Anti-Spam Verification Questions for SMF 1.1.x

[Deprecated]

I hope that somewhere on a spammer message board they are crying and whining

LOL
I love reading your posts mate, they always put a big smile on my face

SMF = 1                       Spambot Creators = 0

Flawless Victory...

Corrected.

[Sabre™]

ditto

[klra]

No spammers registered today on either forum - Thanks for such a great mod!

[tyhgdgh]

great mod
(Doubt spambots know too much about VGames...)

[tatonka]

I was having maybe 6-8 requests per day from these jokers.  I updated to SMF 1.1.7, installed Anti-spam verification questions, and increased the visual verification image to high.  Haven't had a request to join since (installed early yesterday).

{{crossing fingers}}

[Cal O'Shaw]

Oh, I appreciate you producing this, so I figure anything you do is a benefit to us all.  Besides, I like batting .500

[Deprecated]

I think we're about ready to move to the next level: locking down guest posting. I wish I had that before I upgraded my last production forum to SMF 2.0. Gawd, those spambots kept my Gmods and admins busy, but since we've upgraded to SMF 2.0 we haven't had any spambots bother us even in our guest posting area.

My goal here is to give SMF 1.1.7 the same protections as SMF 2.0. Although guest posting is probably not a good thing for most forums, at the forum I'm referring to we enjoy discussions with our philosophical opponents, so we welcome any and all guest posts as long as they aren't cellphones from China or pr0n or something like that.

Guest posting is actually quite a lot of fun and I want to open up that possibility for 1.1.7 operators who have chosen to wait for the mega-2.0 release.

I've got the posting template completed (Post.template.php), and I think I've got the visual verification for guest posting also okay, but my last test I couldn't get the verification questions to be checked and pointed out as erroneous (problems with coding the changes to Post.php). I hope I'll get to look at that tomorrow, and I have a topic started in Coding Discussion where I hope a few SMF members who want guest posting will help me test it. I intend to add that to the current mod, so perhaps in a few days or a week we can expand this modification to encompass spambot-free guest posting too.

After all, if you can do it with SMF 2.0, why shouldn't you be able to do it with SMF 1.1.7? I gotta admit, SMF 1.1.7 ain't as purty, and many features were majorly updated in 2.0, but I can certainly understand why many have chosen to stick with the 1.1.x branch for the time being. You shouldn't be penalized for that. That's why I've gone to the extra effort to make so many of my mods work with SMF 1.1.7, even though I don't run any 1.1.7 forums myself.

So let's kill some more spammerz, eh?

[mashby]

I have a site that has Guest posting and is getting hit by Viagra (not in a good way). I'm all aboard any testing you may need done. It's on 1.1.7.

[Sabre™]

Could somebody please test having no answer as the correct answer please

eg..   Q=  Leave this answer blank       A=

I'm still getting the same error as reported earlier, after reinstalling my forum off my recent backup.

Thanks

[mashby]

Based on what I remember from version 1.0, a spambot will leave the field blank. So it's best not to have a question like "Don't type anything here" as a bot won't type anything there. You would be better suited having it say "Type beer in this field".

[klra]

I've never allowed guests to post- they can only view about 25 % of the forums.

Wanna reserve a tee time at the Country Club?

You gotta be a member.... 

[Sabre™]

Based on what I remember from version 1.0, a spambot will leave the field blank. So it's best not to have a question like "Don't type anything here" as a bot won't type anything there. You would be better suited having it say "Type beer in this field".

Ahhh finally!!
I was beginning to think everyone was ok to grab the assistance, but couldnt give a stuff to check if a bug needed squashing!! lol         *mumbles at selfish 1.1.7 users    lol
Well, my question is still unanswered, but a half answer is better than none lol

Thanks mashby, I thought it would be the otherway around, where the bot would be forced to add something.
Thanks for the info

I dont use that question, but tried it on the old and new version, and got errors in the log.

Cheers for the reply

[coffee]

i so hope i can get this to work. the spammers are destroying my board. i'm getting hundreds of requests to join daily. when i install the package from the admin area of my board, i get "test successful" on first four files, and skipping file on last three. then i install mod. then i standby while it goes to registration settings. but there's no questions there. the registration settings looks exactly the same as before. what could i be doing wrong? i'm running 1.1.7

[mashby]

You have to go to Admin...Registration...Settings...Enable verification questions, and then write at least one question/answer thing.

[coffee]

You have to go to Admin...Registration...Settings...Enable verification questions, and then write at least one question/answer thing.

yeah, that's what i'm saying. there's no 'enable verification questions'. the settings page looks exactly as it did before the install. method of registration, age restrictions, etc. but nothing to indicate the install actually took place.

[Sabre™]

Strange.

Look in your  ManageRegistration.php  located in your sources folder, and check that the code has been inserted correctly(although it should've been).

If you're not comfortable with manually editing code, then attach your  ManageRegistration.php  to your next post.

Cheers

[coffee]

Look in your  ManageRegistration.php  located in your sources folder, and check that the code has been inserted correctly(although it should've been).

what's weird is i have two manage registrations "ManageRegistration.php" and "ManageRegistration.php~ " . The anti-spam verification is in the "ManageRegistration.php~" file.

what do you think i should do?

[Sabre™]

The  ManageRegistration.php~  is the softwares backup of  ManageRegistration.php...
Copy the code for this mod from  ManageRegistration.php~  to your  ManageRegistration.php.
I would suggest that you copy that file and remove the  ~  so you can just replace your  ManageRegistration.php  template, but I have no idea what mods you have added then removed, that may also be in that backup template.
Maybe none, maybe some, lets take the safer option and just copy the code over

[coffee]

sorry... i had that all ass backwards. the antispam install WAS in the ManageRegistration.php file, NOT the back up.

so looks like it should work.... but it doesn't. i don't have any mods installed. i've attached the file as you suggested. thanks for helping me.

[Sabre™]

No problems buddy.
Im in the middle of recoding something and running tests, so wont be able to look at this for a bit.
Someone else has grabbed your file, and hopefully they will assist you before I am done.
If not, I will be back in a few hours.

Cheers