Captcha added for hint submission and registration

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Sun, Oct 25 2009 at 10:30PM PDT • Contributed by: robg

I really didn't want to do it, but after over 150 spammy story submissions in under an hour, I've had to enable a captcha on the story submission page, as well as on the new user registration page. For now, I'm using the "simple" images, and hopefully that'll be enough to stop the spambots.

The captcha shouldn't be active anywhere other than those two pages; comment spam, while problematic, isn't bad enough to merit that move (and thanks to everyone who uses the Report Abuse link to point out the spammy comments).

Again, sorry I had to take this step, but I don't have the time to manage all these fake submissions by hand.

-rob.

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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: SajjadK on Sun, Oct 25 2009 at 10:58PM PDT

Why apologise? It's only to make the site better, and doesn't really require much on our part.

= )

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: PeterSacreas on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 1:38AM PDT

I agree, this is a site were I get a lot of help, hints and tricks. It would be a pity if the site would stop only because of some "idiots" believing they have fun.

Stay well and keep up the great work,
Peter

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: busterpkeaton on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 2:36AM PDT

Rob � how about using ReCaptcha and helping the advancement of science?

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: Mr. H on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 3:34AM PDT

+1

reCaptcha

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: robg on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 5:10AM PDT

If there's a Geeklog plug-in for it, then sure I'd give it a shot. I'll look around, but I haven't heard of such a project. (Geeklog uses templates to build the pages, and the templates don't directly support executable code; plug-ins are used to add functionality, and I lack the coding skills required to create a full-blown plug-in.)

-rob.

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: woodgie on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 2:53AM PDT

I think you're going to find that's the over-riding sentiment of every (legitimate) user of this site; If we have to put up with the very low-hastle step of confirming we're human to submit hints that help others, I think we'll manage :-)

Don't worry about it Rob. You have the best interests of the users at heart, I for one can live with that.

-W

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: mkoistinen on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 3:12AM PDT

It should be noted that this is for Anonymous submissions. Already registered users are not challenged with the captcha when submitting hints.

NP here!
Authored by: slb on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 5:08PM PDT

You gotta do what you gotta do!
That's why I have a fence around my house and lock my car.
A$$holes are everywhere.
Site rocks - not a problem, IMHO.

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: GuyToronto on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 6:03PM PDT

Want a simple way to reduce spam submissions?

On you form, create a bunch on input fields with common names such as name, subject, title, phone, email, etc. Use CSS to hide these fields. Then use non-standard names for your regular fields.

When you process your form data, if ANY of the hidden fields contain data, dump the form. Done!

I also process some names backwards, and compare different field contents with their mirror selves to see if they have been fiddled with. As they are all hidden, they should all be perfect. If not, no form for you!

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: asmeurer on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 8:50PM PDT

I just submitted a new hint, which I haven't done since the site upgrade, and I noticed the separate "Hint Introduction" and "Hint body" fields. What are these supposed to be? It doesn't explain on the hint submission page, except that it wouldn't let me submit it without filling in both (I just split the hint in half). From what I can tell, it just concatenates the two fields to create the hint. But surely I must be missing something, right?

Captcha added for hint submission and registration
Authored by: Gex on Mon, Oct 26 2009 at 9:12PM PDT

Doesn't bother me. I'm all for it. I know how irritating and difficult it can be to deal with idiotic spam...

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