I am atleast removing a spammer a day. Wondering what current meassures are taken to counter spam bots and what meassures could be taken exactly?

What could be done would be to change the forum's registration procedure coding to break a bot's automation.

The question here is if it's really an automated process (bot) or actually a human creating the account. The accounts flow is not that significative (believe me, I've seen a lot worse on the portuguese forums) and maybe it's not worth the time changing the code (specially if it's actually a human creating the accounts).

Plus, when I look for example at the post pattern on the last "bot" that we banned tonight, I see the same text, but with a different title each time, wich makes me believe that it was actually a human creating the topics and then ctrl+v on there.

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/ ... ha_plugin/

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/sortables_captcha_plugin/

and what kind of questions would you include there? teknogods-style the-right-answer-isn't-even-right ones? at least for pT5 forums it made sense, but this forum has multiple subject matters...

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/sortables_captcha_plugin/

and what kind of questions would you include there? teknogods-style the-right-answer-isn't-even-right ones? at least for pT5 forums it made sense, but this forum has multiple subject matters...

 

I can remember the 7+5=12 question. We had that on alterIWNet right?

and what kind of questions would you include there? teknogods-style the-right-answer-isn't-even-right ones? at least for pT5 forums it made sense, but this forum has multiple subject matters...

Why does it have to be about this forums subject matters? It can be something easy like things you can eat - things you can't eat or w/e. It's just something to prevent spambots, and it always worked fine on my forum. (There weren't that many users as on this, but still).

arent those bots humans anyway?

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/mod/sortables_captcha_plugin/

and what kind of questions would you include there? teknogods-style the-right-answer-isn't-even-right ones? at least for pT5 forums it made sense, but this forum has multiple subject matters...

How about something like

 

How many fingers (including thumb) are you supposed to have on your hand?

How many days are in a year?

Not something in english, think about people who don't know english very well.

Why don't you do a "How do you spell "xxxxxx"?" type question?

Would that even work o.o

It can be something easy like things you can eat - things you can't eat or w/e.

Even in that case, some people's opinions/beliefs on such may differ -- for instance, TG has a stupid question about 'who are [our team]' (which nobody would be able to know as the 'The team' page requires registration) or 'what do Italians eat' (which actually would be all of the options, as they clearly do not just eat stereotyped Italian foods -- and also came with a column named 'not eat', really professional there).

Even in that case, some people's opinions/beliefs on such may differ -- for instance, TG has a stupid question about 'who are [our team]' (which nobody would be able to know as the 'The team' page requires registration) or 'what do Italians eat' (which actually would be all of the options, as they clearly do not just eat stereotyped Italian foods -- and also came with a column named 'not eat', really professional there).

cookies - bread - candy

pan - bed - pc

 

not sure how anyone could get that wrong

 

But it was just a suggestion, and drag 'n drop is just more professional thn a stupid math question imo

How many days are in a year?

We can't put that.

Then those people who look at IW5M launch error and come here asking how to bypass the checks wouldn't be able to register because they wouldn't know if they should answer 365 or 366 days

 

Now for real. When we put such types of verifications, the answer has to come according to some random factor. A constant answer like 365 would be easily automated.

cookies - cake - candy

pan - bed - pc

 

not sure how anyone could get that wrong

but the human spammers would answer that with minimal effort, unless it's just the captcha entering that gets deferred.

but the human spammers would answer that with minimal effort, unless it's just the captcha entering that gets deferred.

Yeah, this is just for spambots. Dunno if you can add something for human spammers, as it also would get a lot harder for normal people to register.

a simple equation like

8x-25=3.5

find 'x'

 

so that they will have to actually think some seconds or take the calculator. Cmon, even 11 yo kid would do that

a simple equation like

8x-25=3.5

find 'x'

 

so that they will have to actually think some seconds or take the calculator. Cmon, even 11 yo kid would do that

No, most 11 yr olds can't do that, as they haven't learned that x can be a number..

I suggest a simple calculation of the body formed by rotating the segment in f(x)=e^-2x between 0 and 1 around the x-axis. I think that would eliminate spammers, while also getting rid of all morons

a simple equation like

8x-25=3.5

find 'x'

 

so that they will have to actually think some seconds or take the calculator. Cmon, even 11 yo kid would do that

No, most 11 yr olds can't do that, as they haven't learned that x can be a number..

I suggest a simple calculation of the body formed by rotating the segment in f(x)=e^-2x between 0 and 1 around the x-axis. I think that would eliminate spammers, while also getting rid of all morons

 

._.

 

Or just 1+1/something similar. That should do.

I remember a forum where there was a question with Are you a spambot?

 

You get to choose Yes and No

 

This was like a radio button thing.

A better question which requires physics, if you have average velocity which is 40m/s, and in 2 seconds the object change to 6m/s^2 find the displacement

A better question which requires physics, if you have average velocity which is 40m/s, and in 2 seconds the object change to 6m/s^2 find the displacement

 

How do you expect me to find the displacement when you have give me AVERAGE velocity of a time period "x". You should have given the initial velocity so we can calculate the acceleration and therefore the displacement ._.

 

Why would you just not give something like "How much distance will a car travel when it travels at 4m/s for 6 seconds?" that's a simple 4*6 equation framed like a word problem.

Po int of my previous post was that it is absolutely useless to make the questions hard. It doesnt block more spammers and only prevents users from joining.

Are you guys actually absolutely sure they're human spammers? You can always try to add some anti-spambot shizzle and check if those spamtopics still appear on the forums. If they don't, problem solved; if they do, meh, not much you can do about it I guess.

Are you guys actually absolutely sure they're human spammers? You can always try to add some anti-spambot shizzle and check if those spamtopics still appear on the forums. If they don't, problem solved; if they do, meh, not much you can do about it I guess.

 

AlterIWNet had a double check, even then we had spammers. But not as excessivly as here atm. If you take a look at the registration page it is just a captcha. With that, there are always possibilities I guess to bypass them. Most bots are just set for the standard settings. Special inclusions like a simpel calculation as 7+5 would be doable for everyone that is able to count and would be a suprise question for a bot.

while also getting rid of all morons

Well I put my vote on this one (I know it won't be the path followed since the largest part of our active community seems to be made of morons, but it's a nice thought though)

A better question which requires physics, if you have average velocity which is 40m/s, and in 2 seconds the object change to 6m/s^2 find the displacement

 

How do you expect me to find the displacement when you have give me AVERAGE velocity of a time period "x". You should have given the initial velocity so we can calculate the acceleration and therefore the displacement ._.

 

Why would you just not give something like "How much distance will a car travel when it travels at 4m/s for 6 seconds?" that's a simple 4*6 equation framed like a word problem.

YAY I'm not the only person who knows physics here <3 I was hoping somebody would correct me