Hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right, it is an odd categorization. Web browsing is already pretty deeply computer-assisted no matter what, and the ability to run arbitrary scripts seems like it’s closer to being a bot rather than further.
It’s not a binary choice, but more of a continuum from “very little automation, lots of human button-pushing” to “mostly automated, with very high-level human direction (decision to write the code, decision to run it on that site, etc.)”. It’s funny to assert that a simpler (or deliberately crippled) browser is further to the right when it’s actually further to the left.
So, have I removed what little humor there is in the fact that the message will only ever be parsed by humans but it accuses the reader of being a bot?
Well, if you want to actually dig into this, it becomes more complicated (as usual). Couple of points:
Spiders are a common class of bots on the web and they, as a rule, do not execute scripts. I am sure that some people use the inability to run JS as a spider marker (I am not implying this is a reasonable choice).
When talking about running scripts, a crucial question is “whose script is it?” Notably, the issue is whether you should be willing to run any code that an unknown third party hands you -- it is, kinda sorta, a question of trust and then we are left to ponder whether bots are/should be more trusting than humans or less :-)
Hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right, it is an odd categorization. Web browsing is already pretty deeply computer-assisted no matter what, and the ability to run arbitrary scripts seems like it’s closer to being a bot rather than further.
It’s not a binary choice, but more of a continuum from “very little automation, lots of human button-pushing” to “mostly automated, with very high-level human direction (decision to write the code, decision to run it on that site, etc.)”. It’s funny to assert that a simpler (or deliberately crippled) browser is further to the right when it’s actually further to the left.
So, have I removed what little humor there is in the fact that the message will only ever be parsed by humans but it accuses the reader of being a bot?
Well, if you want to actually dig into this, it becomes more complicated (as usual). Couple of points:
Spiders are a common class of bots on the web and they, as a rule, do not execute scripts. I am sure that some people use the inability to run JS as a spider marker (I am not implying this is a reasonable choice).
When talking about running scripts, a crucial question is “whose script is it?” Notably, the issue is whether you should be willing to run any code that an unknown third party hands you -- it is, kinda sorta, a question of trust and then we are left to ponder whether bots are/should be more trusting than humans or less :-)