2 + 2 = 5 | Quadropolis

Chasester_aka_you | 2010-08-10 18:43

2 + 2 = 5

One day i log on and im posting comments as usual, you know bashing and completely ripping peoples maps. And i click the post button: IT DOES NOT Post. So of course I tried it again and again, and at the point I was about to throw the computer out the window; i see this red highlighted box that asked me 2 + 2. Like seriously! So i think back to my preschool days and i answer the bloody stupid question. I realized later reading through post that some idiot used a bot to post a stupid post advertising some lame brain thing about the ps3.

So my question: IS EVERYONE AS ANNOYED AS I AM ABOUT THE STUPID, ARE YOU A DUMMY TEST QUESTION?

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skiingpenguins | 2010-08-10 18:53

would you rather it be a captcha thingy? that could be enabled also :)

MisanthropX | 2010-08-11 16:57

Please Find all the Letters in this Image which have a Cat behind it, if it smiles you need to multiply the ASCII value with the Hex Value of the Panel with the Dogs, the result you divide through the number of cats and vigintisexpunctatas you can see on the picture.. > perfect captcha :D

Suicizer | 2010-08-11 21:07

the image with letters sounds as a very bad idea for me, because i always got problems with those, especially the ones on quadropolis (as they are when creating an account). i never had any problem with reading letters, its just that the system hates me or something :S.

Suicizer | 2010-08-10 18:53

yes its pretty annoying the math questions, especially if it isnt working (like your telling here)...

Chasm | 2010-08-10 19:16

Another possibility is that somebody manually put that advertisement in the comment box after answering the question.

skiingpenguins | 2010-08-10 19:56

who has the time to put advertisements on over 180 quadropolis nodes by hand? :P

RaZgRiZ | 2010-08-10 19:58

not to mention the fact that edits still require a math answer before continuing

RaZgRiZ | 2010-08-10 19:57

The captcha would not always work, as i witnessed myself after a desperate try to post a comment a while back while the spambot was still active. So this little math system the cubeengine forums use is also applied here just in case. It's not asking anything hard anyway, its simple math.

skiingpenguins | 2010-08-10 20:03

the math question is too easy to circumvent. all someone has to do is parse the question and do the math with a bot -.-

SheeEttin | 2010-08-11 06:46

Most spammers just look for open systems like Quadropolis had, where all you had to do was register and post. Merely adding this challenge stops most of them, as they'd have to tailor their program to respond to this challenge, which is way too much effort for just one site. Spammers make their money on volume. ;)

That said, any chance this challenge could be skipped for, say, accounts older than one week (and maybe have active posts)? I know I find it annoying. (At least it could be moved to below the comment box, where it would be more logically placed...)

Mysterious | 2010-08-11 07:52

i like these math questions because they beware us of the spammers quadropolis invaded 2 weeks ago.
Maybe some guys find this annoying , but you just have to put a little number into a line.
In my opinion it´s okay.

Calinou | 2010-08-11 09:36

I find the math question funny when you don't forget :P
"Bot can parse the question and do the math". May we invalide that ? (eg, replacing + by a "plus")

skiingpenguins | 2010-08-11 13:29

no, for you could still write a bot that interpreted and translated plus to + and minus/subtract to -

skiingpenguins | 2010-08-11 13:35

I think a math question embedded in a captcha image sort of thing would work very well.. it'd even weed out stupid people who want to type the question instead of the answer

Windecker | 2010-08-11 15:09

1 + 4 = 5

That is a great idea. I think it would prove quite effective.

Chasm | 2010-08-11 19:12

What about asking questions like:
Q: "What relation is your uncle's son?"
A: "Cousin"

Those are much harder to write an automated script for, although there are a limited number of questions of that sort.

Windecker | 2010-08-11 19:29

Yet another idea that offers good bot protection. :]

What I think would solve the issue is to force captchas or equations only for users that are new. After a set period, ( A week ) the amount would be one per five posts. or some other arbitrary quantity
Alternatively, they could be shown if a user is making many posts withing a short period of time, ~~or making more than one post containing identical or very similar text.~~

Blarget2 | 2010-08-13 03:43

honestly, thats a good idea. espicaly spam protection (serton amount of post in a time period).

Chasm | 2010-08-12 20:00

Yeah a time period during which captchas appear for new users is a good plan.

Then to really throw them off, the captcha appearances interval could be randomized.
If a randomizer were used to figure out whether a captcha will be required for the next post that boolean should be stored in the users account data (better than doing the randomized captcha at post time so, they can't just try posting on another thread to get around it).

But randomizing it's appearance time isn't necessary if the captcha is good enough the bot can't figure it out.

Calinou | 2010-08-13 09:15

Bots can read Captcha with OCR.
If the Captcha is very hard, they won't use a bot. They can hire pepole.. :S

BlikjeBier | 2010-08-14 06:10

Its basically a new form of goldfarming, it pays to hire Chinese or Indonesians (or people from several other countries) for your spamming purposes.

Chasester_aka_you | 2010-08-16 20:03

or a bot :)they are free :)

Suicizer | 2010-08-16 22:14

depends if you make the bot by your own, or let someone make it for you :P.

BlikjeBier | 2010-08-16 22:23

But ever more difficult Captcha's making it more difficult for bots to gain access. If Alan Turing was still alive (he would have been 98 years old) these days than he would loved this situation.

The Ultimate Turing test, a computer program trying to convince the other side that they are human whereas the other computer program has to figure if that is a human or a computer program.

And goldfarmers are cheap and can do more than just trying to gain access to forums and such.

Chasester_aka_you | 2010-08-13 11:25

0.0

20 posts in 2 days :)

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