reCAPTCHA - Anti Spam - Comments, Registration, ecards, Report and Login

[Joe Carver]

reCAPTCHA for Coppermine v2.6 - Stop gallery spam.

reCAPTCHA is a popular and powerful system to stop spam bots. Visitors must type two words before they can submit input like Comments or Registration. Large websites like Facebook, Twitter and AVG use reCAPTCHA.
It is a free service for personal and commercial use.

Abbas Ali and B. Mossavari deserve many thanks and credit here. Their good work on the Captcha Mod. and Plugin is what this plugin is based on. SaWey gets credit here for the installation code. Recaptcha in Coppermine is based on my mods. posted earlier this year.

       ====================================================

Ver 2.5 features

• Captchas are hidden until called by visitor/user
• Image Display page has "clean" look
• Easy to install through Plugin Manager - Click + Go!
• reCAPTCHA key + domain registration through plugin config. page
• ecard preview does not need captcha solving
• 8 Language selections for reCAPTCHA
• 4 reCAPTCHA theme/color selections by configuration file
• "User friendly" captcha error handling - user input is preserved in form fields
• Error and button text done with plugin lang. files

       ====================================================

   To install:

   1) Download  cpg1.4.x_plugin_recaptcha_v2.6.zip  to your computer

   2) Login go to plugin manager and uninstall Captcha 3.0 if you have it

   3) Use plugin manager to Browse - Upload - Install    cpg1.4.x_plugin_recaptcha_v2.5.zip

   4) Get your keys if you don't have the recaptcha keys yet click "Sign Up" to open a new window
   where you can sign up/register your domain. Your domain name is passed to recaptcha for easy
   signup. If you have the keys skip to 5)

   5) Copy and Paste your keys into the form (no extra spaces allowed) - press Go!

    Important note: If you have made a mistake entering your keys use Plugin manager to uninstall then reinstall with the correct keys.

   v2.6 is compatible with cpg version 1.4.26

       ====================================================

Customize For Users  - Style - Language by editing configuration file recaptcha_config.php.

Options for users include all standard Coppermine groups - Admin, Registered, Guests and groups you define.

Options to use reCAPTCHA on pages with user input: Comments, Registration, Ecards, Report and Login

       ====================================================

   To uninstall - Use Plugin Manager.   BUT if you can't log in*

   1) Use your ftp program to delete the file recaptcha_config.php. The plugin will now not run.

   2) Log in and use plugin manager to uninstall/delete the plugin (*note: recaptcha has never failed me)

       ====================================================


Examples of reCAPTCHA in Coppermine can be found on my two sites  Users Gallery | Personal Gallery

Tested with Slider, Scroller, SEF URL's, LightBox Slideshow, Brainfeeder, Facebook and my Live Hyperlinks and Comment Edit Disable plugins. (Also EnlargeIt! can use this for Registration page)

Tested with Firefox, Chrome, IE8, Opera and Safari. Reports are kindly requested.

Translations for the language files are needed. The files are now 95% populated in English with all of the fields in place. Please post any translations to this thread for addition to a next release. Thanks in advance.

This plugin uses the reCAPTCHA api to load the visual challenge. It uses a public/private key pair for security. To see how it works click here: reCAPTCHA API

Contact Us Form that uses reCAPTCHA is in the package, see readme.txt or Reply #15 below to install.

Tested to function with cpg version 1.4.26

[Edit GauGau 2010-03-05]
This plugin has been added to the subversion repository: http://coppermine.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/coppermine/branches/cpg1.4.x/plugins/

It has been updated as well to reflect the version checking routines in the plugin manager that are meant to make sure that galleries don't break because of plugins installed that aren't meant for that particular version of the gallery.

Download: https://sourceforge.net/projects/coppermine/files/Plugins/1.4.x/cpg1.4.x_plugin_recaptcha_v2.7.zip/download
[/Edit][/list]

[Joachim Müller]

Please reply to this thread with announcements for new releases instead of constantly overwriting the initial posting!

[Joe Carver]

This is a new release - apologies for the clutter!

[kyber]

Many thanks for this plugin, works like a dream. I am fed up of having to delete fake account requests and this wil reduce such requests a lot.

I used captcha for a while but found that many users had problems recognising what they were being shown and often got the entry code wrong. This included me! I have used recaptcha on other sites but had not been able to make it work myself. I tried making changes to the coppermine code more than once, but just could not crack it.

I was a little confused at first as I thought it was not working. Did not understand that I needed to click the button before the recaptcha box was displayed (it does not work for me like this on my other sites) but I eventually "clicked" - I changed the description of the button to make it, for me, a little more clear. What it the rational for not displaying the recaptcha box without a click?

Stuart

[Joe Carver]

You are very welcome. Thanks for the feedback too. If your site is available to post a link here it would be interesting to see what you have done.

As far as why is the hidden style being used, I made only short mention in the announcement so to expand a bit...

• Size occupied by the recaptcha has to be 300x150px. For many people and themes that could be called "a large amount of screen real estate"
• The "intimidation factor", especially with the 'red' style. I don't want to scare people away (just bots)
• It seems to make a cleaner looking page for those not interested in making a comment
• The Smilies table is after submit - spacing would have separated it too much
• reCAPTCHA is not loaded with the page, saving size
• The main button (show recaptcha) now serves as a second way to reload the challenge

It could be changed by (extensive) editing to codebase.php. Be careful if you do so.

Good luck with the spam bots - I'm sure you will see a difference

[Joe Carver]

New revision released.   v2.0   3  August, 2009.

Now featuring

• installation done in Plugin Manager - no mods required to run
• api and keys for domain through plugin manager - "Coppermine Photo Gallery" + domain name passed to recaptcha.net

@ Joachim Müller and/or the the devs and moderators - does this qualify for listing on the main Plugins page?

[Joachim Müller]

@Joe:
Yes. There are no pre-requsistes for being listed on that page though - your plugin would have been added anyway. The plugins page just get's updated from time to time, that's why your plugin isn't there yet. It will be there as soon as we have performed the next update of the plugin page.

Good work on making all settings configurable.

One suggestion though: there is a naming scheme for plugins available. Your current plugin file subsequently should be named cpg1.4.x_plugin_recaptcha_v2.0.zip

Cheers

[Joe Carver]

Renamed, reinstalled and retested.

Thanks for the fast reply.

[Joe Carver]

Release of version 2.1   Bug fixes

Bugs fixed

• Users could not post multiple comments to same image
• Users could not edit their comments

Both were caused by reCAPTCHA restrictions of only one captcha per page.

New version attached to first post in thread. v2.1.

To upgrade existing installations (v2.0) of this plugin:
  1) Download and unzip the new version on your computer.
  2) Replace file /plugins/recaptcha/codebase.php with the newer version
Or
1) Uninstall - Remove - Reinstall with the new version. You will need to re-enter your keys.

Users of v1.0 will also need to remove and reinstall v2.1 to upgrade.

[knight01]

Not sure if I should ask François Keller or i-imagine about this.

Is it possible to add the contact form, cpg1.4.x_plugin_contact_v1.3, to the available pages recaptcha is displayed on? The contact form currently has standard captcha.


www.bestcostumecontest.com

[Joe Carver]

You have now moved this one up higher on my to do list!
To be honest I have not yet taken a look, but will and let you know.


[edit] I already have a form with reCAPTCHA that does the same thing, send an email to the admin. It could take a few days (if I'm lucky) to add it as a plugin with the time I have now. In the worst case I could release the form with reCAPTC?HA as a mod that could be added as a custom menu link At the moment it functions well enough, but format and code wise it is a mess...give me a bit of time. Otherwise I will take another look at the contact_v1.3 plugin.[/edit]

[uvgoth]

I have been having spam even through Captcha so have installed this reCaptcha plugin. I'm pleased there's one though as I wanted to use reCaptcha anyway!

Wanted to say thankyou.

[brr]

Hello.

I have tried several times to get the plugin to work without success. I manage to install the plugin and to copy and paste public and private key. I do not get any error messages on screen and everything seems to work ok under installation.

Earlier I had CAPTCHA installed. Have uninstalled this plugin and even checked the database with phpmyadmin and cheked that this plugin has got correctly uninstalled. Everything seems ok. I have also tried to uninstall other plugins and only running with reCAPTCHA without success.

When a guest visited the gallery he / she does not get up the visual image with the letters he / she shall copy / write to post a comment. You don't even get the field where the information should have been written. The comment part seems to be like standard CPG installation without any captcha software installed. If you try to post a comment you get the following error: "Sorry, captcha error. Please try again. Click Here to Go Back Or Use Your Back Button."

Any help would be appreciated!

Bjørn Roger Rasmussen

Technical information:
- Version: Coppermine Photo Gallery 1.4.25 (stable)
- Web server: XAMPP for Windows 1.7.2 (Apache 2.2.12, MySQL 5.1.37, PHP 5.3.0).
- OS: Windows Vista
- Gallery: http://web.brr.no/cpg-galleri/

[Joe Carver]

The immediate suspicion is that this is related to your other postings about having plugin installation issues.....

I have tried to replicate your settings on a test gallery (theme/lang/plugins/smileys/votes, etc) and don't see the problem.

It seems that 1/2 of the codebase.php action is working (checking the db input), the 1/2 that should "see" and replace the html expressions in displayimage.php are not.

Enable Registration, ecards and Report to Moderator - do you see the reCAPTCHA on those pages?

Did you remove captcha.php from the gallery root when you uninstalled Captcha 3.0? Did you try removing Captcha 3.0 completely? If you remove reCAPTCHA and reinstall Captcha 3.0 does it function OK? Is the structure of the reCAPTCHA folder the same as the original .zip? Is the file recaptcha_config.php the same as the original?

[knight01]

[edit] I already have a form with reCAPTCHA that does the same thing, send an email to the admin. [/edit]

i-imagine I should email the admin here? I don't think I'm supposed to contact Mr. Müller per his profile. I don't think private messages are active here due to past spammers, but perhaps you could contact me through the contact form on my site to pass the file along to me.

www.BestCostumeContest.com

Thanks!

[Joe Carver]

Add a Contact Form with reCAPTCHA (patch version 0.9)

This patch for the reCAPTCHA plugin gives you a form where your users can send you a message. It sends the message to your Administrator email address. The form uses the reCAPTCHA and settings you have installed with the plugin. This might be included in a future release of the plugin.

   ===================================

   To Install:
   
   1) Download, then unzip    recaptcha_contact_form_patch.zip on your computer

   2) Copy file echo.php to gallery folder   plugins/recaptcha
   
   3) Log in, go to Admin - Config - Themes settings and enter the following
   
         Custom menu link name =   Contact
         
         Custom menu link URL =    index.php?file=recaptcha/echo
         
   4) Save the new settings, you now have a menu link leading to the new Contact Form

   5) (Optional), add the menu link to your theme/template instead. Use the url as above

   ===================================

        Notes:
   
   - This version is rough around the edges. It is an early release. Don't expect too much.

   - Form was orginally made for narrow theme (600px).
   Change/edit the table and td sizes as you like to fit your theme.
   
   - Text entered into form is filtered before the mail is sent. This will change and remove links / http commands
   and some text formatting when you receive the mail.  
   
   For example:   <1> me       will be      &ampltl&ampgt me
   
   apostrophe's and stuff"s        will be      apostrophe&#39s and stuff&ampquots

   ===================================


You must be running the reCAPTCHA plugin to use this Contact form. It won't stir your martini, bake your bread or brew your coffee and beer, but will give you a "spam resistant" contact form. Feel free to edit and style to your wishes.

[brr]

The immediate suspicion is that this is related to your other postings about having plugin installation issues.....

I have tried to replicate your settings on a test gallery (theme/lang/plugins/smileys/votes, etc) and don't see the problem.

It seems that 1/2 of the codebase.php action is working (checking the db input), the 1/2 that should "see" and replace the html expressions in displayimage.php are not.

Enable Registration, ecards and Report to Moderator - do you see the reCAPTCHA on those pages?

Did you remove captcha.php from the gallery root when you uninstalled Captcha 3.0? Did you try removing Captcha 3.0 completely? If you remove reCAPTCHA and reinstall Captcha 3.0 does it function OK? Is the structure of the reCAPTCHA folder the same as the original .zip? Is the file recaptcha_config.php the same as the original?

Hello.

Tested the things you mentioned. I removed reCAPTCHA and installed, activated and tested Captcha 3.0. No problems found.

Uninstalled Captcha 3.0 completely including removing captcha.php from the gallery root.

Tried again to install reCAPTCHA v2.1. Did a new download of cpg1.4.x_plugin_recaptcha_v2.1.zip and checked the file structure. Did not manage to find any missing files or other errors. Installation ok, but the same problem as earlier that you do not get up the captcha choices as a guest when you try to publish a comment. But reCAPTCHA worked as expected when ecards and self registration was activated.

When I tested I had all other plugins deactivated. Normally I only have BrainFeeder plugin and LightBox installed / activated.

For me it is a little bit strange that reCAPTCHA worked with self registration and ecards, but not with comments....

Bjørn Roger Rasmussen
http://foto.brr.no/

[Joe Carver]

Try it with the Classic theme. I see that you still have it installed. (but no comments just now)

The plugin will look for an html expression in displayimage.php and replace it with the reCAPTCHA html. If by chance your theme has a difference in the html expression it will not be replaced. This plugin looks for a slightly different expression than Captcha 3.0. Maybe that is why Captcha 3.0 works for you and this does not.

Any theme that is part of the standard Coppermine should also be OK for a test, I have tried all of them.

[brr]

Try it with the Classic theme. I see that you still have it installed. (but no comments just now)

Hello.

Tried with the classic theme, but I got the same problem.

At the moment I have e-cards enables. As you can see here - http://web.brr.no/cpg-galleri/ecard.php?album=1&pid=681&pos=1 - the reCAPTCHA works for e-cards.

Normal view, not possible to comment as you get captcha error and the reCAPTCHA does not show up: http://web.brr.no/cpg-galleri/displayimage.php?pos=-681

Strange! Maybe I have to give up comments in my gallery. With Captcha 3.0 or without anything I get all to much spam mail.

Bjørn Roger Rasmussen, Norway.

[Joe Carver]

Have you made any language file changes?

And if you want to turn on Comments - at least for a while - I can also take a look at what your server sends for an output.


[edit] To be always sure when testing, use Firefox, Chrome, or make sure you clear cookies/cache in IE [/edit]