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  4.  / Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?
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1
hipoonios
Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/4 13:03

  • hipoonios

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 298

  • Since: 2005/9/24


We really need a better way to stop spammers. I can not understand how all bots can pass the captcha.

Actually 9 of 10 of all signups on my website are bots! And I'm seem to be not the only one with this problem.

So I would like to try to have an question at the registration process to see if it helps.

Example questions:

What color is the sky?
What is 6+5?

Or maybe have a picture?

Like this:

Resized Image

What represents the image above?

1. A house
2. A three
3. A rabbit



What do you think? Should it work?
I love Xoops!
2
ghia
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/4 13:38

  • ghia

  • Community Support Member

  • Posts: 4953

  • Since: 2008/7/3 1


Not all registrations are done by bots. there are also 'datacenters' where humans are payed to do this, with some automated assistance.
In some cases the captcha's are presented on other websites as 'allowance', without verification, but thus retrieving the solution for the bot.

There are some catcha hacks (recaptcha, sexy captcha) as alternative to the regular XOOPS captcha, search for captcha in the forum.
3
hipoonios
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/4 18:20

  • hipoonios

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 298

  • Since: 2005/9/24


Thanks for the suggestions.

A bit off topic,

Does anyone know what these filters is for in protector? I found two interesting filters:

xoops_lib/modules/protector/filters_disabled/postcommon_post_register_moratorium

xoops_lib/modules/protector/filters_disabled/postcommon_register_insert_js_check

Enable those maybe can help to stop some spam? I can't find a documentation for Protector so can't check.
I love Xoops!
4
ghia
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/5 6:08

  • ghia

  • Community Support Member

  • Posts: 4953

  • Since: 2008/7/3 1


See the site of GI Joe about the filters.
It seems to introduce a 60 minute time period, before a user can post its first URL on the site.
5
madDan
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/5 16:00

  • madDan

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 105

  • Since: 2010/1/6 1


On our site registrations are authorised by admin, after checking email addresses and usernames on on various antispam sites.

Try adding current lists of spammers IP addresses to your protector lists especially after protector blocks one for a suspicious action.

try sites like FSpamlist and Stop Forum Spam to get your lists.
6
Nick_James
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

Well, the only sure way would be to go to a manual authorization process.

If you are not talking about a lot of signups, this would be the most sure way to deal with the problem.

It is annoying, but given that the spammers counter every evolution of protection, it is probably the only secure way to stay safe.

It still would be nice to have an automated script to delete all the posts by a single new spam users.

They can add 200 posts in a single day.
7
hipoonios
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/12 15:55

  • hipoonios

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 298

  • Since: 2005/9/24


A few days ago, I changed the settings in /class/captcha/config.image.php. Now I get almost no spam at all


Just want to share that.
I love Xoops!
8
iunderwood
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

I switched over to manual verify. It's a pain in the butt, but my website is not tremendously active.

If it ever does become active, my shared hosting provider will express disappointment, for sure.
++I;
Resized Image
9
charpres
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/22 22:33

  • charpres

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 168

  • Since: 2003/9/4 2


I added "city where you live" as a mandatory field to the signup page. This is important to me because the particular site is geared completely to my state -I don't care about visitors from other countries.

I have noticed a trend in the last year for these "datacenters" to go through all the captcha and then post something innocuous like "Wow this is a great site. I hope to learn a lot here."

One today put "Islamabad" as his city. Wow, maybe he is a spammer?

As I watch these guys, over a few weeks there will be maybe a dozen or more signing up with the same IP. Then, at some point when they are all in place, you get the spam floods.

I think I am going to create a new member category called Spammer that has no posting or other privileges. I'm tired of deleting these jokers and would rather give a little back. Instead of deleting the account and/or banning, maybe that would at least be more fun.

I don't like manual approvals. If you put yourself in the user's place, they are signing up because they want to post in a forum (or whatever) right now. I don't want to put that enthusiasm on hold.
10
Mamba
Re: Question on the register page to stop bots - Good idea or not?

  • 2010/12/22 22:56

  • Mamba

  • Moderator

  • Posts: 11366

  • Since: 2004/4/23


Quote:
I think I am going to create a new member category called Spammer that has no posting or other privileges. I'm tired of deleting these jokers and would rather give a little back. Instead of deleting the account and/or banning, maybe that would at least be more fun.

that's the best way, because they will not be able to recycle their email address on your Website.
Banning IP in addition to that is also good.

I guess, we have to get used to live with spammers and ban them as they come.

The only way to prevent spam registrations is to make registrations approved manually by the Webmaster.
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