I don't know if this will help stem the avalanche of spam but ...

[7/4]

I saw that spam. Did the link go anywhere? I didn't try it, but it looked like all that was there was http://

[Jim Alfredson]

Got it to work with the help of Invision Support. That should stem the tide of spammers nicely!

I'm glad you liked the idea and that they were able to help adapt it but I am afraid that your security question is far too easy, and for those who don't know it, the answer can be found pretty quickly. Maybe I'm wrong and spammer registrations will be reduced but I am not especially confident that will happen.

OTOH, I don't know what question could be asked that non-fans can't find the answer to, if they want it badly enough.

These spammers are not real people. They are scripts or bots that are programmed to find forums like these, fill out the pertinent information, and post the same message over and over again. Even having a simple question like "What animal makes a bow-wow sound?" would stem the tide, because there is no way to program a script to answer these types of questions. It would have to be a real person, and those are rare.

But I thought that the registration process was two part:

Fill in info

Get confirmation email, click on link inside.

Or does the script fill in the info, and a real person collects the confirmation emails, then registers and posts the spam?

I think I just answered my own question.

The emails get sent and a script probably scans the email for a link and goes there. All you need to do is go to the link.

If the current question doesn't seem to work, I'll change it, but it's not like we could come up with something that wouldn't take a few seconds to figure out via Google. And if we did, it would probably hinder real people from signing up.

[bertrand]

My question # 1 is not resolvable by Google, and probably not #4 either. #2 and #3 probably take you right here!

Bertrand.

[catesta]

I'm just bemused by how unerotic, even anti-erotic (at least in my view), this porn spam is. The imagination reels ways from any fantasy in which these depressingly unhappy people might be participants -- though "unhappy" is not quite the right word, or the only word that comes to mind. Maybe it's that these bodies all look so unoccupied, if you know what I mean -- like no one's home inside. Ugh.

Maybe someone could recommend some internet porn that's a little more interesting?

PM sent.

Haven't gotten it yet. The anticipation is unbearable. Or maybe that's your point.

Sorry Larry, I thought it was just 7/4 looking for recommendations.

[andybleaden]

I just suggested some questions at the end of a spam.

Here is Bertrand's post. I had to delete the thread to which he appended it because it was spamalicious:

We need to make the entrance exam harder.

Here are some possible questions:

1) Who wrote 'Jimerick' on the rejected 3/8/59 Art Blakey Blue Note session?

2) Who is the organist on Grant Green's 'Iron City'?

3) Who almost subbed for Lee Morgan on 'Evolution'?

4) Who wrote 'Off Spring' from 'Here's Lee Morgan'

I think we should go back to having one of these per day ...just to keep the shrinking grey cells a little more alert!

[7/4]

I'm just bemused by how unerotic, even anti-erotic (at least in my view), this porn spam is. The imagination reels ways from any fantasy in which these depressingly unhappy people might be participants -- though "unhappy" is not quite the right word, or the only word that comes to mind. Maybe it's that these bodies all look so unoccupied, if you know what I mean -- like no one's home inside. Ugh.

Maybe someone could recommend some internet porn that's a little more interesting?

PM sent.

Haven't gotten it yet. The anticipation is unbearable. Or maybe that's your point.

Sorry Larry, I thought it was just 7/4 looking for recommendations.

No, that's OK. I'm quite fine with the quality of the porn here, thank you. No complaints from me.

[Jim Alfredson]

My question # 1 is not resolvable by Google, and probably not #4 either. #2 and #3 probably take you right here!

Bertrand.

Well, I don't know the answers to 1, 3, or 4. The point of the question is not to keep real people out, but spambots.

[Dan Gould]

Jim,

do you get a report from invision of registration forms that don't answer the question, or answer it with gibberish because it doesn't fit with the info they expect to see requested? It would be interesting to know how many are "kept out" by this method.

[Jim Alfredson]

I can look at the logs.