Dealing with spammer accounts

[shafiqdms1]

Yeah.... We really need to revive this thread to deal with it.
Asking cubing questions is a must for joining this forum.

Before the spam was harmless and annoying. Now, it's just disgusting. It's so disgusting!!!!!

agreed, I know who you are talking about too.

 

[MTGjumper]

Maybe you could have some sort of cube applet thing so that the register has to solve it to register If they can't do it, then maybe they can fill out a form or something.

That's a rather awesome idea.

 

[pjk]

I apologize for any spam messages that you find offensive. We are trying to eliminate them from occurring, and we try to remove them as soon as possible.

Arnaud, for the page you linked, what does this mean, and how does it reference to the cube photo above it?:

Vraag:
Geef voor vlak C de cijfers die staan bij letters UCGE.

Antwoord:

I am looking for more ideas to implement which will prevent spammers from getting in. When registering, they do have to answer questions related to cubing (ex. how many sides does a Rubik's cube have?).

 

[shafiqdms1]

[/B]I am looking for more ideas to implement which will prevent spammers from getting in. When registering, they do have to answer questions related to cubing (ex. how many sides does a Rubik's cube have?).

thats easy, but it might work since some (stupid) people think that it has 3 sides

 

[AvGalen]

(I'll try to translate very literally)

Question:
Give for face C the numbers that stand at letters UCGE

Answer:

Basically they tell you which face to use and then you have to look up the 4 numbers in the order they list the letters.

 

[fanwuq]

Maybe you could have some sort of cube applet thing so that the register has to solve it to register If they can't do it, then maybe they can fill out a form or something.

That's a rather awesome idea.

I believe this is our best solution to get rid of all spam.

If they don't know how to solve the cube at all, they probably aren't ready to join the forum. They can easily learn a simple solution and come back.
A simple applet like http://speedcubing.com/chris/ (scroll down)
is perfect for beginners and advanced cubers. The control is simple click and drag with mouse. It's not very fast, but would be enjoyable for any cuber.

I don't know enough programming to make this work...

 

[PatrickJameson]

Could we pleeeeeeeeease use the captcha that is used on this site: http://blogs.microsoft.nl/blogs/blo...chive/2008/12/19/sql-server-2005-sp3-rtw.aspx

That's a pretty awesome captcha.

 

[pjk]

(I'll try to translate very literally)

Question:
Give for face C the numbers that stand at letters UCGE

Answer:

Basically they tell you which face to use and then you have to look up the 4 numbers in the order they list the letters.

That sounds good. I can definitely work on implementing something like this. I need to look to see if those cubes are available, or if I have to make one. Do you know?

Maybe you could have some sort of cube applet thing so that the register has to solve it to register If they can't do it, then maybe they can fill out a form or something.

That's a rather awesome idea.

I believe this is our best solution to get rid of all spam.

If they don't know how to solve the cube at all, they probably aren't ready to join the forum. They can easily learn a simple solution and come back.
A simple applet like http://speedcubing.com/chris/ (scroll down)
is perfect for beginners and advanced cubers. The control is simple click and drag with mouse. It's not very fast, but would be enjoyable for any cuber.

I don't know enough programming to make this work...

I disagree. What if you are coming here to learn to solve the cube, or if you have only solved the cube once? Implementing something that takes long enough to drive spammers away but short enough not to cause a hassle for non-spammers is what we want. The cube diagram that Arnaud mentioned is about right, I think.

 

[d4m4s74]

maybe something everyone with a cube can answer
Like "white opposite:" or if Green is on top and white is in front, where is red

 

[pcharles93]

Not everyone uses the same color scheme.

 

[d4m4s74]

that's true, the white opposite question can both be yellow and blue (western/japanese)
I can't find my japanese cube, where's red with green on top and white in front?

 

[Dene]

that's true, the white opposite question can both be yellow and blue (western/japanese)
I can't find my japanese cube, where's red with green on top and white in front?

Dude, I could quite easily set up a completely random colour scheme. You can't just say "oh you have to use either western or eastern".

 

[cubeman34]

Dene makes a really great point.

 

[Odin]

how about "who's the inventor that invented the Rubik’s cube?" and you have to put Erno Rubik, or erno, or rubik.

 

[Bob]

maybe something everyone with a cube can answer
Like "white opposite:" or if Green is on top and white is in front, where is red

But Doug Li's cube has white opposite green.

 

[qqwref]

I think just answering a nonsense question with a little "Hint: Look in the FAQ/Rules" would be good. Any human spammer can go through any type of CAPTCHA, but they're not going to bother looking through the rules to figure out the answer to a question, especially if you make it so you can't just Ctrl+F it.

 

[pjk]

There are already random questions that need to be answered, such as "How many sides does a Rubik's cube have?". We need to make something that will take some time to do. I want to try implementing something like Arnaud mentioned, which I will do over the next few days. If that doesn't work, I will start putting stuff in the FAQ that needs to be looked up. If that doesn't work, we can start manually reviews accounts based off responses about why they want to join, etc.

 

[ImNOTnoob]

Why not make a cube applet with a cube that is scrambled in like, 3 moves, which anyone can solve?

 

[pcharles93]

Because that wouldn't filter out anybody...

 

[Stefan]

Have them answer five questions, the answers embedded in

1) the rules
2) the FAQ
3) a Wiki page
4+5) the initial message of the two sticky threads in the beginner section

The embedded answers being given like "The answer for the registration form is 'commutator'" with different texts for all five places.

This would prevent more spammers while showing new members around so they get to know this site and how it works, which is good for them and us anyway. Make sure to explain this on the registration form and encourage them to read the whole page, not just search for the registration answer.