i'm aware that talking about the reputation system's details is rather taboo, but i was wondering if i could at least know if raising my level would allow me to bypass or limit the captcha for adding tags? there's no point in trying to seriously grind reputation otherwise and frankly going through the motions required i think would leave the site worse off.

usecase is for tagging posts systematically, far as i'm aware the most efficient way (since external tools aren't allowed) is to use a negative search and add the tag to posts that should have it one tag at a time. unfortunately, the captcha makes this method not practical since almost all the time spent is on solving them and it breaks the flow during every edit.

the 10s cooldown is fine. it requires passive not active attention so i'd probably circumvent the issues with it by bookmarking posts while cooling down to end then apply the edits in batches at the beginning of next session. if i add using a simple script to make a sound every 12 seconds to keep rhythm there's like zero issue.

Once you earn enough rep you do stop having to do the CAPTCHA for tag edits. You can't get rid of the delay between edits with rep, though. I think it's either 5 or 10 seconds before you can do another tag edit/note edit/comment after doing one of those. The only way to get rid of that is becoming part of the Unofficial Gardener's Group.

It's possible they've changed it, but I doubt it. At some point you've got enough rep to prove you're not going to be spamming comments/tag edits, so it makes sense to stop making you solve a CAPTCHA.