ALTCHA appears before I can get search results and I can't pass it

Feedback and Developments
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1

Hello, starting from yesterday, 23 June 2026, when I try to search something with Mojeek, the ALTCHA “search-wall” appears instead of search results.
I am unable to complete the challenge (maybe because I use an old web browser, Firefox 115? I cannot upgrade), so I can’t use Mojeek at all.
That thing should be “internationalised”, but it appears in English, even if I use an Italian web browser, is its implementation unfinished?
Why the search-wall wasn’t announced here or at least on the blog? Was it that urgent to put it on work?

2

Hi there and sorry to hear you’re experiencing this issue.

If it’s still happening, please can you contact the team via the form linked to the 403 page so the issue is escalated further.

The ALTCHA update was unfortunately necessary and we’re already working on language so this should improve soon.

Thanks for your support and please be reassured we’re prioritising the issue.

3

Hello, thanks, but it happened again.
I do not get a 403 error, it just stops me from using Mojeek. Anyway, for your conveniece, I used a 403 error contact this time, too.

4

I get the ALTCHA page like 10 times a day. It’s quite annoying.

5

Hi gnome,

Sorry for the inconvenience and please be reassured that we haven’t implemented this lightly.

Lately, we’ve been getting on average ~100 automated searches per second and ~8M a day so it’s a big issue to deal with. We had no choice but to do something but it’s early days and we’re making adjustments to improve the experience.

Please can you email (or pm) information like query, IP etc as this will help us look into it for you. 10 a day isn’t theoretically possible so can we check whether you delete cookies?

Thanks for your help.

6

That sounds really annoying and I’m sure you didn’t. I know that Mojeek has held off on implementing anything like this for many many years. Unfortunately it’s the state of things.

I actually like it because it means I can access pages that were previously forbidden to me in ordinary searches.

I don’t delete cookies. And my IP address changes rarely. It’s a lot, at least 5 or 7 a day. The next time I hit it, I’ll PM you.

7

Thanks gnome and please PM us when you have issues.

8

hello

i experience similar issues being unable to validate the captcha or at best weirdly annoyed by obvious bugs :

  • using librewolf 136, the captcha system complains about an expired captcha but smashing the checkbox 3-5 times usually does work in the end while the error message is still visible each time.

  • using any browser without javascript does not work

  • using most of the browsers i commonly use on my mobile phone ( browser, lighning, FOSS browser, opera mini …) , the captcha does not work at all and i have to revert to a different search engine… most of the time. fun fact : “browser” ships with mojeek by default.

may i suggest you implement your own proper working captcha rather than relying on some arguably buggy external service not to mention the boasted gdpr compatibility does not help us user trust the beast and there are tons of tools that can solve the captcha automatically.

i can assist if needed. either with the captcha or other bot detection techniques. i’ll check my spambox in a few days just in case.

thanks for you hard work and for helping making the web more open.

btw, an open web is also a web that allows users to browse using whichever browser they fancy rather than the latest version of one of the major browsers exclusively.

best regards

sk

1 Like
9

I’m nobody, just the thread starter, but here my two cents:

Buggy or not, indipendence from others is something Mojeek has to reach, it’s almost the whole point of using it for many.

That’s something I want to read here. I hope that offer to be the start of something good.

True.
And, again, such kind of freedom can be the whole point of using Mojeek for many.

10

Sorry to hear you’re having these issues. Please use our contact form and a member of the team will look into this for you.

As you know, bots are a big industry challenge. We didn’t take the decision lightly and ALTCHA was a considered choice. It’s 100% self-hosted so there are no GDPR issues, which is one of the main reasons for choosing this solution.

We’re still trying to find the right balance to reduce bot traffic, whilst ensuring humans get through, so thanks for bearing with us!