Spam bots join in bulk and post within seconds. With CAPTCHAs on, everyone who joins stays muted until they pass a small test, so bots never get a word in.
Four kinds of test#
button: tap a button under the welcome message. Quick and painless.math: solve a sum shown in a picture and pick the answer.text: read the characters in a picture and pick the match.text2: read the picture and type each character on a keypad. The hardest for bots.
The picture tests happen in Marina's private chat, with three tries.
What happens to people who don't solve it#
By default they simply stay muted. Set /captchamutetime to unmute them after a while anyway, or turn on /captchakick to remove them when time runs out (five minutes unless you change /captchakicktime).
Join requests#
In groups that approve join requests, the CAPTCHA arrives in private. Solving it approves the request; running out of time declines it.
Commands#
Admins
/captcha <on/off>
Turns CAPTCHAs on or off. Also /welcomemute.
/captchamode <mode>
button, math, text or text2./captcharules <on/off>
Newcomers must also accept the rules before they can talk.
/captchamutetime <time/off>
Unmute unsolved members after this long. Also /captchatime.
/captchakick <on/off>
Kick members who don't solve it in time.
/captchakicktime <time>
How long they get before the kick. Default 5 minutes, at most a day.
/recaptcha <on/off>
Test everyone who joins, even people who passed here before.
/setcaptchatext <text>
Changes the text on the CAPTCHA button.
/resetcaptchatext
Back to the default button text.
Examples#
/captcha on
Start checking newcomers.
/captchamode math
A sum instead of a button.
/captchakicktime 10m
Ten minutes before the kick.
Good to know#
- CAPTCHAs ride on the welcome message, so turning welcomes off pauses them.
- Admins, bots, approved members and people who passed before skip the test.
- After a restart nobody is kicked for two minutes, so answers sent while Marina was offline still count.
- Marina needs Ban users, plus Invite users for join requests. A CAPTCHA never lifts a mute an admin set.