We were recently notified by one of our clients that some of their customers had complained that various pages using RECAPTCHA were not displaying it, thus anytime someone attempted to submit a form that is supposed to display this, it would display an error message that their verification did not work and to try again. After doing some research into this we discovered that in fact google.com has recently changed the previous RECAPTCHA secure URL used to call out to their site to validate your website forms to new secure URLs. Google.com purchased RECAPTCHA.net roughly about a year ago and have made some various changes since that time, most of which did not effect website owners until now.
WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN AND WHY WASN'T I NOTIFIED?
From the research we have done it appears google.com made this change roughly around mid April 2011. You can read some of the information we have found regarding this at the URLs below:
While google.com did apparently discuss this in their google groups, they apparently did not send out any mass emails to recaptcha.net account holders indicating this would be occurring.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Any websites which have RECAPTCHA installed anywhere on their sites will require a small billable upgrade in order to continue to function properly. Without this upgrade, any pages you have which use Google's RECAPTCHA technology, will no longer be able to function properly.
HOW CAN I TELL IF THAT IS INSTALLED ON MY WEBSITE?
While we will be going over our list of client websites that we installed this on and contacting you individually as a courtesy, here is how you can tell if you have this installed on your site.
STEP 1: Go to your website ideally using INTERNET EXPLORER (shows error message, where FF does not).
STEP 2: Click on any / all pages which someone can submit an inquiry form. These are commonly:
- Customer registration page.
- Member registration page.
- Website inquiry form / contact us inquiry form.
- Login pages.
STEP 3: Look for one of the following signs:
a. If your browser (INTERNET EXPLORER) is showing an error message that pops up of "Internet Explorer blocked this website from displaying content with security certificate errors." or similar, then your site needs the upgrade.
b. If you see the word VERIFICATION near bottom of your inquiry form but nothing below it, your site needs the upgrade.
c. If you see the following graphic on your page without any error messages from the browser, then you do NOT need this upgrade.
If you are still unsure if you require this upgrade, please contact us via our CONTACT US page or by phone and we will do a free evaluation.
WHAT IS MY PAGE(S) NORMALLY SUPPOSED TO SHOW?
If we have previously installed RECAPTCHA anti-spam script onto your site, one or more of your inquiry form pages will display the following at the bottom usually just above the SUBMIT button.
WHAT IS THE COST TO UPGRADE?
Since this is a third party script, we are charging a minimal $30 upgrade fee for all sites that require this update. To place an order click on the CONTACT US link at the top of our site, or email your project manager. You will be sent a contract for the work and an invoice, and on acceptance and receipt of payment, the updates will be done on a first come first serve basis, average time 1 business day.
WHAT IF I OPT TO NOT DO THIS UPDATE?
You may opt out of doing this update, but please be aware that any sites where this is a problem, your website visitors will NOT be able to complete data entry on that page. This means anything from customers / members cannot register, to cannot login, to cannot complete inquiry form.
Thank you for your time and let us know of we can answer any questions related to this.
DON'T HAVE WEBSITE SPAM PROTECTION YET?
If you have not gotten our Website Anti-spam Security Package installed yet, now is a great time to do so. Some highlights of what this includes are:
- Protect your Inquiry forms from spamming website owners and spamming other people via automated spam scripts.
- Protect Website Registrations from fake accounts created by spambots.
- Protect "Tell A Friend / Send to a Friend" scripts from spam.
- Protect your blogs from spam.
- Protect your password systems from hackings.
And more. Contact us today or click [HERE] for additional information and pricing. |
