Spam Hurdles Module (CAPTCHA's and other anti-spam tools)

I have no recommended method. There is the cache management within the module settings, but of course that one isn't easy for using from cron.

In this thread I have posted the script that I use myself to cleanup the Phorum files in /tmp. This script is run every hour and it cleans up stuff that is older than 2 hours.

Maybe in some future release, I could use database storage for caching the server-side component of the data. But I'm not sure if I can implement that in a clean way (so without having to extend the database myself). All storage is done through the Phorum cache-API, so replacing the storage backend would be as easy is writing a compatible API (with different function names of course, to avoid namespace clashes) and replacing the function calls. Not really high on my personal TODO-list, since my own system is running fine using the current implementation.

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Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce

While deleting the folders generated by spamhurdles I encountered this message:

rm: WARNING: Circular directory structure.
This almost certainly means that you have a corrupted file system.
NOTIFY YOUR SYSTEM MANAGER.
The following directory is part of the cycle:
`/tmp/58c47...c9c68f/mod_spamhurdles/90e0/6b0f/489c/a445/b577/7f7e/6115'

Is it possible to this has been provoqued by the module, or, better say, the repetitive deleting of such a numer of folders ?

No, this is an OS issue. The modules uses the Phorum caching system, which in turn uses PHP, which in turn uses the OS calls for managing files and directories. If things screw up in the filestem, then the responsibility lies with the OS in this case.

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Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce

(post substantially edited as I further tracked the problem)

I have a problem with Spam Hurdles, but it's not a bug report, more of a feedback report.

I only want CAPTCHAs to affect unregistered users, and have a cronjob periodically wiping my /tmp/mod_spamhurdles directory (I have to do this, or I quickly get thousands of files cluttering up my server).
If I enable "Block message forms that are submitted multiple times", "Block message forms that are submitted too quickly" or "Let the browser sign the message using JavaScript", then users report that they are intermittently blocked from posting. This is obviously because their cache information has been wiped by my cronjob.

I originally thought this was a fault in the module, but can't really see any way around it.
From a usablity point of view, any user that starts typing a lengthy post, then wanders off while my cronjob triggers will lose their work.

What are your thoughts on this Maurice?

As an aside, tracking this problem down to spam_hurdles was made more complicated for me, as I have custom PHP/MySQL code in my forum header. When mod_spamhurdles thinks it detects spam (as in the above scenario) it somehow manages to wipe all previously included PHP global variables - how does it do this?
I literally had an "echo" showing a variable existed, but as soon as I called a previously included function immediately afterwards the variable was wiped, killing my forum as I didn't code for that eventuality...

I have temporarily disabled all the non-CAPTCHA components of Spam Hurdles, as I currently don't see any alternative.

Any feedback appreciated.

/\dam

--
My notable Phorum sites:
Movie Deaths Database - "review comments" system mostly powered by Phorum
Learn Chinese! - integrated forum quiz




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/2006 09:22AM by sheik.

Suggested change and typo fix to the lang file:

"BlockError" => "Anti-spam software on this server has detected that your message might be spam. Therefore, your message has been blocked. If your message was not a spam message, then we apologize for the inconvenience that blocking it might have caused. <br/>Pressing 'Back' on your browser should allow you to retrieve your message so you can copy/paste it and try again.<br/>If you keep having problems with your messages being blocked, please contact the site administrator for help.<br/><br/><b>Note</b>: If you have disabled JavaScript within your browser or if your browser does not support JavaScript at all, then this might be the reason why your message was blocked. Some of the anti-spam measures are depending dependent on JavaScript."

/\dam

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My notable Phorum sites:
Movie Deaths Database - "review comments" system mostly powered by Phorum
Learn Chinese! - integrated forum quiz

Hi,

Like other webmaster, I also think that it is desirable to let "anonymous" or non-registered user post in a forum. However, we all know that spamers are usually non registered user.

So is it possible to make the CAPTCHA appear on non-register post form only as well as the registration form for futur register user? I will want to hide the CAPTCHA on the post form of registered user.

Is this possible to implement with your Module? If not, is there one here which does that?

Regards,

Yves

Of course. In the settings you can specify for which users the CAPTCHA should be enabled. So there you can simply say that it's only for anonymous users.

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Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce

Hi Maurice,

I'm currently translating the language file into French, and I will be happy to make it available here.

I have not yet installed the module. So I'm not certain how it will behave.

Question about this variable:
"CaptchaSpoken" => "Listen to this code in spoken form.",

I supposed this is English only spoken word right? If so, I will translate accordingly. Let me know.

Thanks,

Yves

The spoken text is in English, since that is what the speech generator produces. I tried to have it speak out some Dutch words, but that was totally incomprehensable. So what I did in the Dutch translation is (in Dutch of course) "Listen to this code in spoken form (in English)", to make clear to the user that the spoken captcha is in English.

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Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce

OK thanks,

That is what I expected.

Attach is my french version of the Lang file.

Regards,

Yves

PS: Please use this file instead. I omited some code in the original...

mmakaay: The language file is now part of the package, so I deleted it from this message.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2007 07:41AM by mmakaay.