Captcha, the Microsoft GitHub way
Naturally, I've had accounts with Microsoft GitHub (MSGH) in the past. I treat accounts for that platform like one should, closing them whenever done with the task or project requiring one. I then go on with my life, using proper working tools for those Git repositories anyone actually cares about in a loving way. Leaving, of course, nothing but the well-known ghost as the keeper of my history on those neglected enough to be under the 🤮-platform.
Not too long ago I encountered the need for an account again, tried to sign-up and was then given twenty top-view pictures of furnished rooms. I was also asked to select which one would match, from a list of similar looking pictures. I failed.
Could you, dear readers, please help me spot the correct ones?
Find the room that matches the middle image (16 of 20)
Find the room that matches the middle image (19 of 20)
Obviously those two captchas are unsolvable, as both room images match the aerial view. Others have suggested that this might be intentional behaviour, in order to filter out unwanted users. I hold it as more probable that it is simply just a bug. Regardless of which, it makes any attempt to sign-up very time consuming at best and definitely not worth it unless you're desperate to be on a team which does not want you.
Some people might ask: Why would you go through the trouble of closing and opening new accounts rather than keeping a life-long one? A question to which my first reaction would be amazement over the trust people have in that evil entities will never become their enemies.
Rather than leaving the illusion that one would be able to perpetually reach me within a walled garden, I prefer doing the responsible thing and remain only reachable through my communicated and preferred contact channels. Personally, I have always managed to close my accounts before being booted out. Yet you know, either you close your GitHub account yourself, or it is done for you. This platform is all about algorithm driven moderation, with no due process nor ways to appeal. Trust me, in truly technical circles you won't need to ask long before encountering someone who had their account taken away from them for no reason other than a detection of "suspicious activity". Not to say that I actually belong to any truly technical circles myself.
In addition to what I have written above, I'm not exactly a fan of how MSGH actually functions. Compared to other Git workflows, the platform is horrible to use. It hides easy operations behind an extremely unfriendly web user interface. One might argue that it is also possible to navigate using their custom API, and that might be true. Still, even if one were to setup an ergonomic workflow through scripting and custom tooling, there would still be issues. Most annoyingly the fact that, unless you publish a spam-trap email or are lucky enough to have the repository owner adding custom configuration, MSGH forcefully rewrites author headers to junk. Above that, it's beyond me how anyone can be happy with a Git change integration system where it is practically impossible to stack branches in a merge queue.
Dear software maintainers using MSGH, I urge you to please avoid forcing your choice upon others. Clearly merging from another remote must be easier for everyone involved than to do the dance of pointless pull-requests when no discussion is required. In case there are workflows guarding code quality, please make it easy to run those test-suites locally, prior to pushing. Everyone benefits from less administration and more value addition.