Dungeon Master Forum

It's my personal game to myself (not banning trant, being on all forums) - I'm the only person that can do it you know, since apparently I have the last reply on the three locked forums

Man I rock / am sad (delete as applicable!

I wish there was a button that you could deploy monkeys to go hump their face.. once they had a face full of hot monkey love.. bam. No more spamming.

That would certainly be a way forward

I've just deleted 24 spammers who registered in the last few days. Outta hand!

We need to upgrade, or change our registration policy. Cow's, when the New Year festivities are over and you're available again, could you please join the phpBB3 upgrade discussion thread so we can get this moving. Much appreciated.

http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... hp?t=27352

just let me know what I specifically need to do about it and I'll do my best. Because I have no clue how to upgrade this stuff. don't forget that I'm a dumb artist

OK, I've updated the phpBB3 upgrade thread with exact steps that I'd like to take. Let's continue the discussion from there. Ta.

Just read this on the other forum I frequent (which has also lately had a sudden influx of spam posts with pics)...


"Another forum I'm a member of has a surprisingly simple solution for these things - in a big red banner at the top of the registration page are the words:

DO NOT FILL IN ANY OF THE FIELDS OTHER THAN USERNAME AND PASSWORD

Virtually all spam-bots will auto-fill in at least one field, and that simple step is very effective at preventing them popping up in the first place.

That obviously isn't going to stop a real person, though."


No idea whether this'd be useful but thought I might as well throw it out there...

Hehe, I came across a site that had a simple "Check this if you're a human" checkbox.

I wonder if something that simple actually works. They didn't seem to have any spam, but obviously if that starts catching on, bot authors will easily account for it.

actually Ameena.. it likley will stop a few real people, the ones who don't bother to read instructions

Some people fly on auto pilot with their brains a lot of the time and as soon as they see the form they pleasantly keep filling it all in. I think the simple check box would possibly work. or better yet, a radio button set by default to robot and the other waiting to be switched to human. Just place the "human confirmation" request at the end of the page and go on.

Yeah, I agree with Cows on that one, I don't see how that's especially useful -- and if we did implement it, I'd have to manually customise the phpBB code to make it work which is not part of the deal...

You, know, I fail to see how stopping those few humans that cannot outsmart a bot is such a big deal. They cannot read instructions? Sucks to be them, sure, but do we really want them posting, then?

Besides, what happens if you fail the test? I'm assuming you get a denial screen that can contain whatever message we want, including, in a large, bold font: "Hey, numbskull! How about you go back and try reading the instructions before filling out the form, this time?" Once again, if for whatever reason they take offense or truly cannot figure it out on their own, what can they contribute to the discussion, ultimately?

And I hold the same position if a language barrier prevented them from understanding the form instructions in the first place. This is an english-language forum, if they cannot understand the discussion, they don't really have a business registering.

OK, now that I've managed to come off as an elitist jerk, I'm crawling back into my hole.