Regular Cloudflare "Verify you are human" requests

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openmedia

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#320306 30-Jul-2025 13:24

Over the last couple of weeks a very large number of overseas sites are now requiring a Cloudflare check to "Verify you are human" before i can browse. I haven't changed anything on my side and I'm on the same static IP for the last ~5 years since we moved house.

Is anyone else seeing a rise in these requests or have any idea what might be the trigger

One reliable example is https://www.austech.info/

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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#3398266 30-Jul-2025 13:28

It might happen if you browse in Incognito mode, or clear your cache/cookies after every session.

amanzi

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#3398267 30-Jul-2025 13:30

I suspect this is to combat the huge increases in bots/crawlers recently.

That example you gave, also gives me the "are you human" check.

openmedia

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#3398269 30-Jul-2025 13:46

marpada:

It might happen if you browse in Incognito mode, or clear your cache/cookies after every session.

In some cases it is happening for every click whilst browsing a site. I'll try to post a reference when it happens again.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

mentalinc

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#3398270 30-Jul-2025 13:47

Yes seeing them lots more, even on Geekzone, on the same device as I move between different IP addresses when logged in.

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#3398274 30-Jul-2025 14:17

There are very few instances on Geekzone that you will be presented with a captcha these days. It will show if your login credentials were found in a leak somewhere else, and that's pretty much it.

For the other sites, it appears there's some paranoya about bots. Bots are a consequence of automations. This is the internet. Some people don't seem to keep up.

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#3398277 30-Jul-2025 14:32

You are helping them train their AI crawler bot detection. Perhaps it targets some operating systems and browsers more than others?

This is so website owners can choose if they want AI crawlers to access their content and to stop AI from scraping digital content for free.

I've only noticed this more and more on first visit to particular websites.

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#3398279 30-Jul-2025 14:38

yitz:

I've only noticed this more and more on first visit to particular websites.

Yes, because site owners can determine how long before the captcha is presented again after a succesful pass.

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mentalinc

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#3398281 30-Jul-2025 14:43

freitasm:

There are very few instances on Geekzone that you will be presented with a captcha these days.

I've seen this where the live page doesnt load when moving between IPs and refresh pops up the captcha

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#3398283 30-Jul-2025 14:49

mentalinc:

freitasm:

There are very few instances on Geekzone that you will be presented with a captcha these days.

I've seen this where the live page doesnt load when moving between IPs and refresh pops up the captcha

The site owner has a Web Application Firewall rule that requires a challenge on every access.

It wouldn't be the first time people do things without understanding the consequences.

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mentalinc

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#3398285 30-Jul-2025 14:54

it was on live.geekzone.co.nz maybe a few weeks back, not sure if still an issue.

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notesgnome

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#3398286 30-Jul-2025 15:26

Do you know if you really are human or just a super AI system that thinks it's human?

openmedia:

Over the last couple of weeks a very large number of overseas sites are now requiring a Cloudflare check to "Verify you are human" before i can browse. I haven't changed anything on my side and I'm on the same static IP for the last ~5 years since we moved house.

Is anyone else seeing a rise in these requests or have any idea what might be the trigger

One reliable example is https://www.austech.info/

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

yitz

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#3398287 30-Jul-2025 15:29

notesgnome:

Do you know if you really are human or just a super AI system that thinks it's human?

OP just needs to take off his sunnies 😎😛

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#3398288 30-Jul-2025 15:29

freitasm:

For the other sites, it appears there's some paranoya about bots. Bots are a consequence of automations. This is the internet. Some people don't seem to keep up.

Most people (myself included!) are deploying things like this (I'm using Anubis, even though I frikking HATE that stupid Anime crap it shows) to stop AI Scapers. For years I got away with just having a blanket deny in robots.txt (No one wants the contents of my online diary polluting search) but these days no one seems to respect robots.txt anymore. Now the only way I can stop the multitude of AI scapers is to deploy this sort of bollocks.

And I'm sure it's a war that'll be won by the scrapers eventually.

freitasm

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#3398290 30-Jul-2025 15:42

muppet:

freitasm:

For the other sites, it appears there's some paranoya about bots. Bots are a consequence of automations. This is the internet. Some people don't seem to keep up.

Most people (myself included!) are deploying things like this (I'm using Anubis, even though I frikking HATE that stupid Anime crap it shows) to stop AI Scapers. For years I got away with just having a blanket deny in robots.txt (No one wants the contents of my online diary polluting search) but these days no one seems to respect robots.txt anymore. Now the only way I can stop the multitude of AI scapers is to deploy this sort of bollocks.

And I'm sure it's a war that'll be won by the scrapers eventually.

Correct.

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#3398500 30-Jul-2025 21:32

yitz:

You are helping them train their AI crawler bot detection.

How does that work? I'm not getting any CAPTCHA type things to click on, just a spinning wheel "verifying that you are human". After a period of a few seconds it goes on to load the page. I have noticed it a lot more recently.

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