Editor,
It has been said that there is always one thing we can find to unite us all, one common enemy, one thing so repugnant to all good people that they will stand side by side with those they have professed to hate to put an end to that thing.
The comment boards on the Daily Lobo website have reached a point in which the vitriol and anger and animosity are reaching critical levels. What we need now is that one thing to unite us all, and I know what that thing is: the CAPTCHA.
It does not matter what side of the debate you come down on in your opinion. Once you have committed to banging that opinion out ham-handedly on the Lobo website, we all face the scourge that is reading that stupid little CAPTCHA, deciphering what it is, then correctly recreating it in the required field.
When I see the CAPTCHA at the end of a post, I sympathize with all posters on these forums and realize that no matter what side of the wall we stand on, there in the middle, waiting to be thrown from the top of the wall to its death, is the CAPTCHA—our common enemy.
While I may not like the opinion of some people, my heart bleeds for them when I think of them dealing with the CAPTCHA.
They spend the better part of 20-30 seconds posting their unverifiable opinions backed by no facts, or links to details, keys probably flying off their keyboards in shattered bits as they pound, spittle building at the corners of their mouths before finally being expelled on their monitors as unconscious drives cause them to exhale and begin breathing again, only to be rebuffed by the CAPTCHA.
My heart bleeds for my fellow posters when I think of them bashing out their muted, ill-formed opinions for that 30-40 seconds, putting in the CAPTCHA and then realizing after they hit enter that they had the CAPTCHA wrong.
Gone, in an instant, are these words of the wise. These thought-provoking and heart-moving words could have changed the world. Now they are lost to the vacuous space of the Internet—the digital landfill containing old Harry Potter slash fic and LOLCATS
I would hope this letter would either convince the Daily Lobo to remove the CAPTCHA, or at the very least bind together all posters under one common banner: eradicating the CAPTCHA.
Jason Stafford
UNM student
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