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.

[derfelix]

Originally Posted by Mike-D

Yep same here. I get always lots of spams on each day so I thought that this hack will keep away those spam bots. So I came to the idea to close my forum. I think this is the best way to keep out those spam bots. Really bad, but I thought this hack helped

are you sure these are bots???? because there is no way of stopping humans..

[The Bish]

Originally Posted by Mike-D

So I came to the idea to close my forum. I think this is the best way to keep out those spam bots. Really bad, but I thought this hack helped

Are you serious? How much thought did you put behind this statement? If you feel that this is a 100% fool proof way to stop SPAM you are kidding yourself. Those of you who are still getting SPAM Registers are getting them because they are people and not Bots. I have had this Mod installed for sometime now and have only been SPAM'd 3 times as opposed to all the time before the Mod. Therefore, and I am not alone, this Mod is well worth the price.... which is free by the way.

[DementedMindz]

Originally Posted by The Bish

Are you serious? How much thought did you put behind this statement? If you feel that this is a 100% fool proof way to stop SPAM you are kidding yourself. Those of you who are still getting SPAM Registers are getting them because they are people and not Bots. I have had this Mod installed for sometime now and have only been SPAM'd 3 times as opposed to all the time before the Mod. Therefore, and I am not alone, this Mod is well worth the price.... which is free by the way.

yeah very true it is but I know they were spam bots who had got past mine I installed https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=147280 and poof there went the spam bots not one since i have installed it which is over a week now when even with this mod installed I was getting them everyday.

[axi]

i forgot to come here and tell you all how happy i am with this hack. this hack is the best hack ever. it keeps my forums just about maintenance free...

i used get AT LEAST 2 bots joining per day..and thats AT LEAST no less.

It has been 2 weeks since i have installed this hack, and not a bot or spammer has joined.
i must say i am very very impressed with it!!

[axi]

Originally Posted by derfelix

are you sure these are bots???? because there is no way of stopping humans..

hahahaha for some reason i found that sentence very amusing.. the bot & human thing..i must be tired lol!

[MissKalunji]

Originally Posted by Rumplestiltskin

I've had this installed for a wee while now, and the last 4 days or so have started getting spammers signing up again. Any ideas?

perhaps u need to always update ur images...if they study ur images they'll know each of them...and having a lot helps also i believe

[gopherhockey]

Originally Posted by DementedMindz

yeah very true it is but I know they were spam bots who had got past mine I installed https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=147280 and poof there went the spam bots not one since i have installed it which is over a week now when even with this mod installed I was getting them everyday.

We have a question in our registration process that asks for a Biography... bots are always answering "Man" to this question. Humans either skip it or enter random stuff.

When I first installed this hack the bots were done instantly.. 4 days passed without a one. Now they are back again.

My guess is that they have figured out a way around this. That or they are flat out guessing the answer to my quesitons, which I doubt. Or, these are humans who are using automated software to help the registration process (like autofill) so they are able to actually see the question and answer.

At any rate, it went from about 6 a day to 0 in 4 days (post install) to about 6 just today again. Bummer.

[antialiasis]

Phew, I haven't been on for a while.

Whoever asked for a feature to allow people to put images as the question: all you need to do is insert the HTML for an image as the question, as HTML will be parsed.

Everybody who has it installed and working but is still getting spam, I'm afraid this hack is logically 100% bot-proof until the day they create bots with flawless human intelligence, so if spammers are getting through, they are clearly human and impossible to stop with any sort of anti-spam system. (You could, of course, try to make more difficult questions - if, for example, all your questions are simple math problems, it is quite possible for bots to be programmed to pick up the numbers and mathematical operations from the string of text and enter the answer in a field, while if you ask random common-sense questions (and especially, if you own a specialized forum, answers that require some knowledge in a particular field that true members would have), they will be impossible for a bot to crack, and if they're difficult enough they might stop human spammers in their tracks as well, as they will not bother with spending time trying to Google the answer to the questions or something just to register at one forum.

The reason it is bot-proof (at least with decent questions) is that the answers to the questions are stored only on the server. From what I could understand of that other hack that will present the user with a choice of images, it offers very weak protection since the answer is in the filename of the image and all a bot programmer would need to do is be aware of this fact and make the bot extract the answer from the page when it is presented with the question. Here, there is no way to just retrieve the answer; it is all stored in the database, which the bot can't access, and the answer is never within the reach of anybody who does not actually know the answer to the question. Since bots do not have the artificial intelligence to be able to read a question, understand it and have the knowledge to answer it in more than some extremely limited cases (like the math questions mentioned above), it is impossible for them to get around it.

[IceFanatic]

Does this hack work on 3.6.7 PL1?

[Quantnet]

Originally Posted by IceFanatic

Does this hack work on 3.6.7 PL1?

works fine on mine