Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Let's Solve Reddit's CAPTCHA Problem (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by jage9
There's been a couple of posts recently about the lack of blind users on Reddit and also the current CAPTCHA situation, and I think it's time we do something about it.
As background, Reddit uses a CAPTCHA system in many places to guard against automated submissions, robots, and spammers. These are the visual pictures where you need to type the letters you see to complete a task. On Reddit, this is used on the registration page as well as randomly for new posts.
As a blind person, these CCAPTCHA systems are virtually unusable. Many sites that use CAPTCHAs offer an audio alternative which solves this problem for most. Ideally, there would be a text-based CAPTCHA as well so that deaf-blind individuals would be able to sign up as well. But currently, Reddit offers no alternatives, and this is likely one of the main reasons that few blind people are on this sub.
Implementing an alternative to CAPTCHA should be a relatively simple thing to do from a programming perspective. The trick is to convince the right people in charge that it's something that needs to be done.
While the Reddit site itself is not perfect, I find it pretty much usable, aside from the CAPTCHA. There are some tools that can be used to read CAPTCHA words that work in limited situations, but it is far from an ideal solution. The change needs to come from Reddit itself so that this site is usable by as many people as possible.
Please cross-post or share this where you feel it appropriate, and let's discuss what we might do to orchestrate change.
As background, Reddit uses a CAPTCHA system in many places to guard against automated submissions, robots, and spammers. These are the visual pictures where you need to type the letters you see to complete a task. On Reddit, this is used on the registration page as well as randomly for new posts.
As a blind person, these CCAPTCHA systems are virtually unusable. Many sites that use CAPTCHAs offer an audio alternative which solves this problem for most. Ideally, there would be a text-based CAPTCHA as well so that deaf-blind individuals would be able to sign up as well. But currently, Reddit offers no alternatives, and this is likely one of the main reasons that few blind people are on this sub.
Implementing an alternative to CAPTCHA should be a relatively simple thing to do from a programming perspective. The trick is to convince the right people in charge that it's something that needs to be done.
While the Reddit site itself is not perfect, I find it pretty much usable, aside from the CAPTCHA. There are some tools that can be used to read CAPTCHA words that work in limited situations, but it is far from an ideal solution. The change needs to come from Reddit itself so that this site is usable by as many people as possible.
Please cross-post or share this where you feel it appropriate, and let's discuss what we might do to orchestrate change.
thatsnotgneiss 3 points
It seems that there are two ways to get things changed on Reddit:
1. Get some sort of article written about the problem that kind of shames Reddit into acting.
2. Get the attention of someone with clout, either a power user, admin, or possibly a default sub.
1. Get some sort of article written about the problem that kind of shames Reddit into acting.
2. Get the attention of someone with clout, either a power user, admin, or possibly a default sub.
blinddiver91 2 points
Hello. Blind person of Reddit here, there is a way to solve the captia problem. There is a little Firefox add on called webvisum only problem is you need an invite by someone who already has it. I am willing to give out invites to people who need it only problem is they need to send me there email.
jage9 [OP] 2 points
Thanks for doing this. It's certainly a solution for some people and what I used to sign on. Unfortunately, it only works with one browser on one OS so definitely not a solution for everyone.
thatsnotgneiss 2 points
I just sent the admins this message:
Dear Admins,
I'm an active user of your site, but I am also going blind. Reddit has a small, but awesome /r/blind subreddit that has noticed that the captchas on Reddit are image only. While I am sure that makes a huge difference in spam, it also makes it very difficult for blind and low vision users to be able to post or register on Reddit.
Could it be possible to change the captchas to audio OR image? Reddit is otherwise super easy to navigate for the low vision, and we would very much appreciate this small but meaningful change.
Sincerely,
thatsnotgneiss
Dear Admins,
I'm an active user of your site, but I am also going blind. Reddit has a small, but awesome /r/blind subreddit that has noticed that the captchas on Reddit are image only. While I am sure that makes a huge difference in spam, it also makes it very difficult for blind and low vision users to be able to post or register on Reddit.
Could it be possible to change the captchas to audio OR image? Reddit is otherwise super easy to navigate for the low vision, and we would very much appreciate this small but meaningful change.
Sincerely,
thatsnotgneiss
serrebi 2 points
I agree. I am mostly a lurker, but not everyone has a reliable captcha solution or has someone around: So this would be nice to have fixed.
Nighthawk321 1 points
I just use the Firefox addon called Webvism. Solves it for you.
romanj35 1 points
Even though I don't think it would ever happen I always thought a good idea was to just make a seperate type of account for the blind and low visioned. I'd be willing to submit paperwork, doctor or otherwise, for an account that'd let me go without having to input the capcha, or what ever it's called.
jage9 [OP] 1 points
That would be way more effort than just fixing the CAPTCHA from an administrative point of view.
bondolo 1 points
Has anyone tried simply contacting them via the $1 link or /r/ideasfortheadmins or /r/bugs or /r/help. /u/chromakode seems to be the dev most involved with reddit's captcha. He was very responsive a couple of years ago when reddit first began to add ARIA.
jage9 [OP] 1 points
I don't remember if I did before but certainly can. I think I may have been thwarted by a CAPTCHA on the contact page ironically. Thanks for all of the ideas.
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