Author

Message

Jeremy Reimer

Posts: 9350

Posted on: 2012-03-05 14:08:25.000

I was going to do this when I first released Monarch, but it seemed hard so I didn’t actually get around to doing it.

Until now.

To prevent spammers that can read even the most twisted words and phrases, I’ve implemented my own version of Kitten Captcha, something I wrote about on Ars way back in 2006 here:
http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/04/6554.ars

Well, I’ve finally done it. The system displays a bunch of random pictures and a new user has to select all the pictures that are in fact cats. The file names are all randomized so that a spambot can’t just guess what they are, and you have to pick only three out of the ten images so you can’t just select everything.

I deleted all the spam accounts that OSY 3.0 had accumulated (about 30 of them!) and so we’ll see how this new system works. I hope it both discourages bots and encourages new users due to its being cute and cuddly.

Here’s a screenshot of the page in action:

Blendo

Posts: 2

Posted on: 2012-03-06 17:53:45.000

Seems to work, how about entomological references between different classes, that would keep the slow and clumsy from climbing on board Admiral.

B

Jeremy Reimer

Posts: 9350

Posted on: 2012-03-07 11:50:37.000

I can always tweak it later with different types of pictures if I want. For now all I care about is keeping spambots out. If the kittens can Hold The Line against the robots, that's all I ask of them.

AllYorBaseRBelong2Us

Posts: 10469

Posted on: 2012-03-19 19:21:40.000

This is indubitably a cat:



:cheesy: HA! HA! HA!

:sailormoon: