Quote: PhQnix @ February 5 2009, 6:24 PM GMTCan you not just have a captcha Billwill?
A captcha won't keep out a Russian oik, they know about those.
I crave your indulgence Page 2
Quote: billwill @ February 5 2009, 7:28 PM GMTA capture won't keep out a Russian oik, they know about those.
So what about a simple question, like 'what month follows September?' or something?
Surely you could just have you in a pair of pants with the question "What colour are my pants, Flaming Cerise or Cheeky Mauve?
Or something.
This is too clever for me! I just thought nope! I've never had a problem using Captchas for keeping out bots 
Quote: DaButt @ February 5 2009, 7:10 PM GMTSeconded. Unless the goal is to keep out the young, the stupid and those who can't follow directions.
Keeping out those who can't follow directions is probably a GREEEEEAT idea for an IT support site as one won't be able to help them anyway.
Hmmm. I had no idea that the concept of rows and columns was so little known by the general public. I guess it's because not many people do the football pools anymore.
I deliberately used "Product" (it means multiply not add) as being a secondary English meaning that a Russian spammer would be unlikely to know. Alas it seems that the target audience don't know it either. 
Quote: ShoePie @ February 5 2009, 7:37 PM GMTThis is too clever for me! I just thought nope! I've never had a problem using Captchas for keeping out bots
I'm not sure that my spammers are Bots. From what they post I think that they are probably Russian teenagers employed by spammers to go spamming websites. A Captcha would not stop them.
Captchas are old hat now; though they would not bother, for a minor site like mine, the on-line crooks have produced several methods of defeating Captchas.
The favourite one is that they attack one site, get a Captcha, forward it on to another site typically games or porn and use it as a login captcha there, there get the answer from a human & feed it back to the original source of the Captcha.
Devilishly cunning these crooks.
Quote: EllieJP @ February 5 2009, 7:01 PM GMTGosh I'm so blonde... I have NO idea how do answer this.
I don't believe it!
G'wan dye your hair and have a go...
Sigh...
Lets try a simplere one:
To make sure I don't totally confuse my users could I ask those here present to QA the simple test: Construct the password for me and PM your answer to me (so as not to give it away to the others)
==========
Using the information in the table below construct the password from your answers and PM it to me.
Make the password from the answers to these questions joining the words together without spaces. All the words are in the table below
1. The first word is a colour.
2. The second word is a flower
3. The third word is a weapon.
I can't see the colour at all!!!!
2. Snowdrop
3. Sword or Javalin????
It don't for do it for me I'm afraid. I'd bugger off very quickly.
It is probably a bot of some sort after all. The sods had created nearly 2000 dummy accounts registrations.
I've just purged them.
Nice idea but unless you've been employed to protect the website of Mensa from undesirables, a bit excessive methinks.
I assume most people really can't be bothered to waste minutes solving this BEFORE they spend longer sticking in details to register.
Not a bad idea, but can't you just use colours most people will have heard of rather than "azure" or "sunset purple". Same with the flower - Daffodil or tulip fine, but why have snowdrop which isn't everyone's first thought. Plus you have similar words like "bush" and "fir" which could confuse people.
As for the third question, there is ambiguity - you're assuming I suppose that people will look at the fourth column from the left and third row from the top?
In which case who's going to be a***ed to calculate 43 x 43? Even if they have a corresponding IQ?
So good luck getting that Mensa contract, but in the meantime simplify it to just keep bots out!
Thoughts:
1) You're VASTLY underestimating "Russian teenagers".
2) Recode the board so it signs people up as unvalidated, and e-mails you upon a registration. Their e-mail address, name, and if all else fails, IP, should be more than enough for you to be able to manually activate their account. You can't get THAT many genuine users that this would be a hindrance.
3) Try reCAPTCHA.
4) I've never had a problem with people getting around CAPTCHAs either.
Quote: Aaron @ February 5 2009, 8:47 PM GMTThoughts:
1) You're VASTLY underestimating "Russian teenagers".
2) Recode the board so it signs people up as unvalidated, and e-mails you upon a registration. Their e-mail address, name, and if all else fails, IP, should be more than enough for you to be able to manually activate their account. You can't get THAT many genuine users that this would be a hindrance.
3) Try reCAPTCHA.
4) I've never had a problem with people getting around CAPTCHAs either.
Agreed.
I could do it that time, but only with help from a friend.
Quote: bigfella @ February 5 2009, 8:24 PM GMTI can't see the colour at all!!!!
It's Azure (A type of blue)
The words have to be such that they would be known to UK/USA residents but less likely to be known to Russian & Chinese spammers. Using the most common colours & flowers would be pointless.
There is no ambiguitity in question 3, however it was designed to test a fairly thorough knowledge of English and a ltttle bit of maths. Too thorough apparently. The fact that the given row & column cross on the same number was intended to make you think.
Its interesting.
Most people appear to have taken the number in COLUMN 4 and ADDED it to the number in COLUMN (instead of ROW) three.
I've posed this on my old school site too, where everyone is of the older generation, and only one got the correct 1849 number, most got the same 48.
So you didn't just 'overestimate the younger set' then. You evidently baffle everyone.
Quote: billwill @ February 5 2009, 10:59 PM GMTI've posed this on my old school site too, where everyone is of the older generation, and only one got the correct 1849 number, most got the same 48.
Assuming you only want that one person to access your site, you're doing brilliantly.
Quote: billwill @ February 5 2009, 10:59 PM GMTThe words have to be such that they would be known to UK/USA residents
I doubt even 1% of Americans would know that the snowdrop was a flower. I've never heard the term anywhere but on this forum. Maybe they don't grow here?
I arrived at the correct answer of 1849, by the way.