GermanHarpist
1707 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:38 AM
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It's good spam protection. Plus we'll get practice decyphering these spacy pictures.
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GermanHarpist
1708 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:38 AM
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It's not case sensitive...
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toddlgreene
1687 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:40 AM
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No refresh? On some Catcha sites you can hit a button for another chance if you get one that's undecipherable.
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Last Edited by on Aug 20, 2010 10:41 AM
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GermanHarpist
1710 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:45 AM
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I dont thing that there are limits of how often you can try. So no prob..
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toddlgreene
1688 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:49 AM
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Nah, you're right. It's a good deterrent.
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
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nacoran
2559 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:52 AM
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Captcha Blues
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Nate
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nacoran
2560 posts
Aug 20, 2010
10:53 AM
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Is there a way to allow people with a certain number of posts already (a couple hundred or so) to not need a captcha?
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Nate
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GermanHarpist
1712 posts
Aug 20, 2010
11:06 AM
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That's a great idea. IMO 15 should be enough.
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toddlgreene
1690 posts
Aug 20, 2010
11:58 AM
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To come up with this number, count 176/2ydnas 's posts and add about a hundred to it. Yes, this is slightly cryptic, just like a Captcha.
Oh wait, you're talking spam protection, not troll protection...
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Last Edited by on Aug 20, 2010 12:36 PM
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nacoran
2567 posts
Aug 20, 2010
1:53 PM
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Mitochondrial DNA? What did I miss?
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Nate
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nacoran
2580 posts
Aug 20, 2010
7:31 PM
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So I've spent all day looking up info and I have come to this conclusion:
The world will not end in fire.
The world will not end in ice.
The world will end in spam.
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Nate
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MrVerylongusername
1193 posts
Aug 21, 2010
4:45 AM
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I understand the need for the captcha, but as someone else (Zack?) said somewhere else (can't find it now) it does make the forum unuseable for the visually impaired using a screen reader. I seem to recall we have at least one blind forum member.
Is there an option to add an audio button?
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jim
326 posts
Aug 21, 2010
5:32 AM
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I think I'll just write something that you are all afraid to say:
We need a NORMAL FORUM.
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www.truechromatic.com
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MrVerylongusername
1194 posts
Aug 21, 2010
6:21 AM
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Not afraid to say it, it's been said many times, but Adam has said he likes things the way they are. It's his forum; we should respect that.
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hvyj
547 posts
Aug 21, 2010
9:59 AM
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CAPTCHA=PITA
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jonlaing
45 posts
Aug 21, 2010
4:29 PM
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Well, as a web developer, I know that CAPTCHA is probably the most effective spam prevention technique. HOWEVER, there are other methods that are decently effective. Since most spam is automatically generated, there are pretty clear patterns in the way they're written. This pattern can be checked pretty simply by a regex.
I haven't seen any of the spam here, so I wouldn't be able to tell you what the spam looks like, or what sort of patterns the software should look for. However, if people are really upset about the CAPTCHA I could write an alternative widget.
Personally, I like the idea of disabling the CAPTCHA after a certain number of posts. The CAPTCHA doesn't really bother me that much.
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Littoral
50 posts
Aug 21, 2010
5:38 PM
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On my phone I have to write down the code first because posting opens a different window.
Pain in the ass.
Last Edited by on Aug 21, 2010 5:41 PM
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nacoran
2587 posts
Aug 21, 2010
6:12 PM
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MVLUN, I don't think anyone is talking about changing anything except to block spam, which drives Adam nuts too. I spent all day yesterday reading up on security protocols (I only know a little basic HTML) and there is only so much that can be done with Macwebsitebuilder, but there are a couple things that might help. I'm not sure how to code the captcha to turn off after a certain number of posts (a lot of forums use a reputation system). The honeypot captcha might work. Basically, it is a hidden (usually) form field that has to be left blank or the post won't post. Bots don't know the field has to be left blank so they try to fill it in. There can be some issues with accessibility with screen reading software, but they aren't insurmountable. Combined with a captcha that disappeared after a number of posts it would probably help a lot. Flood controls that prevented more than one post a minute (or 30 seconds or whatever) could probably be implemented without too much problem, but I don't know how to do it. There are some time-stamp related captchas too, but I'm not sure I understood how those worked.
Letting members flag spam might help too. If three separate members flag something it could be hidden for review, or something like that. One of the big problems is that since the newest posts always display at the top spam pushes out good posts. A couple other member accessible sortable options might help too. A way for mods (or maybe just the admin) to delete a bunch of posts by one poster at once could help. The problem is coding all that and bandwidth. I don't know if there has been a court case, but there is some talk that bots circumventing captchas might be violating the DMCA by bypassing a security measure, which might help on the legal front.
I have a couple other ideas that might make it easier to use the site, but they could be implemented as downloadable applications, so they wouldn't change the site (unless Adam really wanted them implemented.) I've also been looking to see if I could figure out a little widget that could either be posted above the comment box or maybe separately downloaded (to keep the load off the server). The idea would be that there would be buttons that would insert the proper HTML into the forum box (a lot like a spam bot actually). Fark.com has buttons like this if you are signed in on the threads. You press, for instance, the insert link button and the html appears in the box. You still have to paste the url in, but it makes it much easier for people who don't know HTML to figure out. I was trying to figure out what that would take before I suggested it to Adam. (As an desktop application it might be even more useful. It could put the HTML into your clipboard and you could post it into any comment box that supports HTML anywhere on the web, so it would be useful on multiple forums.
I also posted a suggestion on the Dropbox forums the other day. I'm not sure if they are aiming to serve forum sites which require more bandwidth or just as a backup site, but they work well for both. I thought it would be nice if they made a widget that would work with forum registrations. If you could sign up for a Dropbox account at the same time you signed up on a forum it would make it much easier for new members to post audio/video/pics (with an opt out option of course.)
Some of this stuff wouldn't have to be site specific, but it all comes down to coding. Some people have time but not much skill. Other people have skill and not much time. Some people want to be paid.
(Lol, I missed the captcha on my first try to post this.)
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Nate
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groyster1
386 posts
Aug 23, 2010
8:45 AM
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@nacoran
it appears you have worked very hard trying to resolve this problem please strike my complaining about it from the record...again thanks for your effort
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nacoran
2597 posts
Aug 23, 2010
11:48 AM
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OK, so does anyone know how to code it so the Captcha turns off after a certain number of uses? Another possible filter might be if there are links in the post. Probably 90% of posts don't have links, and 100% of spam does, so if we asked for a captcha posts including links that might help (although that might catch people with links in their tag more than we want.)
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Nate
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bluemoose
269 posts
Aug 23, 2010
4:05 PM
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It would take some server side scripting (APO,APS.NET?) to pull the post count for the current login from the member database and use that to decide if to include the captcha. This would be code in the html page that is executed on the server and fills in the html page before it gets sent to the browser.
Checkout w3schools.com for tutorials and examples if you are interested in this stuff. May not give the solution but you'll have more solid info to dig with.
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bluemoose
274 posts
Aug 26, 2010
9:35 AM
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I've sent a few messages since the captcha went in and a couple have failed the code. (Is that a 0 or a O???)
When it does it asks you to re-enter a code but there is no code to re-enter. Am I missing something?
All I can do is cut my message, jump back to the topic and paste it in and hope I get a readable code this time (like this one now!).
Last Edited by on Aug 26, 2010 11:10 AM
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MP
771 posts
Aug 26, 2010
9:57 AM
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ohhh, it's not case sensitive! cool.
i just discovered the broken dagger is a T.
good work!
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MP
hibachi cook for the yakuza
doctor of semiotics
superhero emeritus
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Stickman
413 posts
Sep 17, 2010
5:58 PM
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I just discovered what CAPTCHA is good for; It keeps drunk guys from posting on Friday nights!
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The Art Teacher Formally Known As scstrickland
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