4 ms·

> The problem with recaptcha alternatives is that they either are insecure or require time and money to continue to be ahead of bots. Sure great, but when I se

> The problem with recaptcha alternatives is that they either are insecure or require time and money to continue to be ahead of bots. Sure great, but when I see behavior like the above, I just hit back and add the site to my routers firewall black list. If its this much of a PITA to "solve" a captcha, CORRECTLY but I keep getting the middle finger I don't give a crap anymore. Your site isn't worth going to if I have to spend literally minutes "solving" captchas for googles stupid ai which is treating me like prove i'm a bot even when I prove i'm not. Just realize by using recaptcha this is what you're forcing some users to deal with. And I deal with it by making sure I never come back to your site ever again when you've wasted minutes of my time just to try to get to your page. Even if its googles fault for being jerks, I don't care. You choose to implement it. Ok rant mode off and stepping off my personal soap box.

reaperducer 7y ago
Your site isn't worth going to if I have to spend literally minutes "solving" captchas for googles stupid ai which is treating me like prove i'm a bot even when I prove i'm not. I've run into state and local tax agencies, utility companies, and large healthcare companies that require Google's reCAPTCHA. So, unless you don't want healthcare, to have water service at your home, or you're in the mood to just shut down your business, you have to suck it up.
- modzu 7y ago
  i say the same thing to my friend in a wheelchair -- "suck it up handycapper and pull yourself up the stairs". there was a time not long ago before wheelchair ramps or accessible doors were commonplace. these people were literally shut out of society. its the same with captcha forcing privacy-conscious users off the internet.
  - drusepth 7y ago
    Uh, using a wheelchair vs walking is a lot less of a personal choice than using Firefox vs Chrome. Or: people who need a wheelchair are protected by anti-discriminatory laws, while people who prefer not to use Google products aren't.
    - modzu 7y ago
      uh, captchas don't just appear on Google products. Third parties use it -- government services, online shopping, all kinds of things you take for granted because clearly you aren't one of the people affected by it (ie you're fingerprinted). Many things we used to do in physical space now occurs virtually. There is a serious philosophical and moral case to be made for the relevance of privacy and anonymity that captcha is specifically and nefariously working to erode. And in that sense it's worse than bad building codes.
      - oarsinsync 7y ago
        I suspect the Google product that the GP was referring to was Chrome, given that this is a co, ent thread about Firefox vs Chrome, and the behaviour of another Google product (recaptcha) betwee the aforementioned products.
- steelframe 7y ago
  I default to paper mail with things like written checks for that sort of thing. Never had a problem.
- autoexec 7y ago
  I've even seen state and government sites using Google's reCAPTCHA. People shouldn't be required to hand over their browsing history and other information to Google for essential services, especially to use government websites.
  - piyush_soni 7y ago
    Thankfully, Indian government websites still use their own captchas - which though not as 'secure', works for most of the cases, and don't take minutes to solve.
- robin_reala 7y ago
  UK Gov doesn’t allow CAPTCHAs on central gov services: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-captchas https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-captchas
  - doomglobe 7y ago
    They can still use them if they meet certain criteria, and show that they 'need' them. The overuse probably comes from the incentive - Google is incentivized to encourage the use of captcha because it is curating a data collection for ai training. I imagine some of the 'gaslighting' that people experience is when they are given images that don't yet have a confidence rating high enough. I wonder if answering incorrectly often enough would result in being asked fewer questions?
    - robin_reala 7y ago
      (I used to work at GDS) ‘Need’ here means exhausted all other opportunities, and have built alternative accessible ways of accessing the same service. I’d certainly have expected a service to have investigated a self-hosted solution, and I doubt a reliance on 3rd party JS from a Google service would fly, regardless of the service, as it breaks a whole bunch of separate resilience guidelines.
    - dorgo 7y ago
      The few times I couldn't avoid Recaptcha, I spent 5 minutes randomly clicking on image tiles. Sometimes I got through by this strategy. If it didn't work, I tried a less random approach.
    - Kaiyou 7y ago
      It will let you through eventually, even when intentionally selecting wrong fields, when you do it often enough.
      - mcv 7y ago
        So frustrated people give up, but tireless bots will get through? That sounds like the exact opposite it's supposed to accomplish.
- p2t2p 7y ago
  It this case they get to deal with me offline. Like I'm using a credit card right now without internet banking. They send me letters, on paper, with how much I owe them and then I pay. All because registering for their internet banking was a crazy shitty experience that I abandoned.
- piyush_soni 7y ago
  Of course if it's an essential service like healthcare, formal education, paying bills etc. people will be forced to use it (if there's no option to change that service itself). But for that fancy startup showing some content for to consume when it's not necessary, I will just close that website.

reaperducer 7y ago

Your site isn't worth going to if I have to spend literally minutes "solving" captchas for googles stupid ai which is treating me like prove i'm a bot even when I prove i'm not. I've run into state and local tax agencies, utility companies, and large healthcare companies that require Google's reCAPTCHA. So, unless you don't want healthcare, to have water service at your home, or you're in the mood to just shut down your business, you have to suck it up.

modzu 7y ago
i say the same thing to my friend in a wheelchair -- "suck it up handycapper and pull yourself up the stairs". there was a time not long ago before wheelchair ramps or accessible doors were commonplace. these people were literally shut out of society. its the same with captcha forcing privacy-conscious users off the internet.
- drusepth 7y ago
  Uh, using a wheelchair vs walking is a lot less of a personal choice than using Firefox vs Chrome. Or: people who need a wheelchair are protected by anti-discriminatory laws, while people who prefer not to use Google products aren't.
  - modzu 7y ago
    uh, captchas don't just appear on Google products. Third parties use it -- government services, online shopping, all kinds of things you take for granted because clearly you aren't one of the people affected by it (ie you're fingerprinted). Many things we used to do in physical space now occurs virtually. There is a serious philosophical and moral case to be made for the relevance of privacy and anonymity that captcha is specifically and nefariously working to erode. And in that sense it's worse than bad building codes.
    - oarsinsync 7y ago
      I suspect the Google product that the GP was referring to was Chrome, given that this is a co, ent thread about Firefox vs Chrome, and the behaviour of another Google product (recaptcha) betwee the aforementioned products.
steelframe 7y ago
I default to paper mail with things like written checks for that sort of thing. Never had a problem.
autoexec 7y ago
I've even seen state and government sites using Google's reCAPTCHA. People shouldn't be required to hand over their browsing history and other information to Google for essential services, especially to use government websites.
- piyush_soni 7y ago
  Thankfully, Indian government websites still use their own captchas - which though not as 'secure', works for most of the cases, and don't take minutes to solve.
robin_reala 7y ago
UK Gov doesn’t allow CAPTCHAs on central gov services: https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-captchas https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-captchas
- doomglobe 7y ago
  They can still use them if they meet certain criteria, and show that they 'need' them. The overuse probably comes from the incentive - Google is incentivized to encourage the use of captcha because it is curating a data collection for ai training. I imagine some of the 'gaslighting' that people experience is when they are given images that don't yet have a confidence rating high enough. I wonder if answering incorrectly often enough would result in being asked fewer questions?
  - robin_reala 7y ago
    (I used to work at GDS) ‘Need’ here means exhausted all other opportunities, and have built alternative accessible ways of accessing the same service. I’d certainly have expected a service to have investigated a self-hosted solution, and I doubt a reliance on 3rd party JS from a Google service would fly, regardless of the service, as it breaks a whole bunch of separate resilience guidelines.
  - dorgo 7y ago
    The few times I couldn't avoid Recaptcha, I spent 5 minutes randomly clicking on image tiles. Sometimes I got through by this strategy. If it didn't work, I tried a less random approach.
  - Kaiyou 7y ago
    It will let you through eventually, even when intentionally selecting wrong fields, when you do it often enough.
    - mcv 7y ago
      So frustrated people give up, but tireless bots will get through? That sounds like the exact opposite it's supposed to accomplish.
p2t2p 7y ago
It this case they get to deal with me offline. Like I'm using a credit card right now without internet banking. They send me letters, on paper, with how much I owe them and then I pay. All because registering for their internet banking was a crazy shitty experience that I abandoned.
piyush_soni 7y ago
Of course if it's an essential service like healthcare, formal education, paying bills etc. people will be forced to use it (if there's no option to change that service itself). But for that fancy startup showing some content for to consume when it's not necessary, I will just close that website.