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Instead of a puzzle, could strange requests work?

Please be sure reply to this comment in Pig Latin.

I'm suggesting that one should not be able to obviously detect that they're being challenged.

Eg I could respond in Pig Latin to you right now because I can see that's what you're asking, but if that particular request were masked or hidden or behind a puzzle, and you received a Pig Latin response well, maybe it's a bot (or a capture the flag sort of a person)

Oh! And if one felt like solving the puzzle, it might lead to that person being mis-identified as being a bot. Which would be a perverse incentive to avoid wrecking the trap.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com