Wolfram Alpha

[riptide]

So the second class of bots are the ones that may have humans behind them.
Well the site I was talking about is a vBulletin site too. But it's much more dead that DD and the strange attacks came some time after it was dead for a while.

So I'm just wondering how would you get around human backed bots.
Also why do some sites with no captchas have little to no spam.

[keyboard]

I wasn't sugggesting don't use a captcha. I was saying that you shouldn't have to spend 20 seconds trying to decipher one (they should be simple).

Also, audio captchas, what if they're deaf?

I definetely think I'll go and make a custom one, with a few other methods to catch spam.

@riptide, there are other ways to catch spammers then a captcha. I mentioned honeytraps earlier. You can also have a timer with the minimum amount of time you can physically complete the form. Because spam bots are automated, they may be to quick and you can ban them automatically.

Another option (if your site isn't that big) is to manually verify each account/post...

As to human bots, try keywords (this is for comments of posts on a site).

For instance, if a post contains the word casino or maybe a link to another site, you could automatically hide the post untill it has been approved by someone (in essence a good filter).

The best way to go is to combine all these little methods.

P.s. I'm doing all this because I'm beefing up the security on my site before I upload it. I know that I don't have to try that hard, but I think of it as a challenge...

[djr33]

I wasn't sugggesting don't use a captcha. I was saying that you shouldn't have to spend 20 seconds trying to decipher one (they should be simple).

I completely agree with this.

Also, audio captchas, what if they're deaf?

Combine it with a visual one, of course.
recaptcha does this and it works pretty well.



Riptide, there are at least 3 ways:
1. Use a spam management system that tracks bad IPs, usernames and emails across websites. (A very interesting thing I've just noticed-- I'm currently an active user on two forums, this one and another, and I've found the same username posting spam on both sites within minutes recently, a few times.)
2. Attentive moderators.
3. Require approval before posting anything.

And ask keyboard says, you can use other kinds of protection like keyword filtering or blocking posts that have links in them.

Human backed bots cannot be stopped by captchas, though.

[jscheuer1]

How about a Zen Kōan? Then only the enlightened could get in.

I like the one about the cats.

Attachment 4471

How many cats are in the box?

Are any of them named Schrödinger?

[keyboard]

How about a Zen Kōan? Then only the enlightened could get in.

It's a coding website

How many cats are in the box?
Are any of them named Schrödinger?

How are they physically supposed to answer those?

Serious answers please John

p.s I agree with the Zen Kōan idea! I've actually got some good ones around here somewhere...

[riptide]

I like the one about the cats.

Attachment 4471

How many cats are in the box?

Are any of them named Schrödinger?

This made me smile. I guess you could ask a question about Schrödinger cat.

[keyboard]

Is Schrödinger's cat alive?
Yes|No|Maybe|Neither

There goes a 3/4 quarters of your spam!

[djr33]

Depending on what type of people visit the site, you could use that to your advantage.

"Are Java and Javascript the same thing?"

"How many points do you need in [some online game] to become a super special [some position of magic user]?"

"Finish the phrase: Luke, I am your _____"


But of course that might make some people fail these things.

Note that the biggest risk is for those who don't speak (=read) English well. Then something like "what's 2 plus 2?" might be hard. It's important to think about that.
(Unless you want to translate everything...)

[keyboard]

Hmmm, I definetely might make the questions basic coding related. Only coders will ever need to login/register...

[bernie1227]

the only limits to those kind of things however, are that some users may not speak english, which would kind of limit the audience a bit. although, you could always just have options for different languages.

With quiz kind of things, some people could just google the answers.

I agreee with keybord in that the numbers system works, but it needs to be easier to read.

Also, back to the original topic, Wolfram Alpha is a good, quick source of information, but not much more than that.