As the for CAPTCHA problem you are seeing, having you tried contacting CloudFlare Support about it? We can look at the IP you are coming from and see what's happening.
To expand on the CAPTCHA problem, I had to complete a CAPTCHA to go to torrentfreak.com.
I got nothing where the CAPTCHA box should have been ([0]). After some time, I refreshed and got [1]. I wrote the CAPTCHA, was given a large bunch of text ([2]) and I copied it to the input field right below. Then, I submitted the form but it still didn't work (would just bring me to the CAPTCHA again). I guess this form of CAPTCHA is for JS-less browsers, but apparently it doesn't work. I had to enable JS for both TorrentFreak, Cloudflare and Google (reCAPTCHA) in order to make show the CAPTCHA and be able to contine.
The above happened right now. It also happened with Reddit (except [0]) a week ago or so. This is all on a vanilla (i.e. no addons) TBB.
[0]: https://i.minus.com/ibeweNVEUJF5eF.png
[1]: https://i.minus.com/ilKn4GHj3VGvO.png
[2]: https://i.minus.com/iqYClN4WabBPo.png
Edit: Fixed images.
</rant>
I could do - but I'm kind of angry that I even have to. What about the less technically literate, who might barely know what CloudFlare is, let alone figure out how to contact their support? (Yes, I use a VPN, but there's plenty of ways a non tech person might have a shared IP.) And why should I have to go to this effort, just to get read access to a website?
And what if I'm on a different IP tomorrow? Begging for my IP to be unblocked is no long term solution. (What about when malicious activity comes from it tomorrow, after you unblocked it? You'll just block it again.)
Just now, in my other browser tab:
>Please complete the security check to access coinmarketcap.com
(btw, Disqus is giving you different comments depending on whether https or not, that's why I missed my comment being published.)
> there's plenty of ways a non tech person might have a shared IP
e.g. some mobile internet, university/school campuses, workplaces, shared wifi points. All of which might have some abuse. I guess perhaps not the amount of a VPN/Tor.
That being said, there's more people than ever using Tor lately. And I'm sure CloudFlare are more than aware of Tor already. And lots of relatively casual users signing up for VPNs to get to blocked file sharing sites etc.
Just now, in my other tab:
> Please complete the security check to access torrentfreak.com
It's more likely than you think:
https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
All someone needs is to have read something on some social media website, followed a link, and installed some software. Boom, they're accessing the Internet through TOR.
If you don't feel like contacting CloudFlare Support you could always just email me directly: jgc (you guess the domain name :-)
It's still scary the power your company has, mind.