Miscellaneous Hacks - NoSpam! - an alternative to CAPTCHA images

This hack is for vBulletin 3.6.x. For 3.5.x, please use the one provided in this thread. If you are using 3.7.x, you must use the one in this thread.

This simple hack is meant as a replacement for the default CAPTCHA system in vBulletin. There are two main reasons one might want to do this: firstly, new technology is constantly being developed to crack CAPTCHA images and make spam accounts anyway, and secondly, the more secure the CAPTCHA, the more difficult it is for genuine users to tell what the numbers in the image are. There is also the issue of visually impaired users, and the fact that not all servers are capable of generating CAPTCHA images.

So what does this hack do instead? It asks a question. Any question you want. That's the best part: YOU make up the questions, which means that every forum is unique, which means that it is impossible for spambots to be simply programmed to bypass it at all forums with the hack installed. You can make one or many questions - if you make many, the hack will pick one at random when a guest attempts to register, search, post or send mail through the Contact Us form. Their input is compared with your specified answer, and voil?, if they get it right they're pretty much guaranteed to be human. If they get it wrong, they're given an error message.

It doesn't have to be a complicated question. Heck, you can just make it "Please type 'blah' into this box." Or you can go with inserting a simple image with HTML and ask what is shown on the image. Or you can ask them to tell you two plus two. It's up to you. In fact, this can also be used as a means of forcing people to read the rules by asking for a certain password found there, or if your forum focuses on a specialized subject, ask a question concerning the subject that all your genuine users will be able to answer, but a random troll or "CAPTCHA-sweatshop-reader" will be scratching their head over.

It's simple to install, too: just one product to import, and that's it.


VERSION HISTORY:

3.0: Added functionality to allow users to specify which pages should use NoSpam!.
2.0: Extended the NoSpam! functionality to guest posts, guest searches and guest "Contact Us" in addition to registration.
1.1: Made template edit automatic (with thanks to Cole2026), added ability to have more than one answer to each question, and made answers case insensitive. To upgrade, I recommend undoing the template edit so you won't have to worry about it anymore (replace $nospamfield in the template register with $imagereg, or if you added $nospamfield above $imagereg, just remove $nospamfield altogether), and then reimport the product through the Admin CP (making sure that Allow Overwrite is set to On).
1.0: Initial release.


INSTALLATION:

Please download NoSpam!.zip, not product-nospam.xml, for the tested version. product.nospam.xml is NoSpam! 4.0 adapted blindly to 3.6, i.e. by editing the XML file for the 3.7 version without actually testing it on a 3.6 board. Theoretically it should work, but I cannot guarantee it at this time. If you download NoSpam!.zip and unzip it, it will contain another file called product.nospam.xml, which you should use.

1. Import product-nospam.xml through the Admin CP product manager.
2. Go to your vBulletin options in the Admin CP and select NoSpam! Settings. Once there, turn the system on and input your questions and answers according to the instructions there.

The system should now be functional and running.


UNINSTALLATION:

Just uninstall the product through the Admin CP.


SUPPORT:

Full support will be given here in this thread. All suggestions are welcome.

Thank you and please click "Mark as Installed" if you like it.


If NoSpam! is not working for you or you are looking for something a little different, you might want to check out Advanced Textual Confirmation.

[WoodiE]

Very nice, I've disabled CAPTCHA and enabled NoSpam! I'll see how well it does over the next week or two.

[imported_Tal]

Hello!

Recently I have been getting a lot of spam accounts created on my forum. I have those CAPTCHA images turned on as well as the e-mail verification but that obviously doesn't help as they just keep coming!

I installed this and it says that it made style changes etc.. there is a new option in the admin CP, however on the registration page there isn't the form to fill out (I did make a question and enable it of course).

If I then click register I get the error 'You have entered the NoSpam! question incorrectly etc'.

The skin I am using is Fusion Expanded from eXtremepixels.

I have no other plugins installed.

Thanks!

Edit: I browsed through the posts here and they instructed me to look for the CAPTCHA image code.. The exact code isn't there but I have found:

$imagereg

I've put the nospam $ thing above that but to no avail

I'm using 3.6.4 also

[antialiasis]

"nospam $ thing"? Well, it was $nospamfield, and being exactly like that is very important so I'd like confirmation that that is exactly what you put in. $imagereg is the code you should have been finding, yes, and I am assuming the one you found was indeed in the register template.

[imported_Tal]

Yes.. that's exactly what I put, I wrote 'thing' because I was typing quickly and didn't want to make another [ code ] field because of the license policy

It didn't load up unfortunatly and I tried Internet Explorer and Opera (although it shouldn't have made a difference). I uninstalled the product and installed another named 'Enhanced CAPTCHA Image Verification' which gives you 4 pictures to click through.

I would rather have this one as it is near impossible for a bot to crack through whereas the other can just be a 'click 'till it gets lucky'.

This is what I put, for verification:

<td>
						$vbphrase[parent_guardian_email]:<br />
						<input type="text" class="bginput" name="parentemail" size="25" maxlength="50" value="$parentemail" dir="ltr" />
					</td>
				</tr>
				</if>
				</table>
			</fieldset>
			$nospamfield
			$imagereg
			
		</div>
	</div>
	</td>
</tr>
</table>

I guess that is wrong?

[antialiasis]

Hmm, it should be correct. All the plugins are definitely enabled and unchanged, and you turned the system on, right?

[KipLarson]

Well, I actually posted a link to this on vbulletin.com about how I thought they should use something like this... of course I didn't say I came up with it... but I don't think they like being told that someone that doesn't work on the vBulletin team has come up with something that works better than anything they've come up with.

The stuff they recommend would require an admin to sit at his/her computer constantly to approve new members or not.

[cdoyle]

Hi,
I scanned through the first few pages for this hack, and just wondering if there was an official release of this for 3.5?

We've been getting spammed a ton lately, and this would really help in stopping that.

Thanks

[Smoothie]

Originally Posted by cdoyle

Hi,
I scanned through the first few pages for this hack, and just wondering if there was an official release of this for 3.5?

We've been getting spammed a ton lately, and this would really help in stopping that.

Thanks

Click the modders profile, and magic will happen.

[NeoToxic]

How do i remove the image verification now i have this instead?-- Found it.

For people who want to know. ACP-->VBOptions-->User Registration Options-->Image Verification (Set to no)

[KipLarson]

Right now I have it set on both, the image and the NoSpam! verification question.

By the way I plan to keep a running counter (as long as I can remember to come back)

Of how many days without a spam bot.

So far... 1