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Ticketmaster UK dumps CAPTCHA
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 17 June 2014
Ticketmaster UK is getting rid of the most annoying part of the ticket buying experience. No, not annoyingly random add-on charges. OK, the second most annoying part of the ticket buying experience. No, not the eternal refresh of doom when you’re failing to get tickets for in-demand shows. OK, the third most annoying part of the ticket buying experience. No, not having to look at Michael McIntyre’s irritating face when you’re really looking for Lovebox tickets. OK, the fourth most annoying part of the ticket buying experience. Yes, it’s true, Ticketmaster UK is getting rid of the fourth most annoying part of the ticket buying experience. And about time too.
So, the UK wing of Ticketmaster has followed its US counterpart by getting rid of CAPTCHA which, I now know, stands for ‘Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers And Humans Apart’. It’s basically those squiggly letters that you have to type in when booking tickets, which are designed to stop automated ‘tout bots’ from buying up every single ticket to in-demand events before any actual human beings can, but which are often so squiggly, they stop most actual humans from buying tickets too.
Utilising technology from a company called Solve Media, Ticketmaster will now identify your human-ness instead by asking you to type in well known phrases or answer multiple choice questions like what’s the most irritating thing about using Ticketmaster: [a] annoyingly random add-on charges; [b] the eternal refresh of doom when you’re failing to get tickets for in-demand shows; [c] having to look at Michael McIntyre’s irritating face when you’re really looking for Lovebox tickets; or [d] having to decipher squiggly letters to prove you’re not a computer.
Says Ticketmaster International President Mark Yovich: “Ticketmaster is passionate about the fan experience and we are always looking at how we can make buying tickets a better and fairer experience for our customers. While an important step in blocking bots, we know the current CAPTCHA solution can be a frustrating part of buying tickets for fans. By working with Solve Media we’re leading the industry in creating the best possible fan experience while continuing the aggressive fight against bots”.
