captcha: what si the best mod?

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Doppiapunta
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captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

Hi guys
i'm the administrator of a PhpBB based board associated to an MkPortal site engine.
Well..i'm using phpBB from the first edition of phpBB 2.xx and now i'm running a 3.06 version.
Among all theese years I experinced a lot of troubles with spammers... many bots are able to register to my board and to spam everywhere even if the captcha plugin is enable and well set.
So.. I decided to install a mod to improve this captcha.
I hoped that 3.06 version was able to block the new spammers ( mostly are using Gmail accounts) but i saw that the trouble is even worst than with 3.05 version.
So..searchin' over the board I found a lot of mods...but i was wondering which one is the best, which is able to block these nasty spam bots and to block their automatic registration and activation.
Sincerely i don't know which is the best and which is the best performin' one..so i decied to write down here askin' to you for some suggestions.
Thnak you in adavance.
Bye Bye

Doppiapunta
Last edited by Doppiapunta on Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Dog Cow
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Dog Cow »

Posting your site's URL here isn't going to help your spam problem. Spammers regularly crawl this site, or use search engines which regularly crawl this site, in order to find new sites to spam.
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

I guess you're right.i removed the link from the previous post.
Thank you for the suggestion.
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Derky
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Derky »

With phpBB 3.0.6 you can use Captcha Plugins. They are very easy to install (just upload files) and then you can select and configure them in ACP @ General > CAPTCHA module settings.

So you don't need a MOD, you can now just use one of the plugins! :)
Doppiapunta
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

Well... following the sggestion in your signature i installed the sortable plugin.
very simple to install but I can't select it as captcha method.
I mean: even if I select the sortable plugin as captcha method and i save the selection, the save isn't workin'.
So the previous GD captcha method still remain even if I selected sortable.
The strange thing is that the sortable mothod is listed in grey color, as if it isn't vailable.
Here is a screenshot showing what I mean:

Image

Please can you help me?
Thank you :)
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by nickvergessen »

After selecting it, you need to hit the configurate button ;)
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

Yes I saw that it needed configuration.
In my mind i thought there was already a ppol of questions for it.
Well i customized it and now it works.
Thank you for your reply :)
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

Well...Sortables plugin didn't impress me much: i I installed and properly configured yesterday and tonight I experinced the worst spam attacck from months... I manually deleted at least 200 posts and banned manually at least 60 spamming users.
This is very nasty.
Have you any ideas? Compared to sortables the normal classic GD PhpBB plugin was really more powerful. :(
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by marian0810 »

Tbh I don't really get what all the captcha fuss is about. We haven't seen a single spambot on our forum for over 2 years, from the day I installed this little mod called "Antispambot by timezone" (thanks 3Di :D ).
Can't find the link right now, but this is all you have to do:

Code: Select all

############################################################## 
## MOD Title: AntiSpamBot by timezone
## MOD Author: 3Di < [email protected] > (Marco) http://gold.io3di.com
## MOD Description: Stops every registration attempted using timezone '-12'
## MOD Version: 0.1.0 beta
## 
## Installation Level: Easy
## Installation Time: 3 Minutes 
## Files To Edit:
##
##		includes/ucp/ucp_register.php
##		language/en/ucp.php
##
## Included Files: 
##		
## License: http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php GNU General Public License v2 
############################################################## 
## For security purposes, please check: http://www.phpbb.com/mods/ 
## for the latest version of this MOD. Although MODs are checked 
## before being allowed in the MODs Database there is no guarantee 
## that there are no security problems within the MOD. No support 
## will be given for MODs not found within the MODs Database which 
## can be found at http://www.phpbb.com/mods/ 
############################################################## 
## Author Notes: 
##
##	MOD Compatibility: phpbb 3.0.4 (http://www.phpbb.com)
##
##	Inspiration gotten from a phpBB2 MOD I don't recall the name though.
##	I wrote this because a spambot registered at my phpbb3.0.4 board today. o_O
##
## UTC-12 it is used by all known spambots (as far as I know)
## UTC−12 is a nautical time zone comprising the high seas between 180° and 172°30′W longitude. 
## Subtract twelve hours from Coordinated Universal Time to obtain the time for this zone. 
## Ships using this time are the last to begin each calendar day. 
## No human habitations are in this time zone. 
## Uninhabited Baker Island and Howland Island are the only landmasses in this time zone.
##
##############################################################
## MOD History:
##
##   2009-02-05 - Version 0.1.0 beta
##	- first public release
##
##############################################################
## Before Adding This MOD To Your Forum, You Should Back Up All Files Related To This MOD
##############################################################
#
#-----[ OPEN ]--------------------------------------------- 
#
includes/ucp/ucp_register.php
#
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------------
#
				if ($data['email'] != $data['email_confirm'])
				{
					$error[] = $user->lang['NEW_EMAIL_ERROR'];
				}
#
#-----[ AFTER, ADD ]---------------------------------------------
#
// --- antispambot tz -12 by 3Di start ----------
				$check_tz_minus12 = -12;

				if ($data['tz'] == $check_tz_minus12)
				{
					$message = '<br /><br />' . $user->lang['YOU_SPAMBOT_TZ_MINUS12'] . sprintf($user->lang['RETURN_INDEX'], '<a href="' . append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx") . '">', '</a>');
					trigger_error($message);
				}
// --- antispambot tz -12 by 3Di end ------------
#
#-----[ OPEN ]--------------------------------------------- 
#
language/en/ucp.php
#
#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------------
#
	'NEW_EMAIL_ERROR'				=> 'The e-mail addresses you entered do not match.',
#
#-----[ AFTER, ADD ]---------------------------------------------
#
// --- antispambot tz -12 by 3Di start ----------
	'YOU_SPAMBOT_TZ_MINUS12'		=> 'Your application cannot be performed, contact the Board\'s Administrator for further informations!<br /><br />',
// --- antispambot tz -12 by 3Di end ------------
# 
#-----[ SAVE/CLOSE ALL FILES ]------------------------------------------ 
# 
# EoM
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Doppiapunta
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Doppiapunta »

Thank you for your suggestion even if i didn't understand why this antispambot works.
I didn't get the relationship between UTC_12 and its antispam function...well..nevermind..if it works fine, it oky anyway. :lol:
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MartectX
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by MartectX »

Doppiapunta wrote:I didn't get the relationship between UTC_12 and its antispam function...well..nevermind..if it works fine, it oky anyway. :lol:
No human being lives in UTC-12.
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Pony99CA »

MartectX wrote:
Doppiapunta wrote:I didn't get the relationship between UTC_12 and its antispam function...well..nevermind..if it works fine, it oky anyway. :lol:
No human being lives in UTC-12.
I doubt that's true. Most spammers seem to. ;)

Smarter spam bots would randomize the time zone, though.

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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Pony99CA »

Doppiapunta wrote:Well...Sortables plugin didn't impress me much: i I installed and properly configured yesterday and tonight I experinced the worst spam attacck from months... I manually deleted at least 200 posts and banned manually at least 60 spamming users.
This is very nasty.
Have you any ideas?
Have you tried required custom profile fields yet? I have and my spam went to almost zero (maybe 4 in several months). I've even turned off CAPTCHA completely (they're really annoying) and still didn't see any increase in spammers. (And, yes, I do get visited by spam bots. I turned off the custom profile field for one day and got 13 spammers.)

I've heard that it doesn't work for everybody, but you may want to try it out yourself.

Steve
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by nickvergessen »

I'm quite successful with the normal captcha of 3.0.5 in some special settings:
Failed confirms: 18728; Failed ips: 2246; Successful confirms: 37; Successful ips: 29
:)
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Re: captcha: what si the best mod?

Post by Pony99CA »

nickvergessen wrote:I'm quite successful with the normal captcha of 3.0.5 in some special settings:
Failed confirms: 18728; Failed ips: 2246; Successful confirms: 37; Successful ips: 29
:)
Where did you get those numbers? That's not available in phpBB, is it? If not, could it be? :) (And how about something similar for required custom profile fields. I'd love to see those items in a log in the ACP.)

Steve
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