Hello from a new member, and oh! BTW, registration is a nightmare!!!

[shekhar_borde]

Hello everyone, I am a new member, long time Canon owner, and I really enjoy reading the content on these forums. One major complaint: The images with the registration codes are ridiculously and needlessly difficult to decipher. There is not a spambot in existence that could decipher images that were even 10 times more legible than it. All it really does is frustrate real and honest users. I finally managed to get it right after about 10 tries and 25 refreshes. The site admins really ought to take a hard look at that.

[Jon]

Actually, there were at least three in the past 2 days that got by. Sorry it's difficult, but those 3 spammers alone put up 15-20 threads.

[Sp00ks]

I just started a forum for my photography club. Members young and old. I haven't even linked it nor is anyone using it thank goodness and I removed about 15 raunchy posts already. It's ridiculous. I'm becoming a fan of the security.....

[shekhar_borde]

Actually, there were at least three in the past 2 days that got by. Sorry it's difficult, but those 3 spammers alone put up 15-20 threads.

Jon,

Just to be clear, are you saying spammers (human) got by or that spambots (programs) got by. It is very hard to detect and stop a human spammer from registering, it's easier to ban them after they start spamming. I thought the whole idea of the cryptic image was to foil spambots (i.e. automated programs) that register randomly on every forum they find -- and then spam the forum.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent of the cryptic image.

[tommykjensen]

Jon,

Just to be clear, are you saying spammers (human) got by or that spambots (programs) got by. It is very hard to detect and stop a human spammer from registering, it's easier to ban them after they start spamming. I thought the whole idea of the cryptic image was to foil spambots (i.e. automated programs) that register randomly on every forum they find -- and then spam the forum.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent of the cryptic image.

The security number is to prevent spam bots from registering unfortunately it does make it harder for regular members to register. It is not possible to prevent a human from signing up.

[Jon]

Jon,

Just to be clear, are you saying spammers (human) got by or that spambots (programs) got by. It is very hard to detect and stop a human spammer from registering, it's easier to ban them after they start spamming. I thought the whole idea of the cryptic image was to foil spambots (i.e. automated programs) that register randomly on every forum they find -- and then spam the forum.

Maybe I am misunderstanding the intent of the cryptic image.Let's put it this way - when there are 10 posts within 3 minutes, I tend to suspect automation.

[shekhar_borde]

Let's put it this way - when there are 10 posts within 3 minutes, I tend to suspect automation.

The automation happens after a human registers and logs in on behalf of the spambot. The cryptic image still requires a human to register first.

Again I will say this -- a spambot is not going to be able to decipher an image even half as complicated as the ones you guys present. And no matter how complicated the image is, if a human spammer can read it, he can first register himself and then unleash the spambot. So all the image is doing is making it harder for legitimate users to register.

Someone else on this forum retorted, "it is an IQ test". Fine, so be it. But it is not going to stop determined spammers. It will, however, continue to annoy and deter legitimate users.

Alright, I've had my say and I will stop spamming everyone on this topic now :)

Thanks for indulging me and responding to my queries.

[tommykjensen]

Again I will say this -- a spambot is not going to be able to decipher an image even half as complicated as the ones you guys present. And no matter how complicated the image is, if a human spammer can read it, he can first register himself and then unleash the spambot. So all the image is doing is making it harder for legitimate users to register.


I disagree. The spambots around are very sophisticated and get better every single day. I am not sure how much Pekka have customised the image generation (and I won't speculate on that in public) but customisation is required because the spambots can easily decipher the default image generation.

I believe the spam we see is posted by humans not bots. The post delay is 20 seconds and by copying and pasting it is possibe to post many times in few minutes.

[Jubilee32]

An awful good job is done by the leaders/mods here. One "difficult" sign-up is nothing of importance to me if it helps cut down on the chance of spambots. Nothing is perfect but this Forum is well run and easy to use.:lol:

[_aravena]

w/e...registering ain't a problem. Freakin' myspace is getting annoying. Every time you edit your page, stupid thing and sometimes there are obvious letters or numbers you type in and it says it's wrong. at least it's only once here and not to edit your sig or something.

Although anyone that edits and checks and edits and checks on myspace. check in a new tab and keep the edit page open. YOu won't have to keep going through the annoying checker. just save and refresh in the new tab.

[Graybeard]

Hi all
I just joined a few days back, am a very new "newbee":oops:...got very frustrating >:( trying to register, had to refresh about 10x, I never understood why this had to be done but after reading this thread...ALL IS CLEAR!:D..sortof anyway..
Thanks for the explanations....

[Stefan A]

A bit picky considering you have just joined and have not really seen what a good job the moderators do to keep this a good forum. Once you have been around for a while, I doubt you will care. I am not a fan of those cryptic words either, but until this thread, I forgot the registration here even had that.

Stefan

[StewartR]

Hmmm. He joined a week ago, didn't create a public profile, and has only made 3 posts - all of them here, complaining about the registration process. Makes me wonder what his motivation is .....

[tommykjensen]

Hmmm. He joined a week ago, didn't create a public profile, and has only made 3 posts - all of them here, complaining about the registration process. Makes me wonder what his motivation is .....

There is no rule that say you have to post once you have registered. Remember there are parts of the forum which can only be seen when logged in.