as well. But definitely not because on and in are interchangeable. You can simply say: "He let loose his temper." so... It is poor form to sleep in a meeting. It is poor form to scream in a meeting. It is poor form to loose your temper in a meeting.

Actually, I realize I squeezed in let without noticing. Try this...

---

"on" sounds much more natural to me, and I think that's enough for me. Idiom counts in a language, too. In and on might seem technically interchangeable, but (sometimes) if it sounds wrong, it's wrong.

You can say, "I lose my temper." So like you can say "It is poor form to sleep in a meeting.", you can also say, "It is poor form to lose your temper in a meeting."

As someone else commented, you definitely can say, "I let loose my temper." So, "It is poor form to let loose your temper in a meeting." is fine.

But, can you say, "I loose my temper."? I think you can, but it is very very unnatural.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#154

Post by drv »

darklajid wrote: post #49
alecbenzer wrote: post #10

this would also seem to discriminate against people who aren't native english speakers (or w/e other language).

Reminds me of a common beginner's problem if you're starting with German: Who is 'Wer' in German Where is 'Wo' in German Trivial, but I see lots of people (and sometimes myself) falling for this trap.

It happens the other way around too (German to English), and sometimes you end up with non-words like "somewhen". It's an interesting exercise to determine a writer's native language by the oddities of their writing.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#155

Post by jmilloy »

defen wrote: post #142
ZoFreX wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone would ever use loose in that manner without preceding it with "let"? Feel free to correct me, but to me that sounds very wrong.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed , and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

A good poet knows when and how to defy grammar.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#156

Post by joeyespo »

The problem is there's a good chance of measuring the wrong thing.

If you need to pass a test to post, sure you'll keep out a lot of bad comments. But you'll also limit the pool of acceptance. There could be plenty of people who fail the test having something positive to add. Standardized tests prove this. There are those who are lousy test takers but end up being very successful. Also, certain topics might be easy to answer with someone with sufficient experience in the subject without requiring even average intelligence.

So this limitation might increase the quality of posts, but also adds a kind of tunnel vision to the site.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#157

Post by xd »

cromulent wrote: post #136
xd wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In simple social situations that may be true. But not being able to grasp the basics of language will have an effect on how someone communicates complicated thoughts and ideas. How would you expect someone taking on a programming challenge of say, an operating system, without the basic understanding of boolean logic to fair?

"fair", or fare? Those damn homophones ;)

Thanks for pointing that out, now I'm one step closer to infallibility ;)

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#158

Post by forensic »

jmilloy wrote: post #155
defen wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed , and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

A good poet knows when and how to defy grammar.

Except he isn't defying grammar. It's correct to use loose that way.

Re: Captchas To Keep Idiots Out Of Comment Threads

#159

Post by mikeash »

corin_ wrote: post #73
raganwald wrote: post #46

Here’s my test for whether you’re qualified to post to Hacker News. Pair the following five comments with their corresponding definitions: 1. “Raganwald is a blowhard whose pathetic attempts to score karma reveal him as an insecure dweeb who can’t get over being kicked around in grammar school. He and his mumblings should be should be flushed down the toilet bowl like the turds that they are.” 2. “What, raganwald is…

I know people smarter than the vast majority of HN users (how can this really be judged, sure, but I'd place money on it, certainly far, far smarter than me) who wouldn't know those, and I know many, many people who are damn smart (just not fitting them into the "smarter than most people here", but definitely smart enough to belong here if they wanted to) who also wouldn't know them.

They could look it up....

I have a really dumb spam filter on my blog which simply asks that the user "Type the word 'humour', but with American spelling". I've had a couple of complaints that this request is unfair to non-native speakers. My response is that you don't have to know it, you just have to know how to look it up.

(And yes, I saw that this stuff wasn't serious, but I thought it was a worthwhile point to make in any case. CAPTCHAs don't need to be things that users can pass without outside help.)

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