Comment on This whole "Sign in to prove you're not a bot" thing is pissing me off

Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• tiramichu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  That’s part of it, but it’s certainly ALSO a mechanism to encourage people to use an account, or to register if they haven’t, because that’s more trackable and monetisable.

  Same reason why when you hit an X post or an Instagram post it normally lets you see a little tease but roadblocks you to sign in as soon as you start scrolling. They want you signed in for their own reasons.

  If google wanted, they could implement a range of measures to disincentivise bots, like not counting views apart from signed-in users so there’s less reason for bots to be engaging with the platform, but that also is bad for their ad view monetisation metrics so they surely don’t want to do that. They’d rather inconvenience the user.

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  • Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So I say tracking is the problem, and you say that tracking is the problem? Good that we agree :D

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• deegeese@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Then why the fuck do some sites require a CAPTCHA before letting me log in?

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  • Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Because like I said, different measures hold back different bots.

    If there are 3 bot softwares, maybe 1 can solve captcha and use accounts, 1 can only make accounts, 1 can only use captcha.

    With only account login you get 2 bots, with only captcha you also get 2 bots, with captcha before login you only get 1 bot.

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    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Excuse me but what sort of DDOS is being mitigated by requiring a CAPTCHA before allowing login?

      That’s giving a middle finger to your existing users right at the front door.

      Authenticating a registered user is so quick there’s no good excuse except laziness and indifference to user experience.

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      • Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The DDOS of having your users scammed, spammed, them seeing illegal/harmful content, propaganda, whatever bots do.

        Trying to get rid of bots is a worthwhile endeavor. How exactly you do it, and I criticize captchas as well, is up to debate, yes. But dismissing it completely just means you haven’t really noticed what those measures do. It’s like an IT department that just works and that management thinks is unnecessary.

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