10 comments

  • kybernetikos 17 minutes ago
    Other common issues - crosswalks and fire hydrants are common questions too, and crosswalks are not called that in most of the world and fire hydrants look pretty different depending on country.
    • TFNA 10 minutes ago
      This is perhaps a declining problem, as young people in so many countries are growing up as proficient US English speakers due to heavy social media consumption, to the point that US English CAPTCHA challenges would just feel normal. I suspect there are more young people around their world now for whom "crosswalk" is more natural than "zebra" -- in my country, the latter is already a shibboleth that one is an oldie who learned UK English, now regarded here as an antiquated standard after teaching switched to US English.
      • pjc50 3 minutes ago
        Maybe we should ask Americans what a Belisha beacon is.
      • mcintyre1994 7 minutes ago
        Also a declining problem because any recent LLM can solve them all for you. FWIW though I don’t know anyone in the UK who uses the term crosswalk, though I think most would probably understand it in context.
    • retired 8 minutes ago
      -Post removed as rate limiting does not allow me to comment and keep the discussion going-
      • OJFord 5 minutes ago
        Maybe it's translated, but it's definitely not localised. Captchas are nonsense in the UK, and a lot of Europe browses in English even if not their first language.
      • mcintyre1994 7 minutes ago
        In the UK the captcha uses crosswalk, which isn’t the common name here.
  • swiftcoder 9 minutes ago
    Even as someone who lived a long time in the US, I've failed a bunch of these on unclear definitions.

    When you say "stoplights", is that just the lights themselves, or also the poles that support them? Is a tile that contains 1/3 of a bike wheel "bicycle" or "not bicycle"? Is a coach also considered a bus?

    • lemagedurage 2 minutes ago
      Being pedantic about the captcha is the less-human thing to do here.
  • KingOfCoders 14 minutes ago
    It's just forcing US culture on everyone in the world. Also see Meta deleting IG posts and banning people based on US politics / morals.
    • nephihaha 10 minutes ago
      Americans have changed/reversed a lot of political definitions including conservative/liberal.
      • herbst 5 minutes ago
        To be fair liberal and conservative is still used in it's actual sense whenever I hear it here in central Europe. US politics is barely a topic, even less something people actually care about.
    • lolakutty 2 minutes ago
      Oh come on!

      The internet by default assumes you are a US citizen..

      > forcing US culture on everyone in the world

      I think captchas are on very near to the bottom on the list of things that tries (knowingly or unknowingly) does this...

  • dgellow 3 minutes ago
    At this point I assume the captcha puzzle isn’t the actual check, just a distraction while they fingerprint your browser and behaviour to try to identify if you are more likely a human or not. Just my thoughts, I have absolutely no proof that’s the case, but I don’t believe labeling traffic light is still valuable, we are way, way past that
    • pjc50 2 minutes ago
      Some definitely fail you if you answer too quickly.
  • turbocon 9 minutes ago
    Interesting I very often get captchas to find motorcycles, crosswalks, and red lights that are definitely not from the US.
  • jan_m_savage 9 minutes ago
    Some sites take this to a ridiculous extreme. Just try Haathi trust and it asks for a proof at EVERY refresh.
  • AndyMcConachie 5 minutes ago
    Yes. Making meaning often requires context. The study of this is often referred to as pragmatics.
  • hannes0 7 minutes ago
    (2017)
  • pestatije 25 minutes ago
    where do i collect my passport?
    • dgellow 9 minutes ago
      Ready to pay US taxes from anywhere in the world?
      • rurban 4 minutes ago
        People do pay taxes in the US? I paid almost nothing in Texas, thats why it looked like a shithole. No budget for anything. In Europe I love to pay taxes, because I see where it's going to
        • retired 3 minutes ago
          > In Western Europe

          Fixed that for you.

      • herbst 3 minutes ago
        No idea why you got downvoted. This is one of the most absurd and controlling thing the US does from the Perspektive of a non US person.
      • retired 4 minutes ago
        -Post removed as rate limiting does not allow me to comment and keep the discussion going-
        • swiftcoder 1 minute ago
          It's kind of a pain that you still have to file US taxes in this case. You may well end up paying zero in the US, but it's up to you to provide the necessary paperwork to show that your overseas income tax was high enough to cancel out the US income tax.
  • retired 10 minutes ago
    -Post removed as rate limiting on HN does not allow me to comment and keep the discussion going-
    • Havoc 4 minutes ago
      The fact that it can be deduced in some cases by some people is missing the point that a test of humanity shouldn't be country specific at all.

      >The ones with liveries on the side that are all the same color.

      Which is also not true for some countries...

    • nephihaha 8 minutes ago
      Not really in some countries taxis are specific vehicle types and clearly branded. American ones are ordinary cars with slight modifications.
      • raverbashing 1 minute ago
        "slight modifications" it's entirely

        In most places taxis can be identified as: having a specific color/color pattern and/or a ceiling fixture

        It is by design because you want taxis to stand out from other vehicles

      • retired 6 minutes ago
        And in that case the CAPTCHA would still work, as the vehicles are of the same type and have clear branding.