Captcha is a waste of time (Sad truth)

[hottweelz]

Notices to EVERYONE who owns a website...

Not for nothing folks, but here's some bad news.  Captcha stops... NO ONE.

Actually thats a lie.

Captcha stops HUMANS...  these things are impossible to read... especially in the wonderful world of SMF Land.

Either use reCaptcha, with their API, or don't bother at all.

and yes... don't believe the hype.. BOTS can decipher captcha,  its just a waste of time and aggrevating for HUMAN users.

[DeviledMoon]

Personally, That's your opinion.

Captcha prevents a lot of spam bots, especially when the practice of the captcha is done right where the bot itself cannot read the numbers against the set of the site. (design wise).

I do still believe that ReCaptcha is leaps and bounds better, but any captcha is better than no captcha.

[Kazimir]

I don't understand why people consider reCaptcha to be so good. Of all captcha variants out there, I think reCaptcha is particularly ANNOYING, and often impossible to read even for humans.

See here: http://www.google.com/recaptcha/demo/ ← refresh a few times and see how often you get unreadable garbage.

Furthermore, it really doesn't help much, since any bot can use services like BypassCaptcha.com or DeathByCaptcha.com which resolve bulk captchas for low fees.

[Osmose]

Breaking captcha is a sizable technology hurdle.  Some are trivial to experienced programmers, like methods that don't rotate or shift the characters randomly.

reCaptcha is good because it doesn't generate the images itself, so it isn't predictiable, and is easier to integrate.

[SgtSpike]

I just ask everyone what the color of the sky is...

Should probably change that.  It was meant as a placeholder for a proper spam prevention measure.

[Raoul Duke]

reCaptcha is good because it doesn't generate the images itself, so it isn't predictiable, and is easier to integrate.

recaptcha is very predictable, altho not on the sense you expect. You only need to write down the control word correctly. You can write the other one wrong.
After you see a couple thousand of them you can guess which one is the control word and which one isn't...
And yes, only humans can bypass reCaptcha. Bots don't do so good. But they don't need to do good. 1000 captcha solutions cost $1 after all.

[sippsnapp]

The normal captcha and recaptcha indeed, at least 2 years back it stopped no bots (all these SEO bots like senuke, xrumer etc).
However, when it comes to image guessing it gets a lot tougher as i know.
This: https://nvpn.net/memberss/index.php is very well made i think.

[Ivica]

I used to administrate simple phpbb forum for not even a hundred users, it was half-private, but without proper captcha and extra anti-spam measures, it was heaven for spam bots.

[Raoul Duke]

I used to administrate simple phpbb forum for not even a hundred users, it was half-private, but without proper captcha and extra anti-spam measures, it was heaven for spam bots.

You should use image background on phpbb captchas. Also, if you set a password requirement of ppper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols most bots will not be able to register. Even humans get stopped by those password requirements lol

[psilan]

The normal captcha and recaptcha indeed, at least 2 years back it stopped no bots (all these SEO bots like senuke, xrumer etc).
However, when it comes to image guessing it gets a lot tougher as i know.
This: https://nvpn.net/memberss/index.php is very well made i think.

Except it says "click submit" when there is no submit button.

[ingrownpocket]

Captchas are a necessary evil.
I'd love not to use captchas on CoinAd.com, but the number of bots is too damn high.

[Osmose]

recaptcha is very predictable, altho not on the sense you expect. You only need to write down the control word correctly. You can write the other one wrong.

Interesting, thanks for this tidbit.

[c789]

I don't think it's a waste of time. Is it 100% effective? No. But it will make a HUGE difference in cutting down bot interaction. I think the humans that get frustrated with it is a small price to pay. Having to deal with the mess created by bots causes many more headaches.

I'm a PHP programmer and have also created and hosted many sites, with and without bot prevention measures. Having Captcha definitely helps cut down the spam, false registrations, etc.

[sippsnapp]

The normal captcha and recaptcha indeed, at least 2 years back it stopped no bots (all these SEO bots like senuke, xrumer etc).
However, when it comes to image guessing it gets a lot tougher as i know.
This: https://nvpn.net/memberss/index.php is very well made i think.

Except it says "click submit" when there is no submit button.

It must be your browser setting, bottom line was that i would prefer an image captcha for visitors as well as to prevent bots.

[SgtSpike]

I don't think it's a waste of time. Is it 100% effective? No. But it will make a HUGE difference in cutting down bot interaction. I think the humans that get frustrated with it is a small price to pay. Having to deal with the mess created by bots causes many more headaches.

I'm a PHP programmer and have also created and hosted many sites, with and without bot prevention measures. Having Captcha definitely helps cut down the spam, false registrations, etc.

+1, actually.

Sure, captcha can be circumvented.  Does that mean that every bot circumvents it?  No.   Therefore, it cuts down on bots.

[Superbest]

I hate reCaptcha too, but the fact is that it works.

The other captchas that people throw together themselves in a weekend, though, those are just embarrassing.

[live627]

Either use reCaptcha, with their API, or don't bother at all.

That's a step down. SMF's CAPTCHA is less broken than reCaptcha.

What do I use on my SMF install that makes me so bold as to say that only real humans have an account? Bad Behavior, Stop Spammer (LitecoinTalk has both of these), a reason required on signup, and a super readable CAPTCHA.

[WITRcenter]

no, it is not.

[live627]

no, it is not.

Care to explain?

[Dabs]

What are other ways to tell that there is a human or person?

Here are some ideas:

1. Ask questions that can be answered by people relating to current or world events.
2. Ask basic science or math questions.
3. Tell the human to type what he hears (for non deaf humans.) (audio captcha?)
4. Ask about colors or shapes.
5. Ask questions where the answers are about a popular topic of that niche.
6. Use mouse movements?
7. Play a simple game?
8. ?

You have to set a minimum standard also, since captchas can frustrate uneducated people (like those who can't read or spell or think.) but then that depends on your target market. And captchas will frustrate people with accessibility issues.