On Sat, Mar 7, 2009 at 5:36 PM, Joseph Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mar 7, 2009, at 12:45 AM, Kirk Ouimet wrote: > >> My web host allows me to control how much RAM is available on my hosted >> Linux VServer and charges me $1 for every 10 MB allocated. I wrote a >> script >> this week that uses information from the Linux command "top" to scale >> resources available based on current demand. Running the script ends up >> saving me about $40/month. Everything was going great until they put a >> Captcha on the page that my script uses to set my allocated resources. > > What I'm going to suggest is that you talk to your host about providing an > API for customers to make these types of changes. In the long run I that's > a much better approach than trying to keep with changes to the HTML forms.
Um, have you thought this through? The purpose of a CAPTCHA is to block automated robots. You run an "automated robot". Your host is purposely trying to block what you are doing. In fact it might have been your usage of this "robot" that triggered them to implement the CAPTCHA. If you goal is to piss off your Web Hosting provider, continue with your CAPTCHA breaking. If you goal is to save money, contact your Web Hosting provider and talk to them, perhaps they will provide an API, or perhaps you need to find a new host. Pissing off your host is a "very bad thing". Now I agree that you want to save money, and this idea can save you a ton. However your web host is probably using this method to gouge it's customers. Consider a mobile phone plan, do you really think Verizon would be happy if users kept changing their plans every few days to barely cover their usage. Of course not, they make lots of money on overages, and overpaying. My guess is that your host is doing the same thing. IMHO, any time you need to consider breaking a CAPTCHA, you are doing something nefarious, and possibly illegal. Just say NO to CAPTCHA breaking. --lonnie _______________________________________________ UPHPU mailing list [email protected] http://uphpu.org/mailman/listinfo/uphpu IRC: #uphpu on irc.freenode.net
