OSDev.org

I think I got a good idea that will solve both the spam and the registration of non-qualified members problems. I suggest that, when anyone clicks the link, Register, and after they confirm their age, have the page redirect them to a test. If they pass the test they are forwarded to the registration form to complete their registration, else they are sent away. This would also prevent bots from joining, and even if the spammers do try to join by hand they probably wont be able to pass the test. Just make sure you don't reveal the answers and include a few fill in the blank questions to prevent passing due to the process of elimination. Random order/questions would be wise. Good ideal?

No point, the amount of spam has dropped recently.

Or the amount of mods online has gone up.

[ot]Gratz on 2200, James![/ot]

Although, maybe we should make a test, so that new members have an idea of what is needed to understand people on these forums. You could say something like if you can't figure out more than 3/4 of these problems, you're not ready to OS dev. It wouldn't be enforced, just published as reference. I think one of the problems is that some new users think they can write an OS after being able to write a calculator in VB - this could help to quench their egos.

I cant solve 3/4 of these problems

Talking about Advanced Textual Confirmation?

That stuff is really, really annoying.

steveklabnik wrote:Talking about Advanced Textual Confirmation?

That stuff is really, really annoying.

Ahem:

http://bbantispam.com/atc/ wrote:It is a smart textual CAPTCHA, which challenges site visitors only once, and then disappears.

...

* User-friendly.
— Your visitors aren't irritated by the protection.

http://bbantispam.com/atc/ wrote:
It is a smart textual CAPTCHA, which challenges site visitors only once, and then disappears.

...

* User-friendly.
— Your visitors aren't irritated by the protection.

That is quite a claim. And a bit unfounded. I agree with Steve. But then again, CAPTCHA will always annoy me.

I would much rather answer a quick easy question then try to figure out if the letter I'm looking at is an 1, l, n h, o, 0 and so on.

I think you should have a little piece of text or something for people to read(which is programming oriented, but you don't have to have created a kernel before to answer it) and ask a simple question or two about it. As this can stop the foreign "I read GCC. no help my screen black" crap... if you wanna join this forum at least learn enough english to understand what we try to tell you! Also this sorts out the people who are too "eager" to ask their question than to read what is already written.

and yes! capthas are really annoying.. I usually must try 2 or 3 times are them because the way they make the letters is so ambiguous..

As this can stop the foreign "I read GCC. no help my screen black" crap... if you wanna join this forum at least learn enough english to understand what we try to tell you!

This statement reminds me of a joke that's kind of floating around the world:

What do you call someone who speaks three languages?

Answer: Trilingual

What do you call someone who speaks two languages?

Answer: Bilingual

What do you call someone who speaks only one language?

Answer: American

This forum has people from all over the world, but we still use english pretty exclusively here. If everyone used their native language, it would be completely impractical to have everyone help everyone else. It's not my fault that english is the lingua franca of the software world.

NickJohnson wrote:This forum has people from all over the world, but we still use english pretty exclusively here. If everyone used their native language, it would be completely impractical to have everyone help everyone else. It's not my fault that english is the lingua franca of the software world.

agreed lol.. and I speak enough spanish to maybe not get killed in a hostage situation rofl

but really.. it's very similar to how C or ASM is the main language used, and x86 is the only arch. used and the PC is the only system used..

it just happens..

I think the reason it ends up happening is that standards in communication are self-stabilizing, regardless of the medium. If more people use one platform, like speaking English, using C, or having PCs, they attract more to do the same. Unless there is a deficiency in the platform for a certain task, things usually pool in one place and stay there. But innovation and diversity in implementation is also very good, because then you get the best possible tools to manipulate the platform. The platforms also benefit, because they are forced to adapt to the improving implementation, or become obsolete. That's what can cause shifts from one platform to another. I think it's called the network effect.

Hopefully there has already been a drop in spam since I added an extra question during registration. I considered a bunch of things for the registration question but opted for a simple binary conversion question. Figured it keeps out the spam bots and the people that haven't heard of binary. I don't want a full blown test but if you guys want to try to come up with a better question I don't mind. There is no question rotation in the phpBB mod. The question can't be to hard (we were all beginners once). I also toyed around with the idea of the question being a link to the wiki where the person trying to register has to find some piece of information in the wiki.