Google reCAPTCHA with almost every search

[flamelord]

Anyone else having this issue?
I can solve the captcha just fine mind you, but I am getting it extremely frequently.
Like if I quit the Pale Moon(have it set to not remember history btw) and then launch it again and google something I always get a reCAPTCHA.

Is this an issue with Pale Moon specifically?
Haven't tested it with other browsers admittedly.

[Mæstro]

Captchas, especially Google’s, tend to discriminate against Pale Moon and other browsers beyond the pale of Google’s influence. I consistently fail Recaptcha in Pale Moon, perhaps due to a combination of choosing this browser, using a VPN and a graphic tablet instead of a mouse, trackpad or touchscreen. I also suspect I apply different rules to determine whether a square qualifies as occupied than most people.

[Moonchild]

recaptcha prompts are rare for me, tbh, and tend to pass just fine without too much issue.

[Night Wing]

I cannot remember the last time I had a recaptcha prompt. At the time of this post I am using 64 bit (GTK2) linux Pale Moon 34.0.1 running in MX Linux and Debian distributions.

[Mæstro]

Maybe I am just unlucky for receiving lots of requests, or it might have to do with other measures involved in filtering cross-site requests and controlling JavaScript.

[flamelord]

Like Moonchild I (generally)solve the captchas with little issue
But I consistently keep getting them at an excessive rate imo

[Goodydino]

Why not just use Brave instead? It does not track you all over the place and does not sell your data. There are no captchas.

[Mæstro]

I already use Waterfox as backup browser if Pale Moon fails and I truly need access. Brave holds no advantage over other Chromium forks. If one is needed, I should recommend Ungoogled Chromium, which is what I used until 2025.

[Gemmaugr]

Why not just use Brave instead? It does not track you all over the place and does not sell your data. There are no captchas.

Brave search do have captchas. Their own Proof of Work one and a regular one. Both are broken as of this date and just load endlessly for me on PM. One didn't used to get these captchas, but now they're more prevalent than ever. Staying away from google and bing frontends (almost all others) have me using Brave search, but Mojeek will do in a pinch (and one can go from Mojeek to Brave search [I hate how things are named the same so I have to spell it out.. Brave browser, brave search..] ehum.. go from Mojeek results directly to Brave search results and bypass the captcha, I think).

[Gemmaugr]

I already use Waterfox as backup browser if Pale Moon fails and I truly need access. Brave holds no advantage over other Chromium forks. If one is needed, I should recommend Ungoogled Chromium, which is what I used until 2025.

Ironically, your link to Archive.is , is one sure-fire way of getting a google captcha.. (also Brave browser is the best google chromium browser, but that's not saying much).

[Mæstro]

I was forced to Archive.is because the site is down, excluded from the Wayback Machine and absent from Ghost Archive.

[Goodydino]

I meant the Brave search engine, not the browser. I have been using it with all my browsers and have never seen a captcha on that site. (I gave up on the browser for Mac after it began lying to me about extensions.)

[Mæstro]

Brave’s homepage fails at its only job without JavaScript. The site description boasts of being ‘AI-powered’. Its only merit is an independent index, but Mojeek has its own also, without any of the defects. Avoiding Google’s search engine and other offerings is wise, but there are better substitutes than Brave.

[Gemmaugr]

I meant the Brave search engine, not the browser. I have been using it with all my browsers and have never seen a captcha on that site. (I gave up on the browser for Mac after it began lying to me about extensions.)

Perhaps you don't use it as frequently as I (looking up gaming terms and mechanics and problems/solutions), but it's a known issue for many: https://search.brave.com/search?q=testi ... source=web

Brave’s homepage fails at its only job without JavaScript. The site description boasts of being ‘AI-powered’. Its only merit is an independent index, but Mojeek has its own also, without any of the defects. Avoiding Google’s search engine and other offerings is wise, but there are better substitutes than Brave.

I've tested all the real independent index search sites (Stract, Greppr, Wiby, Yep, Marginalia, Alexiandria[Cert dead] RightDao [Dead], InfoTiger[Dead], Gigablast[Dead]), and Brave is sadly the best I've found. There are a loooot of google and bing frontends though, which is often mistaken for being independent.

[Bilbo47]

Yes recently human-proving frequency has jumped up. (Captcha is a name brand, eh? Like Kleenex for face tissues, or Q-tips for cotton swabs.)
Sites guarded by Ggl never let me in now. Does not matter if I'm logged in to any Ggl account or not. Does not matter which of four-five browsers here gets used, even a Chrome-type or two. I'm done with trying six or seven times. If it doesn't let me in after two or three then I'm no longer interested. In addition to not-using Ggl services myself, now I have to make other people not-use Ggl either, if they want my participation.

Does the problem have to do with the recent higher attack rate on sites in general? Do sites now disallow VPNs? Do I care about such sites...

[Moonchild]

Captcha is a name brand, eh?

No it's an acronym.
The term was coined in 2003 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper, and John Langford.
It is a contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"

the "name brand" you may be thinking of is "reCAPTCHA" which is Google's.

[andyprough]

I just use DuckDuckGo. Works perfect with Pale Moon, and they contribute funds back to Pale Moon development. What's not to love?

These posts in this thread are really just reminders why everyone should use DDG as often as possible over Google, Bing, et al. Those search engines only want to track and monetize you, and all their capchas are just a method of herding you in the direction of their preferred, more trackable browsers like Chrome and Edge. Don't be herded.

[Gemmaugr]

I just use DuckDuckGo. Works perfect with Pale Moon, and they contribute funds back to Pale Moon development. What's not to love?

These posts in this thread are really just reminders why everyone should use DDG as often as possible over Google, Bing, et al. Those search engines only want to track and monetize you, and all their capchas are just a method of herding you in the direction of their preferred, more trackable browsers like Chrome and Edge. Don't be herded.

While DDG (search, not browser...) does have that going for Pale Moon, it's still a Bing frontend in the end.. https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help- ... ts/sources

[Moonchild]

it's still a Bing frontend in the end..

Almost all alternative search engines are fronts for one of the main search indices, in whole or in part.

[Mæstro]

We all agree with you that avoiding Google’s search engine is proper. Of course, I have been talking about Recaptcha encountered in the wild, on sites which happen to use them but could just as well have used Hcaptcha or the like instead, not Google Search, which I have always avoided. DDG appears to have matured, and now uses its own index instead of Bing: a pleasant development. Now, the real question is whether Recaptcha or Cloudflare is worse. Pity I cannot open a poll here.

Even so, it is not really my place to question other users’ stated goals, even if they are patently foolish. For example, I avoid threads where users seek support for LLM chatbots, for I believe LLM should never be used and cannot offer support in good faith. Viewed the other way round, I express my attitude in my profile as ‘please do not offer me a pencil if I request a pen’. My favourite way to explain is like this:

How can I generate enough hydrogen to fill a thousand balloons? I want to tie them to my garden chair and fly to the moon.

You cannot reach the moon like that.

Here, I would consider Bob’s answer undue. The charitable reading of Alice’s post is that the lunatic scheme is simplified or analogous to her actual purposes, but explaining those instead would miss the point. Mind, on the other side of the coin, if someone is doing something egregious and evil, I find myself beholden, if I am to speak at all, only to dissuade or condemn. Anything else would be hypocrisy or abettal. Avoidance is the only way to balance these without proving obnoxious to anybody near.