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.

[mandy71480]

I can't wait to see how this works. They could easily lie, but I made my question "Would you like to advertise on this site?" and made the answer no. Eh, might not work for that question but we'll see! thanks so much! :up:

[antialiasis]

Originally Posted by captainron19

On another note..... when i went into the config.php to delete the "Diable Hooks" section I did notice I had another line there labeled.... define('SKIP_REFERRER_CHECK', true); right below the disable hooks line. I removed that also.....is that ok? Like I said before, i think both of these lines were placed in there before when i had a trouble with the forum but it turned out to be a problem on my web server's side.

If that line does what I think it does, then yes, it should be absolutely fine to remove it - in fact, it makes your forum more secure.

[lazytown]

Any way this could be used with the 'Form mod" -- which we use as a "contact us" page? We're starting to get spam from there.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?p=1162231

Thanks
-vissa

[jw791]

Thank you very much.

After going thru 3 weeks of 3-5 spambots/day, I installed this a couple of days ago on 2 sites and ZERO spam registrations since.

I run a pets board so my question is "Using the letters d,g, and o, type in the 3 letter name for an animal with 4 legs that barks". Ha ha! the bots can't figure that out!

I agree with the others about having the ability to turn it off on certain pages. I love it on the registration page, but am not sure if I want it on my search page for guests as it might be a little intimidating for new folks that might want to register. Anxiously awaiting the next release!

Thanks again!

[captainron19]

Same here - working perfectly. I was getting almost 10 spam bots joining a day. I was able to stop them from posting by not allowing for members to post until responding to the email confirmation but this has definitely stopped them from joining. I run a fire department forum and my question is

What is the name of the cool wet stuff firefighters use to extinguish fires?

[rknight111]

This is an excellent modification that I have added to my forum. My members and myself appreciate this alot. This has totally eliminated the spammers. I have not had any at all.

Thanks
RON:up:

[BrettMo]

Installed and configured in 3 minutes flat! :up: Thanks for developing this.

[Yvgeniy]

I recently got a report from one user that some of my questions didn't seem to be working with the answers that should have worked upon registration. So I tried registering myself to see if this is in fact the case, because all the questions that I previously tested seemed to work. However, the user was right, there was on question that I stumbled on specifically that didn't work. I tested a few others of that sort and they didn't seem to work either. Here are the questions:

Will you date me?:Yes[:Yeah:Yea:Ya]
Do you like video games?:Yes[:No]
Have you ever lied to your mommy?:Yes[:Yeah:Yea:Ya:No]
Are you wearing clothes?:Yes[:Yeah:Yea:Ya:No]

Perhaps I don't have the formatting right or something, but I followed the instructions as they were written... so I donno.

[antialiasis]

vissa: I'll look into it.

Yvgeniy: You were not meant to include the [ ] there; those were just put there to indicate that the second, third, fourth, etc. options were not necessary, as the examples were supposed to make clear but apparently didn't. So your question field should look like this:

Will you date me?:Yes:Yeah:Yea:Ya
Do you like video games?:Yes:No
Have you ever lied to your mommy?:Yes:Yeah:Yea:Ya:No
Are you wearing clothes?:Yes:Yeah:Yea:Ya:No

Sorry about the confusion.

Thanks for the feedback, all of you. I really appreciate it.

[Smoothie]

Have a question. Are answers case sensitive?