reCAPTCHA

[Scott-Copywriter]

I've just checked the registration form for UKBF after spotting a few spam threads and I've noticed that this site uses reCAPTCHA.

Is it just me or is this useless against spammers? They say that if you enter the text of the scanned words on-screen it can help decipher the books. This implies that they don't already know what they say (otherwise it's pointless helping decipher them) so how can they prevent spam bots from registering? Surely you can just enter any old words and it will work?

There could be MUCH more effective ways of stopping spam bots from using this site. As well as a proper CAPTCHA you can also have AI based questions (such as 'what colour is the sky' or 'what colour is a london bus') which means only a human can answer, not a robot.

 

[fisicx]

Whichever method you use is not going to work. There are hundreds of companies all over Asia employing people on low wages who spend all day spamming forumes, blogs, twitter and so on. On one forum I moderate you will sometimes see the same cut+paste message from multiple new members.

 

[lazytycoon]

There are also programs which can read and answer these questions. I think the best defense is an active supporting userbase who report all spam to help make the mods life easier.

 

[Optegris]

I used to get about 5-10 spam registrations per day on my support forums which run vBulletin. I'm now "lucky" if I get one a month so it does work for me at least.

It's a shame because I now miss out on all those golden opportunities to improve my sex life

 

[ServWise]

I've just checked the registration form for UKBF after spotting a few spam threads and I've noticed that this site uses reCAPTCHA.

Is it just me or is this useless against spammers? They say that if you enter the text of the scanned words on-screen it can help decipher the books. This implies that they don't already know what they say (otherwise it's pointless helping decipher them) so how can they prevent spam bots from registering? Surely you can just enter any old words and it will work?

The way it works is that they give you two words, one is from a scanned book and the other is a word they know (which is the actual captcha). You don't know which one it is (Although you can usually guess as the captcha is usually more readable than the scanned word).

Entering in a wrong word for the scanned word wont cause a problem, only if you do it for the captcha word.

I agree they are annoying and not totally effective but they certainly do stop a fair amount of automated spam.

 

[Chris Power]

For my customers, I use a multi-layering technique to stop spamming and electronic access. It's easy for human users to access, but, so far, has bewildered computer access. And if computers do eventually work it out, then it's easy enough to change the "gates" to knock them out again.
If you need help in strengthening security, let me know.

 

[robokoder]

I've just checked the registration form for UKBF after spotting a few spam threads and I've noticed that this site uses reCAPTCHA.

Is it just me or is this useless against spammers? They say that if you enter the text of the scanned words on-screen it can help decipher the books. This implies that they don't already know what they say (otherwise it's pointless helping decipher them) so how can they prevent spam bots from registering? Surely you can just enter any old words and it will work?

There could be MUCH more effective ways of stopping spam bots from using this site. As well as a proper CAPTCHA you can also have AI based questions (such as 'what colour is the sky' or 'what colour is a london bus') which means only a human can answer, not a robot.

I accept you've taken a common sense approach, but (excuse the bluntness) you're absolutely wrong.

Have a look at how reCAPTCHA works: http://recaptcha.net/learnmore.html (it's very, very clever).

The alternative you suggest, is ironically, generally regarded to be a very poor solution. Many spam robots already have databases to answer those kinds of questions, and once they've compromised it, its not at all easy to change the system (as it is with recaptcha, for example).

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I accept you've taken a common sense approach, but (excuse the bluntness) you're absolutely wrong.

Have a look at how reCAPTCHA works: http://recaptcha.net/learnmore.html (it's very, very clever).

The alternative you suggest, is ironically, generally regarded to be a very poor solution. Many spam robots already have databases to answer those kinds of questions, and once they've compromised it, its not at all easy to change the system (as it is with recaptcha, for example).

I thought I got across pretty clearly that I wasn't entirely sure how reCAPTCHA works. I was just taking what I understood and it didn't seem like the best option.

I'd just like to see some research into better options. Are CAPTCHA's really the best defence against spam we have so far?

 

[Eagle]

What's forum spam?

 

[Optegris]

I thought I got across pretty clearly that I wasn't entirely sure how reCAPTCHA works. I was just taking what I understood and it didn't seem like the best option.

I'd just like to see some research into better options. Are CAPTCHA's really the best defence against spam we have so far?

I wouldn't have said it should be the only defence, hence it is the the best when it is combined with other tools such as placing first time posts with links into a moderation Q as the vast majority of forum spammers will post a link once and never return.

 

[stugster]

reCAPTCHA works for spam bots. That's all it's intended to do. It's human verification.

99.9% of the spam that gets through is probably real live people doing the manual labour of signing up and posting spam.

 

[fisicx]

99.9% of the spam that gets through is probably real live people doing the manual labour of signing up and posting spam.

Dat's jus' wot I sed:

There are hundreds of companies all over Asia employing people on low wages who spend all day spamming forumes, blogs, twitter and so on.

You are never going to stop the spam, not when you can pay someone a few pence per day to register and repeatedly post on the forums listed in the spammer's database.

 

[stugster]

Aye, sorry Didn't bother reading the posts.


You can, however, block access from the worst offending countries. Our forums block China, India, Russia, etc. and there is very little spam as a result.