Well that was new
10 Feb 2012 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecatI just tried to sign up for a newsletter from a publishing company, and I encountered a Captcha. In order to see the text to type, I had to click a Play button. I was then treated to a video advertisement.
I think it's beyond offensive to have to watch an ad in order to prove I'm a human in order to sign up for a newsletter. Am I overreacting? Have I somehow failed to catch up with the new normal as far as advertising encroachment is concerned?
ETA: On further investigation, it appears that the video ad Captcha is associated with feedblitz.com, which is associated with typepad.com, which is where this publisher has its blog. The captcha is provided by http://www.solvemedia.com/ which says:
I think it's beyond offensive to have to watch an ad in order to prove I'm a human in order to sign up for a newsletter. Am I overreacting? Have I somehow failed to catch up with the new normal as far as advertising encroachment is concerned?
ETA: On further investigation, it appears that the video ad Captcha is associated with feedblitz.com, which is associated with typepad.com, which is where this publisher has its blog. The captcha is provided by http://www.solvemedia.com/ which says:
Our patent-pending technology turns CAPTCHA, those difficult combinations of distorted letters and numbers, into branded TYPE-IN™ ads. Every time a consumer enters a brand message, we share the revenue with our publisher partners.So it's not the publisher's fault, at least not directly.