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NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 08 Feb 2024, 09:47
by tubeguru
Just recently, we've been receiving a huge number of account registrations from Russian spambots. They are all easily able to evade the CAPTCHA anti-spambot measure, so I've changed it so that everyone registering for an account now has to answer a question. Note that none of these bots will ever make it onto the forum, as it has always been my policy to personally activate EVERY account application over the last 19 years. The tedium lies in deleting all the applications from the list :lol:

The question has been set to something fairly simply for now, although it could be considered an easy riddle. Hopefully it will stop a lot of the bots from being able to register, but if it doesn't I may need to make the question harder, or add other questions.

I'll be keeping an eye on it ...

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 08 Feb 2024, 19:18
by greatkingrat
Just had a look at the form and I can't see a question at all? It just asks what the answer is without saying what the question is.

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 08 Feb 2024, 20:27
by tubeguru
greatkingrat wrote: 08 Feb 2024, 19:18 Just had a look at the form and I can't see a question at all? It just asks what the answer is without saying what the question is.
I should delete your account for not being able to work it out ... :lol:

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 10 Feb 2024, 09:18
by tubeguru
UPDATE - since I changed the anti-spambot measure to the question you now see, we have had precisely ZERO applications from Russian bots.

I trust that real humans aren't too stupid to not be able to answer it though :lol:

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 16 Feb 2024, 17:47
by GuyBarry
tubeguru wrote: 10 Feb 2024, 09:18 UPDATE - since I changed the anti-spambot measure to the question you now see, we have had precisely ZERO applications from Russian bots.

I trust that real humans aren't too stupid to not be able to answer it though :lol:
Have you had any applications from real humans?

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 17 Feb 2024, 08:40
by tubeguru
GuyBarry wrote: 16 Feb 2024, 17:47
tubeguru wrote: 10 Feb 2024, 09:18 UPDATE - since I changed the anti-spambot measure to the question you now see, we have had precisely ZERO applications from Russian bots.

I trust that real humans aren't too stupid to not be able to answer it though :lol:
Have you had any applications from real humans?
No, but account applications from real humans only come along every few weeks. We're hardly the busiest site on the internet.

However, as I have had zero applications from bots, I may now change the question to have an actual "real" answer, just to see if it stays quiet. If humans can't answer the new question, then they shouldn't really be allowed to use the internet ...

Re: NEW ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS - READ THIS!

Posted: 26 Jul 2024, 16:27
by tubeguru
NOTE - the Q&A registration question has been changed. Due to the simplicity of the previous question, I believe that Russian spambots were able to answer it successfully.

Hopefully it isn't too difficult for genuine people to understand and answer.