What does nostr think of this idea?
nostr:npub1utx00neqgqln72j22kej3ux7803c2k986henvvha4thuwfkper4s7r50e8, a proposal for the WoT-Relays, to allow for newbies: CAPTCHA.
The idea should be, we add a page with a captcha and a place for the user to paste their npub. If they answer the captcha correctly, user gets added to a whitelist for a limited time (say 24h).
If user tries to access the relay and is not in the whitelist, nor in the WoT, relay responds with both an "auth" request and a private message pointing to the url of the captcha page.
When validating events, check for both WoT and whitelist.
If user tries to abuse the captcha page (3 bad captchas in a minute, or 10 bac captchas in an hour), blacklist them and their IP address.
Discussion
Very interesting 🤔
I responded to the GitHub issue. It seems like it's out of scope and not WoT.
use the captcha from google as a great punishment 
that's an easy one. you're missing a colon on line 8
I like it. If nothing else, it could be a good bandaid until other solutions have time to get worked out.