Upcoming Forum Captcha Change

[rcannon100]

Ticketmaster dumps ‘hated’ Captcha verification system

For sites such as Ticketmaster, Captcha is used to make sure robots are not used to buy up tickets automatically.
‘Most hated’

As these robots have become more sophisticated, Captcha has had to become more advanced in order to stay effective. But in the process, it has become more difficult for humans to understand.

“It is generally speaking the one of the most hated pieces of user interaction on the web,” said Aaron Young, from user experience consultancy

“The major problem with them is that it’s not unusual for several attempts to be needed.

“So when people see them again on different websites they have negative expectations.”

[Tim Kelley]

Right–this isn’t captcha though.

[btj]

If the questions for every reply are kept, can they be moved so they are either directly above or next to the “Submit Reply” button? I think a user is more likely to fill it out on the first attempt that way instead of hitting submit and then remembering about the question after an error.

[Riley Casey]

Captcha or no, how is it that fluffy pink hamsters can post anyway? Sorry, just feeling bummed that the best I could muster today in the 70 degree weather was ten blocks downtown on a CABI.

[PotomacCyclist]

– I don’t mind if the Quick Reply buttons disappear. “Reply to Thread” and the “Reply With Quote” options are sufficient.

– The last two times I’ve posted, I’ve had to answer the “Random Question”, including for this post. I don’t mind answering that question if the process helps to cut down on spam. But I think it should be a little easier to understand that the poster has to answer that question. Maybe add a note in parentheses explaining, “Please answer this question in order to publish your message on the forum”.

– While I find this forum software to be plain vanilla, it’s definitely not the worst out there. Runner’s World has had an awful time with spammers in recent months, right after they tried to improve their existing forum set-up (while staying with the same software and vendor). They have finally managed to stem the tidal wave of spam, but their forum software is still lacking. (Apparently their software doesn’t let them ban or remove users, even when those accounts post hundreds of obvious spam posts a day. When admins manage to deal with the spam posts, the spam isn’t deleted, merely moved somewhere it won’t be noticed. But if you go through a direct link, you can still see that the spam still exists on the site.)

[Tim Kelley]

@Riley Casey 42636 wrote:

Captcha or no, how is it that fluffy pink hamsters can post anyway? Sorry, just feeling bummed that the best I could muster today in the 70 degree weather was ten blocks downtown on a CABI.

Once you hit 3,000 posts, you can be a fluffy pink hamster too! Here’s the background: http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?1734-Thanks-Tim!&p=13934#post13934

[americancyclo]

Did something change? “Quick Reply” came back (yay!) and I don’ see the challenge questions anymore.

[Tim Kelley]

@americancyclo 43361 wrote:

Did something change? “Quick Reply” came back (yay!) and I don’ see the challenge questions anymore.

Yeah, making a few small changes here and there. Unfortunately, in the couple hours since turning it off we got a couple spam posts already…

[rcannon100]

Oh no?!? Is that CAPTCHA gone? But I had so much fun cussing every time I forgot DIRT’s favorite color

[americancyclo]

Is this new too, or have I never been this anxious to get to 1,000 posts?

[h=3]The following errors occurred with your submission[/h]

1. This forum requires that you wait 60 seconds between posts. Please try again in 27 seconds.

[Tim Kelley]

Yeah, that’s been in place ever since we started monkeying around with trying to reduce spam. Is 60 seconds too long for a legit user?

Anyone else have feedback on that?

[rcannon100]

@Tim Kelley 43406 wrote:

Yeah, that’s been in place ever since we started monkeying around with trying to reduce spam. Is 60 seconds too long for a legit user?

Anyone else have feedback on that?

My boss would like to put in a request that one has to wait 2 hours between posts. Would that be too long for a legit user

[Dirt]

@Tim Kelley 43406 wrote:

Yeah, that’s been in place ever since we started monkeying around with trying to reduce spam. Is 60 seconds too long for a legit user?

Anyone else have feedback on that?

As public enemy #1, I rarely run into the 60 second problem and it doesn’t bother me a bit.

[Tim Kelley]

@rcannon100 43407 wrote:

My boss would like to put in a request that one has to wait 2 hours between posts. Would that be too long for a legit user

You know….putting yourself into invisible mode only hides you in the “Current Active Users” list–your employer can still see what websites you are visiting!

[PotomacCyclist]

For an example of bad forum software, check out the Runner’s World forums today. They have gotten hit with another tidal wave of spam this weekend. They had managed to keep the spammers away for a few weeks, but they are back right now.

http://forums.runnersworld.com/forums/runner-communities/beginners

Note: Never use the Pluck forum software, at least when it’s in conjunction with a flawed website software set-up. I’ve never seen a mainstream forum with as bad a spam problem as Runner’s World has had over the past year.

[Author]

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