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Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:39 am
by smjjames
I'm just saying that the question asking which characters have been to hell is a bit ambiguous and there are multiple ways to answer that question, whether it's word order or what. I tried Tempts Fate, Complains, and Biscuit. If you think about it, there may also be Dies Horribly, Grinnorarcen, and that demoness from the dark orb dungeon in the list.

Just stating my opinion on that particular question and it did say invalid answer and gave me a less ambiguous question.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 11:38 am
by SGTdude
its not just the question.

I mean, Who has the biggest ears between chief, complains and big ears.

its NOT big ears? And if it is then I tried it a couple times and could not get it to accept my answer. This was done when I forgot my password so maybe its different. Just wanted to add my observation for info.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:18 pm
by PaintsTurtles
I also found the Hell question a bit confusing. Perhaps something with a more clearly-defined answer would help.

Example questions:

What color is Complains' IME? (Purple)
Fumbles took a feat upon hitting level 2. What was it? (Dodge)
What class is Big Ears? (Paladin)
The chieftess of the Viper clan is trying to replace her lost what? (Wing)
What magic item did Foregath find at the goblin warcamp? (Anymug)
What was engraved on MinMax's belt buckle? (I Am Great)

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:10 pm
by smjjames
My point is that the 'name the three characters that have been to hell' is ambiguous because well, do you include Tempts Fate? Do you include denziens of hell? There are more than three characters that could fit that question.

Also, if there are three characters, people could put the right characters, but in a different order than the exact answer you're supposed to type.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 7:32 pm
by SeeAMoose
Okay, so I didn't put together the questions, but I will see what I can do to change them. If you all can think of some other questions, please let me know.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 5:48 pm
by smjjames
I didn't see all of the questions, just that one (and I wasn't really sure what the answer was anyway) and the big ears one. Something with three answers is going to run into some people getting it wrong even if they put the right ones in just because they were written in a different order.

Also, for the one about ears, I did Big Ears and it was fine, might have been case sensitive.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 3:48 am
by Krulle
It would be nice to see a list, but then spam bots may be able to access it and then the purpose is lost...

Minmax's sword, which he created, has been named...?
Forgath's loot from the MoM has been named...?

Hammace and Oblivious,if I remember correctly....

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 7:54 am
by Zathyr
I'd avoid the hammace question - it was said once by Kin and it's pretty easily forgotten. The questions should ideally be easily answered by anyone who reads the comic without having to research or look up the answer. Similarly, IME questions may seem obvious to us but plenty of people come onto the forums and don't know what an IME is even though it was explained in the comic at one point.

Simple questions, like:
Who is Complains of Names' father?
What race is Forgath?
What does Forgath's helmet say?

Just avoid yes/no questions or questions that literally contain the answer.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:00 am
by WearsHats
Just remember that a lot of D&D players will be inclined to spell Thaco with a 0.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:46 am
by thinkslogically
I've seen it before where a question appears in text but gives you the answer below in an image (like a captcha really). Can we do that? Or just use a regular captcha?

Also, is it case-sensitive? Cos that's also a pain.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:47 am
by SeeAMoose
Okay so in theory it shouldn't be case-sensitive. Punctuation shouldn't be a issue either, and we can include multiple possible solutions. Regarding captcha, we actually transitioned from captcha to the current anti spam questions on the last forum because the captcha proved to be ineffective. I can put together a list of our options later if people would like.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:11 pm
by Neveko
thinkslogically wrote:I've seen it before where a question appears in text but gives you the answer below in an image (like a captcha really). Can we do that? Or just use a regular captcha?

Also, is it case-sensitive? Cos that's also a pain.
Yeah. I like the idea of having the answer-character in a picture. Bots shouldn't be able to get around that, can they? I suppose that would take a little more work, though.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:25 pm
by Krulle
Google's image-to-text algorithms make less errors than the average 'Net user....
So, captcha-bots can get around that better than Humans do...
But the effort to program them to find captchas on the net and solve them and recognise what kind of forum the bot then lands on and how to proceed from there to post spam is mostly not worth the effort....

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 10:08 am
by Synch
Well this is ironic...

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:20 pm
by Krulle
I guess there was a spam post that has been removed by a mod?

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:59 pm
by M0rtimer
Yup. :roll:

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:07 pm
by prophecynine
it's hard to do a search for the answer when you have to be logged in to search. or at least that's what I assumed, since I couldn't find any searchbox. Unfortunately, I still can't. No idea what's up with that (sorry, I know it's slightly off topic, but I also can't find a post new topic button)

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 2:40 am
by Krulle
post new topic is linked to a certain minumum amount of posts....

Search, i don't know. But it's also not intended to find by search. We're assuming fans who want to register here know the comic well enough to answer the questions by heart, without searching.

Otherwise, use google with site-limitation, e.g.
"search terms site:goblinsforum.com"

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:52 am
by prophecynine
Makes sense about the minimum post limit. Still confused about the lack of search box, although I understand the google workaround.
I started to write out my thoughts on the complexity of the questions but Zathyr pretty much summed it up already.
Zathyr wrote:The questions should ideally be easily answered by anyone who reads the comic without having to research or look up the answer.
...
Simple questions, like:
What race is Forgath?

Just avoid yes/no questions or questions that literally contain the answer.
(slightly condensed)

I guess the only thing to add is that this comic is a vast rich tapestry spanning years (decades?) and in my case, although I've read it all, there are a ton of details I'm hazy on since some chapters I read years and years ago.

Re: Comment regarding the anti-bot question on registration

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 5:00 am
by Krulle
Just to make sure: I have the search box in my top-right corner of the page.
search boxes.jpg
Does the search box for within a thread appear for you?
Then you could try searching in the transcriptions thread for specific passages in the comic.


Also, if the search box is not available, can you access the search through this direct link: http://www.goblinsforum.com/search.php ?

[edit](Well, you now have three posts, and IIRC some restrictions are lifted with your third post already.)[/edit]

[edit] Also, this discussion is now irrelevant for you, as you've already successfully passed the initial anti-spam bot questions, obviously. [/edit]