The primary reason that I don't care for installing a lot of mods is that it takes a lot of time up front and then also locks you into ever upgrading the version of phpBB that you run unless you want to take the time to do it again to every modified file. I'd prefer one comprehensive, bolt-on mod.
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Delaying posting for one hour is a bad idea. First, it would discourage humans from posting here (forums that someone can't post to quickly is a forum that someone won't bother coming back to). Also, I do believe that the vast majority of spambot software doesn't post for an extended period. They register, activate up to a day later, and then post after that.
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Sako, I already have a visual authentication method, but as RedneckNoob pointed out there is software available to actually read the contents of those images. Many spambot packages include this function. It has to be optimized for a particular
CAPTCHA generator to be highly successful, but that isn't a problem. Since most online forums are either phpBB (common free one) or vBulletin (common commercial one), most bots have decoding engines built specifically for those CAPTCHAs. Also on the rise is the use of actual people to answer the CAPTCHA in parts of the world where people will work for pennies.
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A programmer's attitude? Perhaps. We like control over our projects.
