Testing captcha in forums to reduce spam

Post by **MSG Commander** » Tue Dec 21, 2021 3:57 am

Since we seem to be getting spammed almost everyday now, I've added a captcha to the forums. Hopefully it will reduce the amount of spam. I'll be checking every couple of days, unless spam posts get reported in which case I will respond as quickly as I'm able.

Victar · Post by **Victar** » Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:48 am

Thank you for this.

I just used the captcha system to make and edit a post. It works fine, and the extra steps are 100% worth it to keep the spambots out, or at least slow them down.

Post by **MSG Commander** » Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:42 am

Awesome, thanks for letting me know.

1oldtymer · Post by **1oldtymer** » Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:42 pm

Way to go!!

Post by **jesusalva** » Fri Dec 24, 2021 12:28 am

Not a huge fan of captcha, but having to report spam everyday I visited this site was getting old ^.^

ps. If Captcha has to be solved for edits, though, you may consider preview feature? Some stuff is WYSIWYG, but several are not – like tabs and spoilers; I'm not even sure if the fonts are the same for that matter.

Post by **MSG Commander** » Sat Dec 25, 2021 9:28 am

[quote=41457]

Not a huge fan of captcha, but having to report spam everyday I visited this site was getting old ^.^

ps. If Captcha has to be solved for edits, though, you may consider preview feature? Some stuff is WYSIWYG, but several are not – like tabs and spoilers; I’m not even sure if the fonts are the same for that matter.

[/quote]

I'm using a plugin for the captcha and I haven't kept up with coding so while I agree a preview option would be great, I don't see it actually happening. I can try to look at the code and maybe not require it for edits, but even that will have to wait until after New Year's.

Post by **jesusalva** » Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:46 pm

Consider also the hidden fields trick (eg. A "I read and agree" checkbox hidden by CSS rules – bots love filling things which normal users can't see) or Stop Forum Spam. Or do as another forum and retain posts from new users (the first post) for moderator approval; Bots rarely pretend to be humans on the first post (some do).

PS. In The Mana World forums, we use SFS and require moderator approval when posting on the boards usually targeted by bots (would be Game Chat & General Chat here). Worked like a charm.

Post by **Mastertrek** » Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:57 am

Happy (Belated) New Year, everyone

I believe that at least half of Guests active at all times are bots, especially at November 29th last year.

Any means to stop SPAM is better than reporting hundreds of them by hand every day.

PS: I'll check how Captcha works here as it's my first post this year.

PS2 (great console btw): Tested and I'm not a robot, who could've guessed

Post by **Mastertrek** » Sat Jan 15, 2022 8:16 pm

I have just deleted first (to my knowledge) spam post inside a real topic. These may get unnoticed so I hope they won't show up in comments, but if they do (and are not taken care of quickly) please report their existence.

Post by **jesusalva** » Sun Jan 16, 2022 1:47 am

[quote=41515]

I have just deleted first (to my knowledge) spam post inside a real topic. These may get unnoticed so I hope they won’t show up in comments, but if they do (and are not taken care of quickly) please report their existence.

[/quote]

I'm only reporting spam half the time I visit the forums now, before it was everyday ?

Also – there's more spam on the forums to be taken care of.