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I've read this question, but there isn't an official (reasoning) answer there.

I do realize that when I post fast, or when I change IPs I keep getting asked to prove my humanity, but I want to know why. Doesn't logging in prove it enough?

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    If you're posting fast enough to trigger this often, try to breathe once in a while. If your IP address is changing frequently enough to cause this problem, I'd complain to your provider.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:33
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    @AaronBertrand: I sometimes get this when traveling by train; here in Norway you get free internet on the train, but you IP address changes from time to time as wireless networks are switched as you journey along. Perfectly valid reason why your IP address changes. Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:48

2 Answers 2

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No, logging in is not enough. A program can log in (there are plenty of web scrapers that do just that) - but a program will find it much harder than a human to solve captchas as well.

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    Alright, how about high rep users? Users above 10k will very unlikely produce bots Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:34
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    @Truth - Um. What if it were a compromised account? What is someone got the login details and used them with a bot? You need to think about the bad people out there - the ones that don't work within the "rules".
    – Oded
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:36
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    @Truth It's somewhat reduced for high rep users already, supposedly. Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:36
  • @Oded it looks like "no enough" should be "not enough", but it won't let me make short edits. Is it possible for you to fix that word, as the answerer?
    – culix
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 19:59
  • @culix - thanks for the heads up...
    – Oded
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 20:00
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    As a human I have a hard time solving captchas.
    – Jesse
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 20:17
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    @Jesse - You sure you are not a bot?
    – Oded
    Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 20:17
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It really is for everyone's benefit. It helps you because its unlikely the same person would sign in from one country one day and another country the next. It helps the whole community by preventing bots from spamming everything. Just be thankful they have a readable captcha because I've seen much worse.

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