Over the last year, I have had significant issues with spam on the phpBB3 forums that I administer. The recent blog post over at the phpBB site confirmed two things I already suspected: first that I am not alone in my spam problem and second that there is no easy way to replace the default captcha to prevent this spam. Upcoming version 3.0.6 of phpBB aims to solve both of these problems by providing a multi-purpose API to interface with any challenge-response including but no longer limited to captchas. For anyone using an earlier release of phpBB3, here is how I was able to get reCAPTCHA working. This completely eliminated the spam problem on my forums.

1. Register reCAPTCHA keys for your forum domain at http://recaptcha.net/.
2. Install bzr, Bazaar version control.
3. get phpbb3-recaptcha experimental branch. (bzr branch lp:phpbb3-recaptcha)
4. In a web broswer, browse to the phpbb3-recaptcha folder and open info.xml. A page will open with patch instructions. Follow the instructions, including for the language and style files. I found using rsync locally was helpful when copying the mod files to my phpBB installation instead of copying each file one by one.
5. Browse to the /install/index.php page of your forum in a web browser, click on the recaptcha tab and click install. Then, go to the admin control panel and click on reCAPTCHA under Board Configuration. Here you need to input your public and private reCAPTCHA keys you obtained in step 1. Enable reCAPTCHA and click save. New users will now need to solve a reCAPTCHA to register on your forum.

Note for phpBB 3.0.5

I found I had to modify the patch instructions slightly for version 3.0.5 of phpBB. In file /includes/ucp/ucp_register.php the code

‘confirm_code’ => (($config['recaptcha']) ? array(’string’, false, 0, 100) : array(’string’, !$config['enable_confirm'], 5, 8)),

should instead be

‘confirm_code’ => (($config['recaptcha']) ? array(’string’, false, 0, 100) : array(’string’, !$config['enable_confirm'], CAPTCHA_MIN_CHARS, CAPTCHA_MAX_CHARS)),

How-To's phpbb, phpBB3, recaptcha

Tuesday – I couldn’t find my wallet and cell phone in my work pants. I had draped them over the side of the baby crib which I sometimes do before I hang them up. After a quick look around the apartment, I called my phone. I found that Natalie had stolen it out of its pocket!

Thursday – Natalie can now crawl slowly…backward. It was really frustrating for her to try to crawl to mommy and daddy only to keep scooting further and further away.

Also on Tuesday, Tally and I dressed up and headed to The W Hotel which was hosting a free cocktail event hosted by (rī)1 whiskey. We didn’t know anyone there of course but I loved the free drinks and food. As it was an invite-only event, I also had a perverse pleasure in being “on the list.” That probably sounds childish but I had fun feeling special for a night.

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I am now a quarter century old. Before I know it, I’ll be 30 and life will be basically over! I’m kidding, I know I’m still young but hitting a milestone like this definitely makes me think about how I got to where I am and wonder about what lies ahead. On Wednesday, Tally, Natalie, me and some friends spent the evening at The Happy Gnome. It was great to see everyone and I think they enjoyed getting to hold Natalie. On Saturday, a few of us headed to the warehouse district for some dancing. Overall, it was a busy but fun week. My thanks go out to my sweetheart Tally who planned it all (although I am bummed I never saw my balloon .

Natalie’s little personality is starting to show more every day. Some firsts of the last few weeks is that she got her first tooth and went swimming at the pool. She has a baby walker both at our apartment and at my parents and she loves pushing herself around in them. This coming Wednesday, she’ll be 8 months old.

Daily Journal, Natalie