Recently, the Williams Family Tree website has been inundated with fake user account requests. As many as one a minute at times. This means that I may have missed some genuine requests while dealing with the baddies! If I have, I apologise – please register again.
I have added a simple CAPTCHA ( “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”) method that, hopefully, will solve the problem. The module was written by Rick Bisbee and the following text is from the TNG Wiki for the add-on.
“This Captcha requires users to select one of a series of images that differs from the others. There is nothing to type, so you don’t have to lay the mouse down to enter impossibly obscured words. It’s quick and efficient and most users will actually enjoy the exercise. Those already logged into the website as registered users will not be presented with the Captcha, but will be given direct access to the page.”
For administrator he mentions “The Captcha display consists of a series of ‘fill’ images which are all the same. A subtly different ‘target’ image will be arbitrarily positioned among them. You can choose from several sets of images included with the add-on, or you can use your own custom images.”
So I decided to go with a seasonal touch …
I feel this is a much better method than trying to decipher squiggly texts and numbers and I hope it reduces the spam attempts.
Phil.