Anti-Spam Options - reCAPTCHA v2 Human Verification

(Note: This mod was renamed. The original name was "New reCAPTCHA Human Verification")

What is it?
----------------------------
This mod adds reCAPTCHA v2 as an option in the Human Verification Manager.

Note: The original reCAPTCHA used default keys if you didn't enter your own, so you could leave the key fields blank. This version requires you to have your own keys for your domain. To create them, go to this page (click on the "Get reCAPTCHA" button). It may take a short time after creating the keys before they will work, so if you get "ERROR: Invalid domain for site key", wait a while and try again.

vb3 version is here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=315964

Installation:
----------------------------
1) Upload the file in the "upload" folder to your server.

2) Import the product XML file from the Product Manager.

3) If you don't already have keys, go to this page and create keys for your domain. (If you already have keys you can get them from that page as well).

4) Go to Settings > Human Verification Manager, select "New reCAPTCHA" for the Verification Library, and click Save.

5) Enter your keys on the options page, and select the light or dark widget as desired (apparently white and black are the only options at this time). You could select "Audio" to default to audio instead of image for the challenge, but the widget seems to have a bug in it at the moment so I recommend leaving it set to "image". Click Save when you're done selecting options.

6) You can check the configuration and do a test by clicking on "Click here to test connection" which appears under the description in the Human Verification Manager.

7) Do a test registration (or other action that requires hv) to test that your keys are entered correctly and everything is working.

8) If you are upgrading from version 0.9, you can remove the file includes/class_humanverify_newrecaptcha.php (the one without the third underscore) from your server.

History:
----------------------------
1.0 (Feb 22, 2015)

• Cached template (required renaming the uploaded file from
  class_humanverify_newrecaptcha.php to class_humanverify_new_recaptcha.php)
• Removed default keys (which didn't work anyway)
• Removed trademark symbols
• Changed execution order of plugins from 5 to 4, to make sure this product
  works with another HV add-on that has a bug.
• If "New reCAPTCHA" is selected when this mod is uninstalled, the hv library
  is switched to 'disabled'.
• Added a test option to print out more information about verification failures

0.9 (Dec 11, 2014)

• Initial Release

[wootriffic]

Previously i had their plugin installed, then installed your plugin.
Once i did that verification wouldnt pull up, unless i removed vbsocial.

Even deactivating your plugin and leaving vbsocial still wouldnt show it.

not sure if this is a one off issue, but i cant seem to get it back now. so i've deactivated their plugin.

[kh99]

I was able to replicate the issue, but I can't figure out what's going on. All the recaptcha stuff is where it should be and it's loading the javascript from google, and there aren't any js errors, but it's not showing up.

So are you saying that the original recaptcha worked with vbsocial, until you installed this mod? I uninstalled completely and the original recaptcha doesn't work, but I didn't try it before installing my mod. I don't see how it could affect anything after being uninstalled, but anything's possible.

ETA: anyway, this mod works just like the original recaptcha that comes with vbulletin, and I don't really have time to figure out why there's a conflict even with the original (as I suspect it doesn't work even for someone who has never installed my mod). But I *am* working on a new version of this mod to include a template for the mobile style and make a few other tweaks, and one thing I was thinking of including is an option to use the "alternate" way to render the recaptcha widget (see the google developer page if you're curious about it). So it's possible that will solve the issue.

[bosanci28]

So may i ask what is the difference between the original captcha and this?

Thanks

[kh99]

Originally Posted by bosanci28

So may i ask what is the difference between the original captcha and this?

Thanks

Well, just to be sure you understand, this mod just interfaces google's reCAPTCHA v2 with the vbulletin human verification system, and the fact is that the interface isn't a lot different than the original. I didn't implement the captcha and I copied the vbulletin interface code to start with, so I really can't take much credit for it, nor can I explain the details of how the captcha works.

You can read about reCaptcha v2 here: http://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html . In a nutshell, it uses some javascript magic to try to identify people as human, and if it can then the user only has to check the "I am not a robot" box and doesn't always have to solve a captcha. So hopefully it makes it easier for humans to get past it. I know the original reCaptcha had been "cracked" somehow, and to be honest I don't know if this addresses that problem or not. I do know that google has been telling sites that are still using the original to upgrade, so I imagine eventually they will discontinue support for the original.

[TorrentMan]

thanks bud
function perfect, very nice, keep up your good work..

[wootriffic]

Originally Posted by kh99

I was able to replicate the issue, but I can't figure out what's going on. All the recaptcha stuff is where it should be and it's loading the javascript from google, and there aren't any js errors, but it's not showing up.

So are you saying that the original recaptcha worked with vbsocial, until you installed this mod? I uninstalled completely and the original recaptcha doesn't work, but I didn't try it before installing my mod. I don't see how it could affect anything after being uninstalled, but anything's possible.

ETA: anyway, this mod works just like the original recaptcha that comes with vbulletin, and I don't really have time to figure out why there's a conflict even with the original (as I suspect it doesn't work even for someone who has never installed my mod). But I *am* working on a new version of this mod to include a template for the mobile style and make a few other tweaks, and one thing I was thinking of including is an option to use the "alternate" way to render the recaptcha widget (see the google developer page if you're curious about it). So it's possible that will solve the issue.

I didn't look actually, but was pretty sure i was seeing new signups when it was active (latest members).
I've deactivated their plugin for now. Much rather have this than some lite version of some other plugin that does almost nothing.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by wootriffic

I didn't look actually, but was pretty sure i was seeing new signups when it was active (latest members).
I've deactivated their plugin for now. Much rather have this than some lite version of some other plugin that does almost nothing.

After posting that I actually did a fresh test install of vb4.2.3 and installed only the vbsocial lite, selected the original recaptcha (I didn't even install this mod), and it didn't work. I think both the vbsocial and the recaptcha use jquery, and I think there's a conflict so that the recaptcha init stuff doesn't run. I haven't had a chance yet to try the "explict render" method (I think it was called), so I'm still hoping that solves the problem.

It does seem strange though that no one would have noticed before that recaptcha didn't work with vbsocial. Maybe there's something else going on.

[bosanci28]

Originally Posted by kh99

Well, just to be sure you understand, this mod just interfaces google's reCAPTCHA v2 with the vbulletin human verification system, and the fact is that the interface isn't a lot different than the original. I didn't implement the captcha and I copied the vbulletin interface code to start with, so I really can't take much credit for it, nor can I explain the details of how the captcha works.

You can read about reCaptcha v2 here: http://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html . In a nutshell, it uses some javascript magic to try to identify people as human, and if it can then the user only has to check the "I am not a robot" box and doesn't always have to solve a captcha. So hopefully it makes it easier for humans to get past it. I know the original reCaptcha had been "cracked" somehow, and to be honest I don't know if this addresses that problem or not. I do know that google has been telling sites that are still using the original to upgrade, so I imagine eventually they will discontinue support for the original.

Thanks for that info! Installed on v4.2.2 and works fine.
Thanks.

[kh99]

Originally Posted by semprot

Awesome. It works. I wonder why VB does not update its recaptcha code

Suggestion : adding recaptcha language option.

I'm working on another version. I can add the language setting. I actually thought I had used the vbulletin language to set it, but I guess I was dreaming.

[kh99]

Actually you can do this yourself if you don't want to wait. Edit template humanverify_new_recapctha, and near the end is a <script> line. Add the part in red:

<script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?hl={vb:stylevar languagecode}" async defer></script>

or if you want to hard code a language, you can put the code in place of {vb:stylevar languagecode}. The language codes are here: https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/language