Registering for This Forum Itself

[userwhoforums]

Do you guys realize that the spambot prevention question given when trying to Register for this forum --- and yes, there is only one question, one unavoidable question --- is the most obscure phpBB trivia question ever...

And the "clue" given, is a broken link....?

I had to google, and read, and google, and research.... for quite a while... before finally one of my guesses turned out to be correct.

Is this intended to be an elitist forum or something?

If not, why not try some more intelligent questions, like....

What is the name of the second-largest moon of Saturn?

Or better yet....

What are the first three characters and last two characters of this string: 7A2BJds4i

Or....

What are the capital letters in this string: fPrpwH5e97egp5P7r

And most importantly, provide half a dozen different questions.... so that if one is unanswerable for some reason, a human being still has a chance of being able to register here...

[DavidIQ]

There are 3 questions:

1. What is the codename for phpBB 3.1? (Asc.....) See viewforum.php?f=84
2. What is the codename for phpBB 3.2? (Ar...) See viewtopic.php?f=99&t=36285&p=219561 at the end of the post
3. What is the codename for phpBB 4? (R...) See viewforum.php?f=115

Don't know which of the three you got but, as you can see, all three links work and provide the exact answer the questions are looking for. Not sure what's so "elitist" about that.

[userwhoforums]

Ok. Call me stupid if you like, but those links take me to a forum -- not to an answer to that question.

The only way I would know that Rhea was the code name would be if I ALREADY knew that. I look at it now and I see it in the title of that forum, but to the person off the street, you must agree, it's not an obvious question or answer.

When I submitted the form with no answer, I think I was given the same (Rhea) question again.

Anyway, why not use a more generic, general knowledge, question...?

[brunoais]

Since January this year, you are the first to rant (I know) against the QA captcha in this area51 BB.

When I tried to answer it I found the question quite easy to answer for a human. I got the Rhea one. I just went to the board index and copy/paste the name. All set. I don't really get what's the problem.

[userwhoforums]

"You're the first one to complain." is never a valid argument... in any context.

Only 1 out of 1000 people would take the time to bring it to anyone's attention.

I'm ballsy. I'm always the first one to bring things to people's attention -- even if the problem has existed for years and no one ever took the time to bring it up.

Not to mention, those who were unable to get past it.... probably aren't able to post a message about it either.

The proper response would be to fix it.

Or at the very least, do a usability study.

Sit the old lady from across the street down and ask her to try to register at this forum -- with no help.

See if she can figure out the code name for a specific version of this software.

If she can't, then it's excluding some people.

And if that's not your intention, then it's a problem.

[DavidIQ]

It's hard to cater to everyone on this. You bring up the example of the old lady from across the street sitting down in front of the computer and having an issue with what we currently have but she'd most likely have an issue with this as well:

What are the capital letters in this string: fPrpwH5e97egp5P7r

Then there are people that will have problems reading a standard issue CAPTCHA. Even though usability is kept in mind, the spammers are the bigger issue really. Making things too easy will most definitely not stop them.

[userwhoforums]

The old lady across the street from me can most certainly pick out the Capital letters. She can beat me at crossword puzzles too.

Obviously, the goal is to keep spambots out WITHOUT keeping humans out.

One question on my forum, for example: Complete this common phrase: "straight, bi, or _____."

It even passes the old lady test.

[brunoais]

^
Honestly... I don't know the answer, yet.

[userwhoforums]

You mean you don't know the answer to the example question I mentioned....? ( hint: https://www.google.com/search?&q=straight%2C+bi%2C+or )

Though I did read somewhere that these questions and answers should not be google-able... or that can be defeated by the bots....?

[DionDesigns]

Sit the old lady from across the street down and ask her to try to register at this forum -- with no help.

See if she can figure out the code name for a specific version of this software.

If she can't, then it's excluding some people.

Note the site description above: phpBB's testing ground of bleeding edge code

The old lady across the street would never have a use for this forum, so her input would be irrelevant.

A person who cannot answer the Q&A questions here is most likely a spammer or in the wrong place. In fact, I suspect the vast majority of prospective non-spammer members know the answers without having to click on the links.