re Chinese members have trouble registering

[twoears]

I have an English speaking forum but I have an interest from Chinese viewers for membership and I want to have a sticky Chinese language only thread for those members. The problem is is that the prospective Chinese members are having difficulty getting past registration because of my capcha and my two simple question and answer for spam. I don't want to make the forum openly accessible because of spam but I do not want to exclude good members.

[Chalky]

Are you quite sure your Chinese visitors are genuinely interested in your site?  All the Chinese IPs that hit my forum all day long want to spam it.

[twoears]

I know that there are major spam problems from certain countries and I had to ban Ukraine altogether for this reason, every single connection I had from Ukraine was a spammer, I just want to help non English speaking legitimate registrations without opening myself to abuse..

[margarett]

Well, you can lower the difficulty of captcha, a problem less.

As for the questions, well, that's the main issue with multi-cultural forums (like this one). Don't they speak English? If so, you need to have more "adequate" questions. If not, you really need to consider other anti-spam methods. Have a look at the MODs mentioned here: http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Spam_-_my_forum_is_flooded_with_spam,_what_can_I_do

[twoears]

I don't think that they speak English and I'm not requiring them to once they are members (I'll check posts using ggl translate).
I looked on your links and the picture or picture puzzle mods look interesting.
At the moment, I have no spam with text question and answer and capcha but I'm halting legitimate registrations.

Well, you can lower the difficulty of captcha, a problem less.

As for the questions, well, that's the main issue with multi-cultural forums (like this one). Don't they speak English? If so, you need to have more "adequate" questions. If not, you really need to consider other anti-spam methods. Have a look at the MODs mentioned here: http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Spam_-_my_forum_is_flooded_with_spam,_what_can_I_do

[margarett]

I'd say you should drop Q&A then (the most effective protection you have )

Try to lower captcha difficulty, install something like Stop Forum Spam or one of the other MODs that have a database check against IPs and emails and remove your Q&A. And you should set admin approval, maybe (?)

[twoears]

Thanks margarett  I'm reluctant to drop Q&A as it's fantastic against spam but maybe I'll try a photo puzzle mod which anyone can use without having to know a particular language.

I'd say you should drop Q&A then (the most effective protection you have )

Try to lower captcha difficulty, install something like Stop Forum Spam or one of the other MODs that have a database check against IPs and emails and remove your Q&A. And you should set admin approval, maybe (?)

[margarett]

Yup, I understand that. Good luck

[Shambles]

Install the "contact form" mod and use that for your potential Far Eastern members to apply for membership. You can then create their registrations manually.

You'll still get spammy applications though...

[Kindred]

well... if you can hold out for 2.1, it supports multiple languages in the questions