So I've been dealing with a rash of spam accounts registering for my Annie forum. I think the spam bots have been signing up for at least a month now, but I was too busy with school (and too disinterested 
) to give it any attention.
Now that school's over, I've had time to go through and delete all of those spam accounts. I set new registrations to require my approval, but I was getting at least three spam accounts signing up each day for the past couple of days.
So, I looked on PHPBB.com for anti-spam mods. I found a great one: textual confirmation. All it does is add an extra field to the registration form that asks new registrants a random question from a list I define. I made some really easy questions, like pick a number from 1 through 9, say what month it is, say the first letter of your first name, etc. (any valid answer will be accepted). Hopefully spam bots are too dumb to deal with that. I haven't had any new sign-ups since I installed the mod, so so far so good.
I invite you all to join the forum, by the way. Annie hasn't been too active lately, so the forum is basically just for fun, frivolous posts now. I've been posting and posting and posting, and occasionally Redbeard3 will pop in and reply. I can hear the crickets chirping every time I visit my forum.
If you try to sign up and have problems with that random question, let me know ASAP so I can fix it.
In other news, I LOVE AKARI!!
Akari is a puzzle I've been playing on Nikoli.com and I love it. You have a grid, and you can set up "lightbulbs" around it. A lightbulb sends light horizontally and vertically in both directions. So like this:
There are black squares around the grid that block light. Some of these black squares have numbers in them, from 0 through 4. If a block has 0 in it, that means there can be no lightbulb touching it horizontally or vertically (but there can be some diagonally). If a block says 1, there will be one lightbulb touching it. A block that says 4 will have lightbulbs on all sides.
You can't have a lightbulb in the path of another lightbulb (i.e. a bulb can't be illuminated by another bulb). You can have lightbulbs that are not touching a numbered block. You have to light up the entire grid by figuring out where the lightbulbs go around the grid. There is only one correct solution to each puzzle.
Here's a flash tutorial in case my description wasn't clear enough (but be warned; it's pretty poorly translated from Japanese). Then play some sample problems!
It's SO FUN!! I am making an Akari engine with JavaScript so I can put it up on my web site for people to play. Ideally I can make an Akari solver, so I can eventually make a random Akari generator! I have never successfully made a puzzle-solving algorithm before. It's a goal of mine!
Happy holidays!
) to give it any attention.
Now that school's over, I've had time to go through and delete all of those spam accounts. I set new registrations to require my approval, but I was getting at least three spam accounts signing up each day for the past couple of days.
So, I looked on PHPBB.com for anti-spam mods. I found a great one: textual confirmation. All it does is add an extra field to the registration form that asks new registrants a random question from a list I define. I made some really easy questions, like pick a number from 1 through 9, say what month it is, say the first letter of your first name, etc. (any valid answer will be accepted). Hopefully spam bots are too dumb to deal with that. I haven't had any new sign-ups since I installed the mod, so so far so good.
I invite you all to join the forum, by the way. Annie hasn't been too active lately, so the forum is basically just for fun, frivolous posts now. I've been posting and posting and posting, and occasionally Redbeard3 will pop in and reply. I can hear the crickets chirping every time I visit my forum.
If you try to sign up and have problems with that random question, let me know ASAP so I can fix it.
In other news, I LOVE AKARI!!
Akari is a puzzle I've been playing on Nikoli.com and I love it. You have a grid, and you can set up "lightbulbs" around it. A lightbulb sends light horizontally and vertically in both directions. So like this:
#
#
###O###
#
#
There are black squares around the grid that block light. Some of these black squares have numbers in them, from 0 through 4. If a block has 0 in it, that means there can be no lightbulb touching it horizontally or vertically (but there can be some diagonally). If a block says 1, there will be one lightbulb touching it. A block that says 4 will have lightbulbs on all sides.
You can't have a lightbulb in the path of another lightbulb (i.e. a bulb can't be illuminated by another bulb). You can have lightbulbs that are not touching a numbered block. You have to light up the entire grid by figuring out where the lightbulbs go around the grid. There is only one correct solution to each puzzle.
Here's a flash tutorial in case my description wasn't clear enough (but be warned; it's pretty poorly translated from Japanese). Then play some sample problems!
It's SO FUN!! I am making an Akari engine with JavaScript so I can put it up on my web site for people to play. Ideally I can make an Akari solver, so I can eventually make a random Akari generator! I have never successfully made a puzzle-solving algorithm before. It's a goal of mine!
Happy holidays!
cheech:
I'll register for that forum some time.... I think I'm dillying around a bit too much online today!