New required profile field [Archive]

nrc

12-11-10, 08:35 PM

I've added a new profile field that is required when someone registers. The field is Favorite Vehicle - your favorite vehicle that you've owned or driven. Since it's a required field you'll have to enter it if you update your profile.

The reason for this field is that spammers have gotten pretty adept at getting past the captchas that we use to help prevent bots from signing up for accounts.

At this point most of our registrations are spam bots which I do my best to identify and reject. That's getting harder and harder as spammers have gotten better at hiding behind legitimate email and IP addresses.

This field is one more thing to try to help identify that real humans that register. It may not help since some spammers have tactics to deal with special field entries, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't help we'll make it not required.

WickerBill

12-12-10, 09:21 AM

If the registrations say "Dallara", my vote is to reject them, bot or not.

cameraman

12-12-10, 01:58 PM

While I tend to agree just on general principles I feel i have to remind you that this is also a Dallara.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/Cynops/gp2-2008.jpg

EDwardo

12-12-10, 02:31 PM

If the registrations say "Dallara", my vote is to reject them, bot or not.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

nrc

12-12-10, 06:15 PM

Does this mean that I have to figure out which model is the crapwagon?

cameraman

12-12-10, 07:40 PM

I can't help you with the crapwagon. The car in the photo above is a GP2 car. Thankfully I have never seen a crapwagon in all the years I've been watching GP2.

WickerBill

12-12-10, 07:57 PM

OJ Simpson was a beautiful runner, and had some incredibly amazing performances... but he should still be held responsible for the crimes he committed. Dallara

cameraman

12-12-10, 08:13 PM

They built what Tony George asked then cashed the check. They are a rather mercenary bunch.

STD

12-12-10, 10:30 PM

Don't forget this.

http://www.dancewithshadows.com/autoindia/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hrt-f1-car-photo.jpg

What they design and build is far different than what they just build on contract from say Ferrari or Audi. From Ferrari and Audi specification demands of course.

G.

12-14-10, 07:16 PM

yeah, so this is probably one of those. :)

About Dostrayek

Location
weight loss programs
Interests
weight loss doctor
Occupation
weight loss plan
Favorite Vehicle
weight loss plan

nrc

12-14-10, 09:08 PM

yeah, so this is probably one of those. :)

I'm going out on a limb and guessing yes. :)

cameraman

01-08-11, 06:03 PM

I'm curious to see what kind of car AdSenseTricks likes...

nrc

01-08-11, 06:12 PM

I'm curious to see what kind of car AdSenseTricks likes...

You can see by checking their profile under the "About Me" tab. As with most spambots this one is a narcissist.

EDwardo

01-11-11, 05:32 PM

You can see by checking their profile under the "About Me" tab. As with most spambots this one is a narcissist.

About BeholderJJa

Favorite Vehicle
BeholderJJa

Another narcissist.........:shakehead

EDwardo

01-14-11, 01:12 PM

This one drives a Reverse Phone Lookup. Must be an electric hybrid.:eek:

About Cochob

Location
reverse phone lookup
Interests
reverse cell phone lookup
Occupation
reverse phone lookup
Favorite Vehicle
reverse phone lookup

nrc

01-14-11, 01:35 PM

Spam registrations got so bad last week that I had to switch from reCaptcha to questions and answers to do human verification. Evidently the spammers have a system now where they actually relay reCaptcha verifications to users that they pay per solution and then relay the response back through the registration bot.

Napoleon

01-14-11, 04:03 PM

Evidently the spammers have a system now where they actually relay reCaptcha verifications to users that they pay per solution and then relay the response back through the registration bot.

A month or 2 ago I read something that it is so cheap for them to pay people in places like, say, India to defeat systems designed to keep spammers out that is now what they do.

cameraman

01-14-11, 05:11 PM

Dang. I thought I had found a new career path.

trish

01-14-11, 07:13 PM

I've added a new profile field that is required when someone registers. The field is Favorite Vehicle - your favorite vehicle that you've owned or driven. Since it's a required field you'll have to enter it if you update your profile.

The reason for this field is that spammers have gotten pretty adept at getting past the captchas that we use to help prevent bots from signing up for accounts.

At this point most of our registrations are spam bots which I do my best to identify and reject. That's getting harder and harder as spammers have gotten better at hiding behind legitimate email and IP addresses.

This field is one more thing to try to help identify that real humans that register. It may not help since some spammers have tactics to deal with special field entries, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't help we'll make it not required.Do you require email verification?

nrc

01-14-11, 08:43 PM

Do you require email verification?

Yes, but spambots almost always have fake email addresses which they monitor for email validation requests.

trish

01-14-11, 08:51 PM

Yes, but spambots almost always have fake email addresses which they monitor for email validation requests.

I'd be signing them up for every _____ enlargement ad that made it's way into my spam box. lol

EDwardo

01-14-11, 09:47 PM

So, what is the purpose of these spambots registering as members? Is it primarily to post spam in forums?

Cam

01-14-11, 11:16 PM

So, what is the purpose of these spambots registering as members? Is it primarily to post spam in forums?

Yup. Exactly like the crap you get in your email if you don't have a spam filter.

Insomniac

01-15-11, 01:25 PM

Could you add your own custom verification? Some type of simple question like "spell the number 7 in the box below". Hopefully it would be weird enough that the bot would just move on and the account won't be created.

Don Quixote

02-10-11, 05:02 PM

:laugh:

About Poustrelouc
Favorite Vehicle
december

nrc

02-10-11, 05:16 PM

Could you add your own custom verification? Some type of simple question like "spell the number 7 in the box below". Hopefully it would be weird enough that the bot would just move on and the account won't be created.

I missed this. Yes, vB has an option to use questions instead of Captchas. We switched to that and it cut down quite a bit on spam registrations.

Insomniac

02-11-11, 11:12 AM

I missed this. Yes, vB has an option to use questions instead of Captchas. We switched to that and it cut down quite a bit on spam registrations.

Nice.