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.

[chatfan]

Nominated and installed and printed in gold leaf and all that

Always hated the Captchas, usually takes me two times to read and type the right letters.
Some of them I never got like the myspace one and some of them are just anooying. Are they case sensitive? And if so is that a I or a l l'm seeing?

This is the perfect solutions AND it lets you have some fun too!
typing silly messages for people to repeat, what more can you ask from a security system lol.

[Smoothie]

I added a question and it has no answer, but I don't give a shit. Just having some fun......

Question: Type in your wife and or girlfriends cup size.

[antialiasis]

Originally Posted by Southernphuk

Alrighty, imported this, setup the answer, checked all the templates and such but when I go to register an account, it still comes up with just the catcha confirmation, doesn't have the questions show up.

What could I possibly have screwed up or not looked at (everything is 'active')?

A few possibilities. Have you modified the register template at some point?

If all else fails, try manually inserting $nospamfield just above $imagereg in the template.

[KipLarson]

Does this work with all vbulletin 3.6x version? I have two forums at 3.6 and 3.61 and don't want to pay to have them updated.

Also, have you recommended this to the vBulletin team for actual use in later versions?

[antialiasis]

It should work with all 3.6.x, yes. I think I originally made this when I had 3.6.0 or 3.6.1.

I haven't specifically spoken to the vBulletin team about it, but from what I've seen on vBulletin.com, they seem to be bent on just using the CAPTCHA system and then suggesting a kind of crude, manual, less flexible way to do what is basically what this hack does on the registration page.

[Ted S]

Has anyone tested the registration completion rate of this system versus CAPTCHA versus no verification?

[ADM]

Not too sure if this has been pointed out but it says that if they are unable to successfully answer the NoSpam! question to contact the administrator.

The problem there is that that NoSpam! question is also added to the contact us form... thus there is no way for that user to contact the admin.

Maybe in the next version allow us to disable the appearance of the nospam question on certain screens?

[antialiasis]

I was kind of thinking they could contact by other means, heh. But yeah, that kind of makes sense. Disabling them on a page-by-page basis would be a good idea for the next version.

[Smoothie]

Originally Posted by ADM

Not too sure if this has been pointed out but it says that if they are unable to successfully answer the NoSpam! question to contact the administrator.

The problem there is that that NoSpam! question is also added to the contact us form... thus there is no way for that user to contact the admin.

Maybe in the next version allow us to disable the appearance of the nospam question on certain screens?

where does it say that? Not on mine it don't.

Edit: never mind, saw the message if they failed the test. LOL. Here's a suggestion. Try inputing questions your possible future members could actually answer.

[Luky]

I think that this would be easier to crack, if you look at the source code and find every possible algorithem and then you can make a php file to answer these questions, or most of them.