Recaptcha v3: new way to stop bots

> Newegg uses ads.

That's not my point. We generally understand that newegg is there to sell you something. I was using it as a convenient example and perhaps a better one could be found. Just because they use ads does not invalidate my point there.

From the HN guidelines: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize."

> as a content provider, you might not want users who refuse to go through CAPTCHA. Nobody is forcing you to access the content.

Theoretically speaking, this is true. I can opt to simply close the page, turn off my computer, etc. However, it may not be practical to do this all the time. Some example maybe school/government institutions that you have to use deploys reCAPTCHA, or something like the CloudFlare pages that makes you fill out a reCAPTCHA for each website (which amounts to a large part of the internet).

> It only hurts users that the content provider doesn't care about, because they don't generate any revenue.

Disagreed. Perhaps in cases with ad based sites that is the case. If you're selling something and preventing me to buy from you, you're hurting users that may generate revenue. You could say that perhaps the benefit is outweighed by the cost, which maybe true from an abuse perspective. However, if everyone starts doing this, then my cynical view of Google will play out, which is the original point of my argument.

It's clear there's an economic incentive at play, otherwise Google won't develop this and people wouldn't deploy this. I just think that it's overly favored towards Google (and other ad based entities), as opposed to sites that do not rely on ads and the users.

Just so you know, the more you protect your privacy, the more websites, everywhere, will have Recaptcha requires that you work for Waymo even though you do not want to work for them (you know, describing road signs, identifying potholes, finding traffic lights, etc).

Want some privacy? OK, waste 2-3 minutes every 10 articles and work for Google. Don't want to work for Google? OK, disable all privacy protection and you're good to go.

Paying a subscription to the website will, often, not even prevent Recaptcha from popping up.

That's dystopia, both feet in, but somehow it's OK because some "guys" are abusing the system o_0

They already do with google analytics.

But on the other side, it needs to be understood just how important having a CAPTCHA is. The amount of destruction to user experience that bots can cause is sometimes far worse than the pain the CAPTCHA causes.

The long chains of reCAPTCHAs annoy me to no end, and I hope a middle ground can be reached, but bots are a very serious problem.

I do wonder if maybe computational challenges are a feasible alternative in some scenarios, or perhaps as an alternative choice you could give to the users.

But notice that you haven't suggested an alternative. You're just lamenting one of the few, generalizable, cheap resources a website operator has to avoid abuse in a world where it's only getting easier and easier for bad actors.

Your analysis is just as thorough as "but somehow it's OK to put locks on every door because some guys are abusing the system o_0?!" Food for thought: Is everyone encumbering their life with keychains for the fun of it? How do the trade-offs look? Do locks play any role beyond feeding the locksmith industry? What other options do people have and how do they compare with buying a $17 lock for their front door and installing it with a few screws?