Enable CAPTCHA to help stop SPAM here?

myhomeserver · October 20, 2009, 2:37pm

Please vote, Captcha is open source, simple to enable and it will help stop these idiots spamming this board…

CMRancho · October 20, 2009, 4:00pm

Or would it be better to make account creation more secure? Either that or at least empower a few of us to monitor posts and delete spam posts.

huwu · October 20, 2009, 4:40pm

Good idea!

madas · October 20, 2009, 4:54pm

yes something needs to be done. Starting to look unprofessional in here.

myhomeserver · October 20, 2009, 6:26pm

Agreed. I don’t mean to be a bitch, but this spam certainly degrades the value and appeal of this user community. I think we can either enable captcha or assign some “moderators” that are active here to help police this stuff.

rsilvers · October 20, 2009, 10:47pm

It is hard to eliminate. The best way is to make three regular posters moderators.

325xi · October 20, 2009, 11:57pm

CAPTCHA just makes it a tad slower.
Manual approval of new accounts would be much more efficient.

B0SST0N · October 21, 2009, 12:51am

CAPTCHA is also a PITA if enabled on searches etc… some of those CAPTCHA words I can’t even make out what they are

madas · October 21, 2009, 1:01am

Doesn’t it only request that for searches if you aren’t logged in?

guessed · October 21, 2009, 1:11am

For SMF Forums (as used here), there are a number of CAPTYA options, but this seems to be one of the more common/recent (based upon download data):

   http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=907

it provides examples of what it would look like if enabled. Unfortunately I dont have a SMF-based system I can test this on, so only have the images posted there to rely upon.

There are a number of changes like this that I’ve forwarded as a specific request to MCV and CJ, notably:

[ul][li]Enable “Member Activation” - Currently set to “Immediate Registration”[/li]
[li]Set the account option “Require reactivation after email change”[/li][/ul]

There are some other security lock downs I’ve also requested, but I won’t list those here

In the meantime, I’ve augmented their spammer word list to provide some added humor when they use those keywords…

denix · October 21, 2009, 3:30am

Last year when there was an outbreak of spam on the forum, admins added several moderators from regular users. Unfortunately, only few of them are still active here these days (325xi & wseverino). I think adding (or reshuffling) moderators from active users may slightly help the situation again. May I suggest LibraSun, zmistro (if they want) and myself as candidates? : I would have also suggested guessed if he wasn’t a new admin already…

I do also support proposed technical measures, as outlined in this thread.

325xi · October 21, 2009, 3:35am

My usual morning starts with going to the forum from my Android phone and removing the spam… No kidding

denix · October 21, 2009, 3:42am

@325xi,

Thanks for doing it! How many times I have reported a new spam message just to see you logging in within an hour to delete it…

wseverino · October 21, 2009, 4:10am

325xi - You too! That what I do first thing and during the day when i get an email saying Denix reported spam!

325xi · October 21, 2009, 4:21am

We need someone overseas to handle night hours

guessed · October 21, 2009, 4:22am

denix, LibraSun & zmistro added as Global Moderators, enjoy!

Hopefully these short term changes, and some of the proposals above, will give MCV, CJ and team more time to sort out the issues and stabilization activities.