The Genii Forum

Hello there, am I the only one who thinks the anti-spam questions are a bit hard to get?
I mean what the heck is a spheroid object let alone the prop in which you put it? OMG.

There are multiple questions that cycle through--you happened to get that one.

The problem is that spam bots look at those questions, then Google for answers, and GET THROUGH! You've seen some of the jibberish posts that have been here since we upgraded. Dustin and I have been manually deleting them as fast as we can.

It's actually been very difficult to devise questions that a spam bot can't Google, but we've just installed the anti-spam software, so if things improve I'll be able to moderate the questions.

Nothing to add -- I'm just posting to experience the anti-spambot questions!

Edited: Hmm, I wasn't asked any questions?

Good point, I was think to a white ball for cups and balls. Spheroid should have been the good hint.

Richard Kaufman wrote:There are multiple questions that cycle through--you happened to get that one.

The problem is that spam bots look at those questions, then Google for answers, and GET THROUGH! You've seen some of the jibberish posts that have been here since we upgraded. Dustin and I have been manually deleting them as fast as we can.

It's actually been very difficult to devise questions that a spam bot can't Google, but we've just installed the anti-spam software, so if things improve I'll be able to moderate the questions.

That's what I had to do, and use incognito mode to bypass the limits of the session. I didn't feel guilty since I know you were trying to beat bots and I am not one of them
If I can give you a technical suggestion, I found out that the best way to beat bots - in my blog experience - has been the use of a honeypot. Which is basically a field hidden via CSS that contains a label like "name" or "last name" or something like that. Bots tend to fill up all the fields in the form, even the ones that are not visible to humans. That alone got 99% of the spam away, but your mileage may vary!

Questions have been altered.
You are only asked one of the questions when you register for the first time (not when you are already registered and are just signing in).

Ted M wrote:Nothing to add -- I'm just posting to experience the anti-spambot questions!

Edited: Hmm, I wasn't asked any questions?

It was in the registration phase. I was registered in the old forum, I guess I lost/forgot my old credentials and had to register again.

"what is the last name of the guy from canada whose nickname was like a teacher?"

One nice thing about this problem is you can just google the question and see if the bots will be able to answer it. It looks like this one is beyond them, for now at least.

...until somebody answers it here as part of this discussion...

Ted M wrote:...until somebody answers it here as part of this discussion...

Doug "Socrates" McKenzie?

Just an observation................... I entered the above question and didn't get the right answer.

However............ I googled "nicknames like teacher" and found that same nickname and on entering it instead of "teacher" found the correct answer very easily.

So if bots are really intent on getting through your security.......................they can and they will.

Unfortunately while I'm posting about the problem I'm unable to offer any advice on a solution.

John Bowden

There's been no spam since we installed the plug-in and I've changed the questions. I like that.

Richard Kaufman wrote:There's been no spam since we installed the plug-in and I've changed the questions. I like that.

Excellent.
But should we keep it a secret? If "they" find out they may try harder.

The answer my friend is;

Blowing In The Wind - Bob Dylan

Hugo