SPAM Bots Getting Worse

[High Priest Mikhal]

I'm not versed in phb, but I know there's a simple countermeasure that thwarts bots: the random image. If a string of random numbers and letters given as an image aren't put in an appropriate field at account creation, the account won't be approved. It may be time to implement such a measure.

[Joël of the FoS]

AFAIK, we already do that

A cool change to the board (if we can make it) would be to ask a simple RL question like "who is the darklord of Darkon?", that would keep these bots/spammers out...

Joël

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Indeed, the board already does that, but the captchas generated are relatively simple ones. I think newer versions of phpbb offer better ones. One of the things I intend to look into.

And I don't think we want to include RL specific challenge questions because:
a) it'd be really hard to implement
and
b) it would turn away the newbs coming here for basic info

[Troile]

It can be a simple question like:

How many days in a week?

[Algaris]

So long as you use the captchas only for new account creation and not every time someone does a post I'm all for it.

[Joël of the FoS]

It can be a simple question like:

How many days in a week?

Sure, but I'd prefer a question to eliminate humans spammers too. I suspect many are.

That is why I was thinking of a simple question related to Ravenloft. Something 99% would know, or could find easily on the web.

Joël

[Rotipher of the FoS]

We can probably come up with a question that's basic enough for anyone who might come here to answer. I agree that it should require at least a trace of Ravenloft foreknowledge, if it's to screen out the jerks.

"What is the name of Strahd's castle?" would be better than an Azalin question, IMO, as even newbies who've only read EtCR, or old-timers who fondly recall how their PCs got slaughtered in I6, will get that one right. Plus, it's a question even a character within the setting could answer -- practically every adventurer in the Core will have heard that Barovia's ruler lives in a big spooky castle called Ravenloft -- so it wouldn't give away the existence of darklords to newbie players whose DMs are keeping them in the dark about the setting's secrets.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

before we get carried away looking for the perfect question (although Rotipher may have nailed it) remember problem "a" above.

phpbb doesn't have this Q&A challenge capability and I don't know if I've got the skillz(tm) to hack it to do so. I'll look into upgrading and see if it'll buy us any spam protection.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Well, you guys have to be more careful... You go suggesting I look into something, and if you accidentally intrigue me, off I go and I won't stop until it's done.

I found a phpbb MOD that lets me replace the default captcha with one from www.reCAPTCHA.net , which has a fascinating technique for making really hard to defeat captchas, while doing some good for the world as a side effect. The mod was blissfully easy to install, and I tested it out and it seems to work well.

Sorry, fellow FoS Brothers and Sister, our favorite pastime of spammer banning may be a thing of the past. Let's hope.

[NeoTiamat]

That is absolutely brilliant.

It's like a renewable energy source, only you can only use it for digitizing books. Now what else can we apply the endless quantity of spam for.... hrm....

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

well, 10 days with the new captcha up, and not a single spammer has been reported. Considering our previous rate of several a day, I call that success. I can officially say that recaptcha.net rocks.

[A G Thing]

Awesome... Good job Gonzoron of the FoS!!! Obviously you have earned the title...