CAPTCHA...

At least I think that's what it's called, if not I'm referring to the 'text in a box' which new users and unregistered users using the search function have to copy and type in to progress. I don't know if it's just me, but I found it extremely difficult to read, and some of the squiggles (to prevent machine reading) actually looked like letters. I'd imagine this could really put some users off (I had to refresh three times just to register today and I have good vision).

Apologies that my first post is slightly negative, it is a great forum but it would be a shame if potential new members were put off by a poor third party system.

Welcome to POTN. I'm sorry to hear that you had difficulties but on a plus side that's the last time you'll have to do that process The good thing about it though is that it is effective at keeping the majority of spam from getting through.

Welcome to POTN.
Sorry you had such a tough time getting in the front gate. I recently sat with a friend and went through the process so I understand your consternation. It was tough!
Unfortunately it is a sign of the times. The CAPTCHA is our Automated Gate Keeper whose job it is to reject the automated spam-bots that regularly assail our enclave. Think of it as our Terminator vs. their Terminator We think ours does a pretty good job. Glad you passed the humanity test

Glad I'm not alone - I suppose it's the lesser of two evils.

A good way of approaching this would be to keep refreshing the Captcha image until you see one that looks legible to you. I just tried this and got recognizable letters on the second refresh.