United3dArtists Archive

Prodigy, sorry to say that, but your Anti Bot question mod is a Anti User Question Mod

I really have my problems with it. Finish a question is a nice idea to block spambots. But you should give the users a chance to really solve it. This is a pain at the moment. Especially when english is not your mothertongue. There is no hint what is asked. Just a sentence to complete. With one question i had no clue what you wanted to ask at all. And i was close to simply give up and leave this board alone. It was pure coincidence that i solved it.

What i wonder is, why did you introduce this mod at all? There shouldn`t be a need for it when your registration form includes a anti bot question. Which can be done by a custom userdefined profilefield in the users and groups tab. I have two PHPBB3 boards up and running. I have simply created such a custom usedefined profilefield. It just contains a dropdown box to choose from, and just appears when you register the first time. And i had not a single spambot since over a year now

Posting a reply to test the question.

I only was asked once, and even to a native English speaker the question didn't make any sense.
Luckily I answered it correctly.

I'm guessing it sets a cookie; if you get asked every time perhaps it's not storing the cookie due to your browser/ security settings. You may have to make a rule/exception for forum cookies.

OK, here goes, I'm going to see if it asks me a dumb question when I post this reply...


<UPDATE> Nope, no question.

Yeah, noticed this too. It`s not every post. So my cookie stuff seems to be correct. But i had to answer three times today. One time i was kicked out completely. And two times because i answered.

Correction, four times ...

My cache gets emptied when i close the browser. Maybe that`s why. I don`t like to collect all the surfing trash

I speak American and I understood the questions just fine, no problem, but I can see how English-not-primary-language members could have more trouble. Of course Prodigy is a English-not-primary-language member. I only have to answer it when logging in to the forum. My browser is set to clear everything when I close it so I'll try logging out and back in without closing the browser.

Edit: I logged out and logged back in without closing my browser and there was no question.

I did it fine, just 1 sec

but I don't really remember the question, for me was just an command (write this thing)

Are there any statistics for this spambot? I do not think we had such problems.

No statistics but here is one days work of deleting spam.

evelynz8735, chaobz, assishappodia, klmn170, TAtowscloutt, SkelaySah, ChosseWeasp, tuvw086, bcde283, ObeterturoJep, juliew9855, Jasofina, Maruder, hijk926, ijkl062, ijkl422, Piengeons, acaiberriesfx, Hadoloamida, Amoxil_buy, Engefunnikell, pqrs647, coraPlord, Pellioste, gremiaUteme

We are now in better control because of the fix. I can actually do 3D art again!

why spammers use ridiculous names? 90% of spammers on internet can be identified by seeing their name. they need to have a brain. I hope they will always remain stupid. it's easier to sort.

How do you tell the difference between a spammer and a real person when they sign up? That's the question; sometimes it's hard to tell it seems, until the spammer starts posting junk.

froo wrote:How do you tell the difference between a spammer and a real person when they sign up?

The spammer smells like Astroglide and shame.

the problem is not to find the difference between a spammer and a real person but between a spambot and a user. spambot are not person, just robot that can't say "truespace" when you ask to say "truespace". Robot are very very stupid.

What was the word? Tuspbg, treusp, tr, fruspe .... damn!

For me it stays frustrating to answer a question every time i want to write here. I think twice now if i really want to answer a thread.

Tiles wrote:What was the word? Tuspbg, treusp, tr, fruspe .... damn!

For me it stays frustrating to answer a question every time i want to write here. I think twice now if i really want to answer a thread.

the anti spam question isn't every single post

Actually I just realize that is every post...

So that's pretty BAD!

And that was another question but this time was kinda non-sense

EDIT: But this time it didn't, maybe it's per day? '-'
Anyway this need to be changed

test

test2

i can post several time without question for me. i don't understand why you have a problem???

I only have to answer a question when I log in after my browser cache, cookies, etc. have been cleared. Since some people are having to answer a question where others are not I think that each user's security/privacy settings are an issue here. Maybe the problem is cookies aren't allowed or are cleared frequently. Try telling your browser or firewall/antivirus to allow this site to use cookies.

Very unlikely that you can convince people here to change their security settings

As told in my first post, this antispambot question should happen in the registration form. Which would make the question form in front of answers obsolete. And this can even be done with PHPBB natively by the userdefined profile fields.

If it does not happen to me or others the problem is not on this end.
Unless you don't trust cookies...

Well, cookies are on here. But i get nevertheless asked for minimum one time every session

It likes talking to you.

But - it doesn`t accept the ultimate answer: 42

Perhaps it needs to be asked the ultimate question.....



Why don't they make cheese fonDON'T for people that don't like cheese fondue!!!!


(George Carlin... sadly missed)

Hey I like cheese. How can anyone not like cheese?

There are two kinds of cheese: cheese and chewing gum industry. What is beautiful and clean is not necessarily the best product.

Ok; marcel; I Totally don't get that!

I think it means he likes his cheese funky.

I think Marcel is saying that "processed cheese food" and perfect smooth textured "industrial" cheese, you know, the cheap stuff we can afford (well you can afford), is like chewing gum and that cheese with its natural flaws is better. Wait, that's what Spacekdet said only he said it better, more succinctly, and with humor.

mm natural cheese rocks; pasteurized process cheese pood sucks.

Some people are having no trouble with the anti-spam question while others are having much trouble. This makes it obvious that differences in user's experiences are on the user's side.

Barring malfunction, the spam system does exactly the same thing on the forum's side for each and every poster. The system is not a conscious being that dislikes some and likes others. Steinie nor Prodigy have set anything to make it easy for thier buddies and hard for others.

So, what could it do that is the same for all of us but produces different results? Well, it could check something on each user's system and then customize a user's experience based on the user's settings on his browser/computer. Settings that the user chose of his own free will. If my settings are just like yours then we will get the same results.

Perhaps there are problems with certain browsers or browser versions. (Not tested by me.) Perhaps it is malfunctioning. Before you claim that the system is malfunctioning test if your settings are incompatible with easy use of the anti-spam question.

I suspected that privacy/security settings, particularly cookies, are the culprit so I did the test below.

We all have our own needs and preferences regarding privacy and security on our computers. We must each take responsibility for our choices. High security settings can interfere with other things we would like to do or the ease of doing them. We all know what would happen if we were lax on security.

There may be other ways to protect the forum from spam that are more high-security-setting friendly but that is not the topic of this post.

You might think there wasn't a spam problem because you didn't see it. You didn't see it because Steinie and Prodigy spend a lot of time fighting it instead of producing awesome artwork. If they will do that for you then setting a specific exception in your security/privacy settings just for this site isn't too much to ask you to do for them.

- TEST OF COOKIES EFFECTS ON ANTI-SPAM QUESTION -

Browser: Firefox vs. 3.6.12

In each test I attempted log in, posting with text and images, and editing a post.

TEST 1:

Cookies Settings (my normal settings): Third party cookies forbidden. Other cookies allowed. All cookies cleared when browser closed.

Result: Anti-spam question required only for the initial log in and I don't have to answer it again unless cookies have been cleared. No trouble posting, editing, or attaching images.

TEST 2:

Cookies Settings: All cookies forbidden.

Result: Anti-spam question required at log in and at every attempt to post, edit, or attach an image. Further, images did not appear.

TEST 3:
Cookies Settings: Cookies allowed only for http://united3dartists.com" .

Result: Same as test 1.


(Design the ultimate security device to keep you safe. Made of metal so it is strong vs. threats, few moving parts so you don't get injured by it, padded on the inside to prevent injury, door locked so threats don't get in, placed underground to prevent crushing or rolling ... a coffin.)

Edit: changed "to" to "too".

This makes it obvious that differences in user's experiences are on the user's side.

This just makes it obvious that some users have trouble with it, while others have not. The problem is on the boards side, is a nag feature, and is called anti spambot question

I will definiteyl not change my settings to what the board hosters out there thinks i should have so that their boards works best. That`s a bad idea. I use more than one board.

I think i`ve told more than once now that the problem with the bots can easily be fixed with a usedefined profile field instead. Equal effective, and doesn`t nag the users anymore

Tiles wrote: I think i`ve told more than once now that the problem with the bots can easily be fixed with a usedefined profile field instead. Equal effective, and doesn`t nag the users anymore

I believe that Prodigy did try it your way once but somehow it didn't work correctly and he changed it back. Only he can give the real reason why it didn't work right.
It is pretty obvious from the various test done that this is cookie issue.
Tiles you might want to email Prodigy directly about your fix that would work here. I certainly don't want users here to suffer.

Nobody wants this. Damn bots.

Yes, i know too good that the PHPBB3 can be a pain, settingswise. Hm, i thougth my description was clear and easy enough to follow. I had described it here:

vi ... bb3#p15424"

Possible that i made a translation error. Prodigy, where did your attempt fail?