4 ms·

I don't want them to require a email/phone for privacy's sake, but they should definitely have a captcha of sorts to limit bot accounts.

KomoD 3y ago
> but they should definitely have a captcha of sorts to limit bot accounts Captchas don't do much, they're super cheap to solve with services like 2captcha, capmonster, etc. You can get recaptcha solved for $0.6/1k, hcaptcha for $0.8/1k or cheaper. (email is pretty cheap too, but still more expensive than captcha solving) Requiring phone verification would be the most effective out of those because it's pretty expensive for the attacker, something like $0.02-$0.11 per verification is usually what I see
- msm_ 2y ago
  I feel strongly about privacy and I always loved the fact that I can post pretty much anonymously on HN (I don't mean this account - it's pseudonymous at best). It's sad bad actors get to ruin this.
krapp 3y ago
I don't know... Hacker News keeps complaining that they want the old 90's web experience back, now it feels like some shitty PHP messageboard from back in the day getting pwned by script kiddies. Enjoy the nostalgia while it lasts I guess.
- mysteria 3y ago
  I clicked on the Discord link in the spam message for fun, entered a random username, and immediately got asked to verify with my phone number before I could even read the messages in the chatroom. HN doesn't need to do that and I don't want them to do that, but a simple captcha or a proof of work algo like what Cloudflare uses would at least slow down the flood of bot accounts.
  - celdon25 3y ago
    That’s the Orwellian way that discord cracks down on users that it deems, for whatever reason, “suspicious”. It is tied to the IP address and anything else associated with it, but if you had an existing account before the flag then that account won't be flagged, only new accounts. There is no appeal process and they won’t even tell you what your offense was. Unfortunately I’ve had to pay for an extra cell phone line just to use the app for work. VOIP numbers are rejected and must be unique per account. In my case it was likely because I had the audacity to back up my chat messages with a script. After a few years I can make new accounts again but I feel like I’m playing Russian roulette every time I do. If you don’t use separate accounts for privacy someone can dump a list of potentially any known server you’ve ever been in. I knew it would be only a matter of time until something like this would happen: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/s/A5nvuZBLab https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/s/A5nvuZBLab
    - mysteria 3y ago
      I don't use Discord anymore but the phone number thing seems new, in the past I was able to visit as a guest and be able to read messages but not chat. Then again Twitter and Reddit are doing the same thing now and forcing people to log in, so I'm not surprised. Considering how many community groups and open source projects now use a Discord in place of a public forum this looks like a disaster going forwards since all the information in there will become locked up. And of course the chats and internal discussion threads aren't indexed by search engines.
      - alisonatwork 3y ago
        I tried to join Discord during the pandemic when I lived in China and they forced phone number verification both on and off VPN (presumably because both VPNs and China IPs are considered untrustworthy, which annoyingly defeats the point of using VPN). Then I went to Canada and bought a local prepaid SIM, but the area code was not recognized as a valid phone number so I still couldn't sign up. It's very frustrating as a user to be region-locked on the supposedly open internet, but the real feeling of violation happens when companies layer phone number requirements on top of the region lock, which in many countries means that your government ID is now linked to the account, because you cannot buy a SIM without linking it to your ID. Truly a cyberpunk dystopia.
EasyMark 3y ago
that seems reasonable to me
huytersd 3y ago
Relying on security through obscurity goes away pretty quickly once you’re popular.

KomoD 3y ago

> but they should definitely have a captcha of sorts to limit bot accounts Captchas don't do much, they're super cheap to solve with services like 2captcha, capmonster, etc. You can get recaptcha solved for $0.6/1k, hcaptcha for $0.8/1k or cheaper. (email is pretty cheap too, but still more expensive than captcha solving) Requiring phone verification would be the most effective out of those because it's pretty expensive for the attacker, something like $0.02-$0.11 per verification is usually what I see

msm_ 2y ago
I feel strongly about privacy and I always loved the fact that I can post pretty much anonymously on HN (I don't mean this account - it's pseudonymous at best). It's sad bad actors get to ruin this.

krapp 3y ago

I don't know... Hacker News keeps complaining that they want the old 90's web experience back, now it feels like some shitty PHP messageboard from back in the day getting pwned by script kiddies. Enjoy the nostalgia while it lasts I guess.

mysteria 3y ago
I clicked on the Discord link in the spam message for fun, entered a random username, and immediately got asked to verify with my phone number before I could even read the messages in the chatroom. HN doesn't need to do that and I don't want them to do that, but a simple captcha or a proof of work algo like what Cloudflare uses would at least slow down the flood of bot accounts.
- celdon25 3y ago
  That’s the Orwellian way that discord cracks down on users that it deems, for whatever reason, “suspicious”. It is tied to the IP address and anything else associated with it, but if you had an existing account before the flag then that account won't be flagged, only new accounts. There is no appeal process and they won’t even tell you what your offense was. Unfortunately I’ve had to pay for an extra cell phone line just to use the app for work. VOIP numbers are rejected and must be unique per account. In my case it was likely because I had the audacity to back up my chat messages with a script. After a few years I can make new accounts again but I feel like I’m playing Russian roulette every time I do. If you don’t use separate accounts for privacy someone can dump a list of potentially any known server you’ve ever been in. I knew it would be only a matter of time until something like this would happen: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/s/A5nvuZBLab https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/s/A5nvuZBLab
  - mysteria 3y ago
    I don't use Discord anymore but the phone number thing seems new, in the past I was able to visit as a guest and be able to read messages but not chat. Then again Twitter and Reddit are doing the same thing now and forcing people to log in, so I'm not surprised. Considering how many community groups and open source projects now use a Discord in place of a public forum this looks like a disaster going forwards since all the information in there will become locked up. And of course the chats and internal discussion threads aren't indexed by search engines.
    - alisonatwork 3y ago
      I tried to join Discord during the pandemic when I lived in China and they forced phone number verification both on and off VPN (presumably because both VPNs and China IPs are considered untrustworthy, which annoyingly defeats the point of using VPN). Then I went to Canada and bought a local prepaid SIM, but the area code was not recognized as a valid phone number so I still couldn't sign up. It's very frustrating as a user to be region-locked on the supposedly open internet, but the real feeling of violation happens when companies layer phone number requirements on top of the region lock, which in many countries means that your government ID is now linked to the account, because you cannot buy a SIM without linking it to your ID. Truly a cyberpunk dystopia.

EasyMark 3y ago

that seems reasonable to me

huytersd 3y ago

Relying on security through obscurity goes away pretty quickly once you’re popular.