Tuesday, September 8, 2009

“YOUR CAPTCHA OFFENDS ME. PAY ME $320K!”

We all know that CAPTCHA, the challenge-response security feature found on most websites nowadays, is a pain. However, most people also understand that it’s a necessary evil. We here at Backpage use it to thwart evil-doers who use spam to peddle their schemes and bots who would seek to exploit our services and harass our users.


After CAPTCHA offended one Backpage user so badly, he claims the very foundation of his company came undone. In fact, in a letter from the users’ attorney, it offended a girl, who was spamming our site performing “data entry work” on behalf of the user, so badly that the traumatic event left his employee shattered and in ruin.


What randomly generated word was the user asked to enter that could generate such chaos, you ask? The most terrible and offensive kind of all; a “slang expression for female genitalia”. At least, that’s what their attorney claims in a poorly written letter he sent us a while back.



[caption id="attachment_168" align="alignnone" width="500" caption=""This seems reasonable", we thought to ourselves."]"This seems reasonable", we thought to ourselves.[/caption]

As we all know, when fabricating a lawsuit, it is considered bad etiquette to demand anything under a quarter million dollars. Knowing this, the user, being the fine and upstanding businessman he is, has demanded we pay him $320,000 in “damages”.


For those of you keeping score at home that’s THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.


I could go on and on about how the word “pussy” isn’t a word that’s entirely uncommon to hear on network television nowadays or that it wouldn’t be a shock to see it in an elementary school library, but what I really want to know is…does anyone else see the irony here? Come on. Is it just me or is this guy being a pussy?


- Carl

22 comments:

  1. It's not just you

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  2. And uh, yeah he's being a pussy and my Perisan is offended by the fact we don't have another name for this idiot! :)

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  3. Can someone post a representation of what the pussy that this guy is so offended with? I want to see it first hand so I can make judgment for myself

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  4. Dude thats funny. I love your closing line that takes the cake. The world is full of some crazy people thats for sure. In addition what Virtual assistant gets paid $60,000???

    And yes the guy is a pussy!

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  5. Isn't the first word a real word & the second a scanned word helping with the Guttenberg Project?

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  6. Isn't pussy just another word for a cat ?

    You should sue them for having their minds in the gutter and twisting this into something that it didn't need to be.

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  7. Your site didn't pick these words, why sue you? What a bonehead.

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  8. Carl,

    I have real sympathy for you in this entire case. That word is also part of pussycat and many others. So it is so common world. And that employee of that company must not overreact this much.

    - Jonathan G.

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  9. I can see how a man could be offended by that request to enter especially if he takes it literally....

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  10. Hey, I'm totally offended at seeing the word "Attorney."

    The only thing that can make up for it is an immediate payment of $1,000,000 into my bank account.

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  11. This is a serious issue. My client has real emotional problems and needs to be compensated for complications you added to her life. If you don't pay immediately, I will also help her brother sue the pants off of you. While at work, he saw the word "cock" on your site and was asked to enter it. He also has severe emotional problems caused by your captcha. Additionally, when his boss found out he had entered the word, "cock" he was sexually assaulted as a result.

    So if you don't meet my clients demands by the deadline, I will be forced to take further action, including but not limited to, aggravation leading to sexual assault.

    You have your demands and deadline.

    Attorney of Law

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  12. This seriously made me LOL. Such an obvious scam/bogus claim but the sad thing is that occasdionally people like this do win. Hence the absurd number of warnings and diclaimers these days.

    The solution is easy really.. Allow defendants to get their own damages and law fees recovered in cases deemed to be clearly frivolous. What do you think?

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  13. You know when I read something like that, I think he Really needs to be kicked in the balls repeatedly. Oh wait, an asshole like that would like that. Oh well, it would feel good to me!!! ;)

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  14. Each morning when I wake up I open the online stores I run and the check the comments. I spend so much time blocking IP's and deleting spam but it is never over.

    This is obviously an adult site. The innocent young woman is lucky that it was only a word instead of some of the kink stuff online. Imagine if the verification was a Mistress with a slave on a live feed." Electro shock the slave to prove you are a real person".

    That is a joke people >:))

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  15. Oh my good, you must be scarred becouse this is "serious issue" :D


    I really love this kind of people which creating something instead of trying to suck every last dolar out of you...


    Maybe i should try this instead of working every day too...

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  16. oh cool, this information is really useful and definately is comment worthy! hehe. I’ll see if I can try to use some of this information for my own blog. Thanks!

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  17. Hey, i came across your page on digg and i think it's sweet!

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  18. That word "pussy" is like a Thanksgiving dinner offering orange yams
    w/marshmallows baked as the topping (how did every second rate mother/grandmother cook get that recipe?!) or the generic green
    bean casserole (w/canned fried onion rings on top)... The word
    "pussy" must have been printed in mass media communication
    for many years or otherwise, why do men utter such a foul
    expression with comfort? I usually demure: "VAGINA" and
    ask that I not be called an ugly name ("pussy").

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  19. Hey!
    This is for real?
    Are you kidddiiing?
    This is not an attorney, this man is a thief with a college degree, maybe he can help better this "offended girl" by contacting her to an psycologist, or better putting her in a box, without tv, nor radio nor PC and no contact with any human (oops! neither parrots), because all of this will make the girl go very very offended.
    And you, Carl, don´t put the name of the attorney in any captcha, because I will be feeling offended and I will sue you too.
    Offended and attorney, do you need money? Go for work!!! Like the rest of us do, #@#&#@!!!!!

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  20. IN THIS DAY AND AGE.....THAT IS COMPLETELY>STUPID.... IT MADE ME LOL...THAT THEY WUD HAVE THE GULL TO TRY.........CRAZY WORLD.....

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