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.

[g00gl3r]

I've installed this and although I've enabled it and have added a few questions/answers it doesn't seem to be active on the registration page. I checked the troubleshooting doc and it said to add the $code to the register template and still it doesn't seem to be working.

I do have the toptions in the admin panel but it's not showing on the registrations page.

Can you help?

[g00gl3r]

Originally Posted by Stifmeister2

Here's a screenshot... I even tried to edit those templates like it says in the troubleshooting but Nospam still won't appear... I'm clueless..

I too have nothng showing. I'm on 3.6.1

[g00gl3r]

OK sorted.

If you are logged in and have the otpion to have multiple accounts then click register to check if it's working. It doesn't show. But if you log out and then re-open your forums then click register it's there!

Sorted

[antiekeradio]

is there still development going on with this plugin??

i would really like to have a version in which you can set question/answer sets per installed language....

[Stifmeister2]

Originally Posted by g00gl3r

OK sorted.

If you are logged in and have the otpion to have multiple accounts then click register to check if it's working. It doesn't show. But if you log out and then re-open your forums then click register it's there!

Sorted

Oh yeah works for me too.

Still if antialiasis could make it work without logging out and re-opening forums it would be even better.

[killa101]

Hey all. I have had this mod installed for a few months now and as I just came across this thread again I thought I would stop in to say that this is by far the best anti-spam system ever. NoSpam! pretty much makes captcha obsolete. My boards used to have major spam problems until I installed this and it solved my problems completely.

Cheers to antialiasis for an excellent mod. Keep up the good work man.

[slinky]

Unfortunately this doesn't work so well for me unless I get rid of almost the entire spam list and just include [url in it. Even if I set it for 1 post or 3 posts it still snags users with 100 posts. If I have a lot of terms in the catch it will snag dozens of posts and make the board come to a standstill. Anyone else have this challenge?

[ajenterp]

Hi Guys...

Where do I put the file to import? I have it sitting on my desktop right now... do I have to place it in a certain folder before I import it through the Admin CP?

[valdet]

This is a great add-on to confront the bots.

Can you put in an extra feature just like in phpBB, where you can insert a picture in the question field..?
Look at these two screenshots.





Thanks..

[Mythor]

To make the registration page not require the nospam question be answered if a user is already registered, you can alter the following line via the Manage Products section.
Edit the "register_addmember_process" script, the following line:

if ($vbulletin->options['nospam_onoff'] AND $vbulletin->options['nospam_use_reg'])

Change to:

if ($vbulletin->options['nospam_onoff'] AND $vbulletin->options['nospam_use_reg'] AND !$vbulletin->userinfo['userid'])

And registered members should no longer have to enter an answer to the NoSpam question (they won't see the box either).

Note: I make no promises as to how effective/safe/workable this alteration is, do it at your own risk, etc. It seems to be the way the Contact Us script is set up so it should be okay, but I am by no means an expert.

Hopefully antialiasis will come back with a better solution.