Cruiser Command

So, we've had some problems in the last couple of weeks with registration and spam. I would like to post an explanation to why this is happening and ask for some advice on how to proceed from here.

Basically, we have a phpbb3 forum running version 3.0.11 and we have a style called clanzdarkness3 that is made for phpbb3 v3.0.4. This means that our style is lacking certain things. You probably haven't noticed the difference, but there's one feature I miss. Q&A captcha.

Q&A captcha is a spambot countermeasure that allows you to have questions instead of images. This would allow me to put Cruiser Command specific questions like: "Name a mining ship in Cruiser Command", which would be pretty hard to answer even for a human (who haven't played Cruiser Command).

So to elaborate, Q&A captcha is supported by the current forum we're using but not by the style, this is why people were having trouble registering. I had enabled Q&A registration and the style didn't support it so it just showed a non-existent image, expecting the user to enter the code on it.

So what do we do? There are a couple of ways to approach this:

* Ignore it and allow spam. However spam might increase to unbearable levels in the future.
* Set the default style to prosilver which supports Q&A captcha. This means that you'll see a boring white style before you log in but when you log in, it'll show the current one. This way, guest users who register will see the white style when registering which will allow them to see the Q&A captcha. I really dislike the white style though, so I also dislike this idea.
* Change the registration method to reduce spam, adding some kind of admin activation of accounts. This would obviously be bad since it requires me to activate accounts of people who wants to play.
* Get the captcha to work with our style by updating the style. This is hard since the guy who made it stopped updating it in 2009. I've tried to update it manually, but I failed. If someone has experience with this kind of thing, contact me and maybe we can work it out.
* Change the style to something else. However, I am starting to really like this style and all the other ones I found look bad imo. If you think this is a good idea, try finding a good style supported by phpbb v3.0.6+ (higher is preferable).

If changing the forum to the type which allows your Q&A is too problematic to some members i would suggest having the admin approval enabled with a few carefully selected forum moderators who have the power to also perform such things.

Tempest wrote:If changing the forum to the type which allows your Q&A is too problematic to some members i would suggest having the admin approval enabled with a few carefully selected forum moderators who have the power to also perform such things.

This could be a solution. We are a small community anyway and we pretty much know everyone...

all big online games i have played have had forums, all of those forums have had moderators with the powers discussed above, it makes things a little more complicated and yeah it would be easier just to change the style so that Q&A is available. but regardless for the sake of everything not falling onto your shoulders insomni, you could provide a few trustworthy folks the power to do whatever is needed around here.

I'm also in favor of the 'split workload' idea.

Splitting the workload is not something I am against, but everything that can be automatized should be. I know nothing about the possibilities of the sign-in page, so if these ideas have no merit, just discard them.

Is there a way to have a third entry box below password? You could have a static CC specific question there.

Is there a way to make the non-existent image static, figure out what it is, and then just post this information along with the forum address on the loading screen?

Is there a way to have a third entry box below password? You could have a static CC specific question there.

This is what we are tring to implement over and over again





Is there a way to make the non-existent image static, figure out what it is, and then just post this information along with the forum address on the loading screen?


Our current problem is the question not appearing. We could post the question on the loading screen I guess "To register on the forum, enter Cruiser Potato in the last empty box"

I already noticed the russian spam.

spam spam

The problem with admin approval is that I dont see anything other than their username. Most of the spamming account change their age, country, interest and other field before they post, but that can take days. They dont post immediately so I cant know if it's a legit user or a spammer until it's too late, even if I have admin approval.

I'm all for some global moderators and I might add that in the future, but it's not the best solution because the spam can still be a big problem.

Um.. This Siretu guy has been spamming our forums.. Can we do something about him? I mean this post shows him spamming every single thread
http://cruisercommand.com/forum/viewtop ... f=14&t=447