The Arcive of Official vBulletin Modifications Site.

NoSpam! - an alternative to CAPTCHA images · **Released**: 08-23-2006

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.

ruger · #**482** 05-03-2007, 08:31 AM

I use both and no biggy for my registrations.

mrgrimes · #**483** 05-03-2007, 03:40 PM

I'm having huge problems with this. For some reason, with NoSpam installed, there was no verification option at all showing in the registration form, and users couldn't send the form because they got an error telling them that they hadn't completed the image verification [sic].

I made sure all references to image verification were turned off. No result. I switched image verification back on and disabled NoSpam. Still nothing. In desparation I uninstalled NoSpam, but still there is no verification showing in the registration form.

I've tried reading through the forum, as well as the docs, but nothing seems to match the problems I'm facing (the instructions in troubleshooting.txt, for example, seem to bear no resemblance to the contents of my register.php - or is this not the right file?)

Sorry if I'm being incredibly dumb but I'm absolutely desperate, as noone can register and we have a big project just starting that requires use of a forum.

Many many thanks,

Michael

Phillip Chapman · #**484** 05-04-2007, 04:53 AM

We've been running this hack on our 3.6.1 board for the past six weeks and love it. It's taken care of 95% of our Spam problems and has been fantastic. However, this week we needed to begin moderating new user posts. We changed the permissions in vBulletin and set up a "promotion" system.

We thought everything was working properly. However, it turns out that new threads by new members are going to the "moderate posts" queue but replies from new members on existing posts are not going to the moderation queue. After the process of elimination, the problem appears to be with this hack. When we disable this hack, both new member threads and replies are going properly to the moderation queue.

Does anyone know a way around this issue or anything we can do to fix this? We love "No Spam" and hate to give it up. Others have possibly run into this same problem and can maybe suggest ways we can make it work.

jimlay · #**485** 05-06-2007, 02:18 PM

What a great tool and easy to use. I was really getting frustrated by some of the new tactics to get by what I had put in place to stop SPAM registrations and contact emails. (hundreds per day). This mod completely (and I mean completely) eliminated that problem.

Thanks for sharing such a great tool!

Jim

Zachery · #**486** 05-06-2007, 07:01 PM