388122 - Add captcha to eBay feedback form

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Webtools Graveyard :: Hendrix, defect)

Description

[Paul Kim]

There is a non-trivial amount of spam now visible at the newsgroup set up to accept eBay companion user feedback at http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.feedback.companion.ebay/topics

Can a simple captcha be added to the submission form at:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/add-ons/ebay/feedback/
http://www.mozilla.com/en-GB/add-ons/ebay/feedback/
http://www.mozilla.com/de/add-ons/ebay/feedback/
http://www.mozilla.com/fr/add-ons/ebay/feedback/
to mitigate the spam posts to the newsgroup?

Steven: perhaps we can repurpose the one you built for World Firefox Day?

Comment 1

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

We can't put a captcha on the website because www.mozilla.com is all static. This would need to be done in Hendrix.

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Hendrix already does various spam IP blacklist lookups... and we have, in the past, added the odd regexp for things it misses.

We could easily do a: "What is 2 + 5?"-style static test, which would be fine unless the spammers adapted their software specifically. Image-based captcha would be rather a lot more work.

Gerv

Comment 3

[Paul Kim]

I think it's worth adding a static test at the minimum. In skimming the first few pages of results at the newsgroup, about half the entries now are link spam posts.

Comment 4

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc]

I have been using the "What is 2 + 5?" on my blog and a couple of other projects like the Firefox 2 party subscription form and it cut down spam drastically, it would have to be localized if we choose this solution. Image based captchas are bad for accessibility, blind people can't use them, so I'd prefer us using the text solution. Note that calculation questions can be answered in text or numbers (7 / seven), text answers would have to be translated as well.

Comment 5

[Paul Kim]

Gerv: who can add the static test to Hendrix?

Comment 6

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

I can; I maintain Hendrix.

Gerv

Comment 7

[David Rolnitzky]

Awesome -- how long will it take to get this up and running?

Comment 8

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Simple CAPTCHA support checked in. If a form field "captcha" is present, then it must have the value "7" for the form to be accepted. I've added "What is 5 + 2?" to the standard template; feel free to invent your own questions for other versions of the form which are lying around the place.

Now hendrix.mozilla.org needs CVS-updating. Over to justdave.

Checking in index.cgi;
/cvsroot/mozilla/webtools/hendrix/index.cgi,v  <--  index.cgi
new revision: 1.16; previous revision: 1.15
done
Checking in template/error.html.tmpl;
/cvsroot/mozilla/webtools/hendrix/template/error.html.tmpl,v  <--  error.html.tmpl
new revision: 1.6; previous revision: 1.5
done
Checking in template/index.html.tmpl;
/cvsroot/mozilla/webtools/hendrix/template/index.html.tmpl,v  <--  index.html.tmpl
new revision: 1.21; previous revision: 1.20
done

Gerv

Comment 9

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

justdave is on vacation, but I can help with this.

Comment 10

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

hendrix.mozilla.org has been updated. Back to gerv to confirm and close.

Comment 11

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This now works on http://hendrix.mozilla.org/ . If pkim and others want it on the various other forms they have dotted around the place, they need to update them. :-)

Gerv

Comment 12

[Paul Kim]

Great. David: can you work with Steven to get this added to the eBay forms? 

Comment 13

[David Rolnitzky]

Gerv -- Is there some form code that Steven can use to implement this functionality?

Comment 14

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

David: Check http://hendrix.mozilla.org for an example. It's literally a couple of lines of code; I'm sure Steven can work it out :-)

Gerv

Comment 15

[Steven Garrity [:sgarrity]]

Gerv - I didn't realize we were just submitting this form to hendrix, so I assumed implementation would be more complex. I've added this form in trunk.

David: we need this "What is 5 + 2?:" field label translated into DE and FR.

Comment 16

[David Rolnitzky]

Translations as follows:

FR:
"Combien font 5+2?"

DE:
Was ergibt: 5+2?"

Answer = 7

Comment 17

[Steven Garrity [:sgarrity]]

Thanks. These changes are now tagged for production in revision 5232.

Comment 18

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Pushed live by bug 389711.