CaptchaTest''''''s seem to work for web security, especially against mindless bots designed to change punctuation just to annoy us.

When these problems started, Ward C. asked us to "spread the word" that all the humans here are stewards of this wiki, but that implies we are the janitors too.

I (PhlIp) ignored these problems until I experienced a curious change. I now fear to edit a page, because I don't want to draw attention to it, get it argued over, get it robo-vandalized, and get it robo-cleansed.

This situation is not working; please add a simple Captcha, like all other Web 2.0 systems use.  

''Probably a good idea, but FYI the major ongoing issue (Anon a.k.a. GrammarVandal etc) mostly does not use bot scripts -- he's capable of doing so, and has done so at times, but '''mostly''' he's a problem merely with his obsessive by-hand edits and reverts done via an unbounded number of proxies. So Captcha, while a good idea in general, would not particularly help with the number one problem.''

''Also, famously Ward is barely active with wiki issues these days, spending his time on other things and delegating to Stewards, so he's not likely to make codebase changes of any sort any time soon. He is, however, pondering possible major directional shifts for the future; we shall see.''

Has anybody by chance asked for permission to add such a feature via their own work? There is a difference between asking Ward to add it and asking that Ward allow you to add it. Perhaps if a trusted group of wikizens get together and confront Ward, he may be more open to it.

''Please don't.  Captchas are '''annoying'''.  More than hidden frames, search whores, tracking cookies, flashing and beeping ads, constant offers of that ultimate mortgage/credit card combo that not only consolidates all my debts but also increases my penis size, etc.  It's now getting to the point where some captchas are unreadable.  I am sick and tired of people in the BigBlueRoom constantly insisting that I have to prove who I am, and disgusted that such nonsense is spreading to the Web.  Perhaps we could take the contrary approach, and provide an AntiCaptcha?  We could deal with the GrammarVandal by adding a "minor edit" checkbox for fixes that are only spelling and grammar, and any edit with this checked are silently ignored :-)''

The "GrammarVandal" is not a dramatic identity - it is a specific form of malicious vandalism. Hiding the edits is not a fix!

''Who said anything about ''hiding'' them?  I said they should be "''silently ignored''", as in "''fail without telling the user''".  It would appear from all the descriptions that GrammarVandal ''does'' refer to a specific person, though I don't want to discuss that part further for fear of landing in ViolentAgreement.''