wait a minute, why am I even asking this? Not like anyone could possibly like it. I'll get rid of it across the site by the end of the day.

I think captcha is valid for a limited timeframe after it gets generated, so if you leave the tab open or take your time writing your post it just expires. I tried experimenting with it a little and that's what I concluded.

Well, if the spam still got through then it was a pretty pointless line of defense. Sucks it didn't work.

In retrospect I think the captcha actually did help in blocking 'some' of the more nasty forms of the spam. Thing was still obnoxious though and I think if I was to put it up again I'd need to find a way of implementing a better system.