4 ms·

These really make my blood boil. I continually trip whatever it is that makes Google think I'm a bot (probably a VPN + ublock). Sometimes it takes upwards of 5

These really make my blood boil. I continually trip whatever it is that makes Google think I'm a bot (probably a VPN + ublock). Sometimes it takes upwards of 5 tries (each with 3 or 4 tests) to pass. After the first failure the audio one stops working, and sometimes that's unintelligible. I honestly wonder how anyone who's even slightly visually impaired is supposed to pass them. I wouldn't be surprised if in the not too distant future they were hauled up before the courts on discrimination grounds, and not before time. There's something very wrong when a human consistently fails CAPTCHAs. For one thing I've tried selecting all boxes containing parts of a traffic light/fire hydrant, and only the ones that mostly contain parts of the object and have failed both times.

jesseb 8y ago
I run Linux, use my own VPN, and use Firefox with uMatrix. CAPTCHAs are one of the most user-hostile things I experience on the web. I've had to give up on registering for sites, or signing into sites I'm already registered with, because after literally minutes I still hadn't gotten through. I actively try to avoid sites that use CAPTCHA but unfortunately it's not always possible.
- tootahe45 8y ago
  Had the same setup &, i found that on brave i can do them in 20 secs compared to 3 minutes. Not saying I support them messing with FF but at the end of the day, I need to get things done.
- nyolfen 8y ago
  i have what sounds like the same setup as you but i don’t think i’ve ever done more than 3 captchas sequentially, and almost always 1 or 2. /shrug
jrootabega 8y ago
If you're using an adblocker, you probably also don't have any positively identifying google cookies, which has become more and more synonymous with "bot" to them. They could defend it from the opposite direction: when you're logged in to google they trust they know you, so when you're not, there's a lack of trust. Not suspicion, no, but a factual lack of trust. There's plausible deniability if anyone ever claimed it's suspicion, and that they do it to punish people who want to remain independent and anonymous. But if that's the effect and they don't do anything to prevent it... To me it feels similar to the duality of gas station "cash discounts," which have also been perceived as "credit card penalties." Or mobile providers' "free data for the music streaming service of our choice."
- jjeaff 8y ago
  I use ublock. It doesn't block Google login cookies by default. I haven't noticed many issues with captchas lately, likely due to the fact that I stay logged in to my Gmail account in Firefox most of the time.
kbenson 8y ago
A few years back Google changed recaptcha to use a bunch of extra information to make a decision as to whether someone was a real person. This resulted in sometimes there not being any images, once you click to start the CAPTCHAS, it just shows a checkmark and let's you through. What also seems to have happened then is that they use additional I formation to make the process much harder sometimes. Ublock never seems to matter too much for me, but the IP address used can matter a lot. Whether you're logged into gmail/Google seems to affect it positively also. I suspect the specific VPN you're using is the source of the lion's share of the RECAPTCHA problems you're having. They are probably utilizing a range that was or is used in a way that RECAPTCHA doesn't like.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  > What also seems to have happened then is that they use additional I formation to make the process much harder sometimes. Correct. Your reCAPTCHAv3 (which is the new completely challenge-less version that doesn't even make you click a checkbox) score is a good indication of how much reCAPTCHAv2 (the clickbox version) will fuck around with you. In case anybody is wondering, v1 was the two-word OCR version and got shut down last year.
johnisgood 8y ago
It is almost impossible to pass those CAPTCHAs behind Tor. Personally I am not sure if it is possible, I could never pass. It would just give me more and more CAPTCHAs to solve. I gave up after the 6th one.
- harshreality 8y ago
  I think there's a logic bug/feature where if the rate of attempted captcha solutions from your IP is too high, it won't tell you you've failed (it knows you didn't) but it'll keep giving you more and more captchas. Sometimes I eventually get through after 4, 6, 8 attempts. Maybe because the automated attempts slowed down, or maybe just by chance. Sometimes I end up getting the dreaded "too many automated requests from your network" message (the equivalent of Gandalf's "You Shall Not Pass!") which is fucking wonderful when it's not even google's website I'm trying to access.
  - StudentStuff 8y ago
    Having Captchas fail to load in TBB is very frustrating, especially when trying to browse static websites that are totally unrelated to Google.

jesseb 8y ago

I run Linux, use my own VPN, and use Firefox with uMatrix. CAPTCHAs are one of the most user-hostile things I experience on the web. I've had to give up on registering for sites, or signing into sites I'm already registered with, because after literally minutes I still hadn't gotten through. I actively try to avoid sites that use CAPTCHA but unfortunately it's not always possible.

tootahe45 8y ago
Had the same setup &, i found that on brave i can do them in 20 secs compared to 3 minutes. Not saying I support them messing with FF but at the end of the day, I need to get things done.
nyolfen 8y ago
i have what sounds like the same setup as you but i don’t think i’ve ever done more than 3 captchas sequentially, and almost always 1 or 2. /shrug

jrootabega 8y ago

If you're using an adblocker, you probably also don't have any positively identifying google cookies, which has become more and more synonymous with "bot" to them. They could defend it from the opposite direction: when you're logged in to google they trust they know you, so when you're not, there's a lack of trust. Not suspicion, no, but a factual lack of trust. There's plausible deniability if anyone ever claimed it's suspicion, and that they do it to punish people who want to remain independent and anonymous. But if that's the effect and they don't do anything to prevent it... To me it feels similar to the duality of gas station "cash discounts," which have also been perceived as "credit card penalties." Or mobile providers' "free data for the music streaming service of our choice."

jjeaff 8y ago
I use ublock. It doesn't block Google login cookies by default. I haven't noticed many issues with captchas lately, likely due to the fact that I stay logged in to my Gmail account in Firefox most of the time.

kbenson 8y ago

A few years back Google changed recaptcha to use a bunch of extra information to make a decision as to whether someone was a real person. This resulted in sometimes there not being any images, once you click to start the CAPTCHAS, it just shows a checkmark and let's you through. What also seems to have happened then is that they use additional I formation to make the process much harder sometimes. Ublock never seems to matter too much for me, but the IP address used can matter a lot. Whether you're logged into gmail/Google seems to affect it positively also. I suspect the specific VPN you're using is the source of the lion's share of the RECAPTCHA problems you're having. They are probably utilizing a range that was or is used in a way that RECAPTCHA doesn't like.

darkpuma 8y ago
> What also seems to have happened then is that they use additional I formation to make the process much harder sometimes. Correct. Your reCAPTCHAv3 (which is the new completely challenge-less version that doesn't even make you click a checkbox) score is a good indication of how much reCAPTCHAv2 (the clickbox version) will fuck around with you. In case anybody is wondering, v1 was the two-word OCR version and got shut down last year.

johnisgood 8y ago

It is almost impossible to pass those CAPTCHAs behind Tor. Personally I am not sure if it is possible, I could never pass. It would just give me more and more CAPTCHAs to solve. I gave up after the 6th one.

harshreality 8y ago
I think there's a logic bug/feature where if the rate of attempted captcha solutions from your IP is too high, it won't tell you you've failed (it knows you didn't) but it'll keep giving you more and more captchas. Sometimes I eventually get through after 4, 6, 8 attempts. Maybe because the automated attempts slowed down, or maybe just by chance. Sometimes I end up getting the dreaded "too many automated requests from your network" message (the equivalent of Gandalf's "You Shall Not Pass!") which is fucking wonderful when it's not even google's website I'm trying to access.
- StudentStuff 8y ago
  Having Captchas fail to load in TBB is very frustrating, especially when trying to browse static websites that are totally unrelated to Google.