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I'm pretty sure that "verify real users" was about captchas. Solving that problem in general is probably impossible, I grant you that. However, reaching a good-

I'm pretty sure that "verify real users" was about captchas. Solving that problem in general is probably impossible, I grant you that. However, reaching a good-enough solution for a particular site is often doable. In increasing order of strictness and complexity: - Use hidden/visible field shenanigans - Ask questions your audience should be able to answer (chess-captchas, maths-questions, etc.) - Require registration with e-mail validation - Require registration with SMS validation - Make that part of the site invitation-only - Use some kind of trust-based system (e.g.: users can invite other users) - Manually approve stuff - Ask for ID scans and manually check them - Combinations of the above Unless you are a juicy enough target (not many sites are), just a few measures will get you to that good-enough point. Of course, implementing any of the above will be harder than slapping a recaptcha and calling it a day ;)

Kalium 8y ago
I find it interesting that the proposed solution to "How do I not use a CAPTCHA?" is "Reinvent a CAPTCHA". Although "Handle very private information instead" is an uncommon twist.
- atoav 8y ago
  You misrepresented the problem. The problem was “How do I not use a CAPTCHA that grabs your user’s data and is a blackbox to you”. There are multiple solutions to this: - find a CAPTCHA solution you trust and host it yourself - build your own If you say you trust google, you should write: We value your security and privacy, but seriously we have no idea what parts of our page really do
jimmy1 8y ago
If you can think of it, someone can make a computer automate it.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  They can, but unless you're a big and juicy target, they probably won't - because why bother?
- jakelazaroff 8y ago
  "To prove you're human, read this source code and determine whether the program will halt" :)
- atoav 8y ago
  Sure. On the other hand, I run a blog with a simple to answer question for multiple years now and I didn’t receive a single Spam comment that wasn’t of obvious human origin. Once that stops to work I can bump it up a notch.

Kalium 8y ago

I find it interesting that the proposed solution to "How do I not use a CAPTCHA?" is "Reinvent a CAPTCHA". Although "Handle very private information instead" is an uncommon twist.

atoav 8y ago
You misrepresented the problem. The problem was “How do I not use a CAPTCHA that grabs your user’s data and is a blackbox to you”. There are multiple solutions to this: - find a CAPTCHA solution you trust and host it yourself - build your own If you say you trust google, you should write: We value your security and privacy, but seriously we have no idea what parts of our page really do

jimmy1 8y ago

If you can think of it, someone can make a computer automate it.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
They can, but unless you're a big and juicy target, they probably won't - because why bother?
jakelazaroff 8y ago
"To prove you're human, read this source code and determine whether the program will halt" :)
atoav 8y ago
Sure. On the other hand, I run a blog with a simple to answer question for multiple years now and I didn’t receive a single Spam comment that wasn’t of obvious human origin. Once that stops to work I can bump it up a notch.