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.

[lostgirl815]

Originally Posted by antialiasis

captainiron19, check your style manager and see if you don't definitely have a template called nospam.

Also, were you definitely editing the template in the right style when you added $nospamfield manually before?

lostgirl815, if you have more than one question it will show one at random, not all of them, if you thought that.

Oh! That is what I thought - well that explains it then, thanks! It's a brilliant Mod, I love it. (I clicked Install about a billion times before I realized that it was javascript, not a link I was supposed to follow.)

(And er, just in case... I didn't modify any templates manually with $nospamfield or anything, it worked with just the instructions you gave. Am I supposed to modify each style also in some way or something?) (Please say no.)

[antialiasis]

No, you aren't. The plugins are meant to automatically insert the question, but if it's not working I tell people to try it the manual way. If it works for you already, there's no need for that.

[lostgirl815]

Ah great. Thanks for all your help, and thanks again for a way better anti-spambot tool!

[captainron19]

Originally Posted by antialiasis

captainiron19, check your style manager and see if you don't definitely have a template called nospam.

Also, were you definitely editing the template in the right style when you added $nospamfield manually before?

lostgirl815, if you have more than one question it will show one at random, not all of them, if you thought that.

I went into the style manager (I have 3 seperate styles in use) I clicked on edit templates for each one of them and there is a template under each one labeled "nospam" each one has the following code...

<fieldset class="fieldset">
	<legend>$vbphrase[nospam_question]</legend>
	<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="$stylevar[formspacer]" border="0" width="400">
	<tr>
		<td colspan="2">$nospamquestion</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
		<td>
                        <input type="hidden" name="nospamnumber" value="$nospamnumber" />
			<input type="text" class="bginput" name="nospam" size="25" />
		</td>
	</tr>
	</table>
</fieldset>

When I manually entered the $nospamfield I went in to each of my styles, clicked on edit templates, expanded "registration templates" and then I opened the register template. I dfound the text $imagereg and right above it I added $nospamfield then I clicked on save and reload.

A portion of that section that I edited manuall in each template looks like this:

					</td>
				</tr>
				</if>
				</table>
			</fieldset>

			$nospamfield

			$imagereg
			
		</div>

[antialiasis]

Hmm.

I can't really think of any explanation it wouldn't be working for you, then, captainiron19. =/ If any coder has an idea of what could be wrong, any tips would be much appreciated.

[captainron19]

Thanks for the help anyway - hopefully someone will have an idea. I also tried doing an uninstall and re-installed the product and that didnt help either. I installed an additional product just prior to this one (The Google / You Tube video embed feature) and it worked perfectly fine.

I am seeing a few items in my contol panel....wouth either or these cause a problem? >...

"There are currently 11 customized template(s) that need to be updated or reverted. Some sections of vBulletin may not function if you do not do this!" I saw this error at my main cp page and it started once I upgraded to v 3.6.4

Under my "Manage Products" section the top is reading... "Warning: Plugins are currently globally disabled via config.php."

[LBSources]

excellent hack .. Good work!

[antialiasis]

Originally Posted by captainron19

Under my "Manage Products" section the top is reading... "Warning: Plugins are currently globally disabled via config.php."

...well, okay, that's definitely the problem. Edit your config.php file (it's in the includes folder) and take out the line involving DISABLE_HOOKS; I can't remember exactly what it says, but therein lies the problem. You basically disabled hacks that involve plugins, which this one does.

[captainron19]

thanks I will do that - I believe we diabled them after having a problem with upgrading to solve a problem that really wasnt effected by any plugins

[captainron19]

Well it looks like that was the trick. After I got it all up and running I did note however that I had the No Spam question listed int here twice. I went into the style manager where I manually added $nospamfield - it was still only in there once. So, I deleted the one I added manually and seems to be working perfectly now.

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.

Thanks again for the help