New Registration System implemented

[Dark Pulse]

I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but lately we've had a dearth of spambots joining up.

In an effort to curb this, I've installed a mod. It does a few things (most of which, such as board invites, I've disabled, as we're an open board) but the one main feature it does that we'll be using, is allow us to ask a question for new registrants - essentially a CAPTCHA system - and one we are able to gear to our specific audience, in order to make defeating it harder (at least, for automated bots). Generally speaking, these are questions that every Type-Moon fan should know (or at least, be able to look up).

The current list is ten items, as follows:

#	Question
1	What class is Emiya Shirou's Servant?
2	Complete the following name: Arcueid __________
3	Tohno Shiki's sister is Tohno __________
4	Ryougi Shiki's preferred weapon is a __________
5	Type-Moon's first published game was __________
6	What is the fighting game spinoff of Tsukihime called?
7	What family are the sisters, Aoko and Touko, from?
8	Who is the hot-headed sister of Kokutou Mikiya?
9	Complete the following name: __________ Rin
10	The universe that Type-Moon's works fall into is called the __________

I don't think any of these questions should be very hard for most casual fans to answer or look up, as I've said.

If you've got ideas for questions, feel free to post them here, but remember - they're meant to be entry-level stuff. Therefore, stuff like the identity of Fate Servants, character abilities (for the most part), minor/obscure characters, and the like are not suitable.

Right now, there's a limit on answers - AFAIK, I cannot word a question that would allow for multiple correct answers (Ex.: "What kinds of bell peppers are there?" "Red, Yellow, Green") so keep this in mind when you word your question. It needs to be a single, definitive answer.

[lethum]

Nrvnqsr is a ______ Apostole Ancestor.

[Tobias]

Ryougi shiki uses..iunno, big knife?

[lethum]

Now I'm not sure that the question I posted was right...maybe

X1 In F/SN, the protagonist participates in the _____ Holy Grail War.

X2 Matou Sakura was originally named ______ Sakura.

X3 Sasaki Kojirou is Servant __________.

[Lavender]

X2 Matou Sakura was originally named ______ Sakura.

I don't expect everyone to know that so easily, especially those who have only played Tsukihime and the like.

[Tobias]

finish this sentance.

mystic eyes of death _________

[Mike1984]

If you've got ideas for questions, feel free to post them here, but remember - they're meant to be entry-level stuff. Therefore, stuff like the identity of Fate Servants, character abilities (for the most part), minor/obscure characters, and the like are not suitable.

Number 8 is "entry level"? I don't know that one. Also, you have to be careful with multiple spellings for questions like number 9 (possibly you should make it clear in the question which convention you're using).

I'd say that something like "name the main character of Fate/Stay Night" or similar would be a good idea (anyone who says "Saber" should be banned immediately ).

I don't expect everyone to know that so easily, especially those who have only played Tsukihime and the like.

Well, I don't think that is a problem (after all, the KnK question is far more obscure) so much as the fact that you're potentially forcing them to look up a major HF spoiler just to register is. I mean, yeah, they'll spoiler it soon enough if they join, but they should at least have the choice.

Something like "what is the name of Sakura's brother" would work, though.

[DreamsRequiem]

Finish this phrase: Unlimited _____ Works

[Neir]

Try to avoid spoilers in your questions.

[Tobias]

Tohno shiki refers to aoko as _________

[Neir]

Tsukihime has _____ routes.Fate/Stay Night has _____ routes.

[Altima of the Gates]

Thanks for this Dark Pulse, I would have suggested it if you didn't, because for this month of registrations I have gone through a TON of duplicate accounts, so any way to curb the hoard a bit would be nice.

I really want to be evil and put: What is "Ally of Justice" in Japanese? But no.
Plus I thought of "What is Matou Sakura's most prized possession?" But that would be a spoiler too, like Mike said.

How about....Emiya Shirou has a hobby of _________ .
OR
Tohsaka Rin is terrible with _________ .

[Kotonoha]

How about....Emiya Shirou has a hobby of _________ .
OR
Tohsaka Rin is terrible with _________ .

I don't even know what the answer to the first one would be (cooking? fixing things? being a hero? jamming it in?). And a lot of people wouldn't know the second, since it doesn't come up in the game.

Also technically there are multiple valid possibilities for Rin's last name. (Tohsaka, Toosaka, Tosaka).

I think some of these might be a bit hard for people who only know one Nasuverse work. Say, someone who joins just to ask a question about MB or something.

[TypeWannabe]

Howsabout we do what every other forum does and have answers ANYBODY could answer. Like, what's the capital of Virginia, who was the first President...etc.

[Kotonoha]

Like, what's the capital of Virginia

Does anyone actually know this?

who was the first President

Of what

[Mike1984]

Thanks for this Dark Pulse, I would have suggested it if you didn't, because for this month of registrations I have gone through a TON of duplicate accounts, so any way to curb the hoard a bit would be nice.

Yeah, it's definitely useful. We have to be careful not to make the questions either too easy for a spambot to guess or too hard for a normal person, though.

I really want to be evil and put: What is "Ally of Justice" in Japanese? But no.

I don't know that....

Plus, a suifficiently smart spambot could work it out via google translate or similar.

I don't even know what the answer to the first one would be (cooking? fixing things? being a hero? jamming it in?). And a lot of people wouldn't know the second, since it doesn't come up in the game.

Yeah, the first one is too vague and the second one is too obscure for a newbie.

Also technically there are multiple valid possibilities for Rin's last name. (Tohsaka, Toosaka, Tosaka).

Yeah, see my comment.

I think some of these might be a bit hard for people who only know one Nasuverse work. Say, someone who joins just to ask a question about MB or something.

I'd have to agree with that. I mean, I don't know the answer to question 8.

Although, I'm not too clear how this works. Is it like most captchas, where you get another chance if you fail, or do you only get one shot? If it's the first, then we can afford a few questions which people might get wrong, but if it's the second then we have to be much more careful.

Howsabout we do what every other forum does and have answers ANYBODY could answer.

Because it's a TM forum, so it makes sense to have TM-specific questions?

If we use generic questions, then it makes it easier for spambots to get around them, especially since a genuinely universal question (i.e. one which anyone in the world could answer, even people with relatively limited command of English and no knowledge of American/British History or Geography) needs to be extremely simple.

Like, what's the capital of Virginia

What about "what's the county town of Devon"? Because that's about as "obvious" to me as your question is....

who was the first President...etc.

Again, too damn America-centric. Not everyone learns US history in great detail (although I personally could answer that one).

[Cruor]

Complete the following name: Arcueid __________

I dunno, Brunestud is a hotspot for making errors when writing out and is annoyingly strange.

Ryougi Shiki's preferred weapon is a __________

Probably because it's me (who argues this stuff all the time) but I'm divided between katana/sword and knife.

What is the fighting game spinoff of Tsukihime called?

I woulda put 'Complete the following title:' and put 'MELTY _____' to make it easier but this is good.

I don't know that....

Plus, a suifficiently smart spambot could work it out via google translate or similar.

Seigi no mikata = 正義の味方. You've probably heard it.

[Mike1984]

I dunno, Brunestud is a hotspot for making errors when writing out and is annoyingly strange.

Yeah, you have a point here. Plus, it's an uncommon enough name that a spam-bot could just goodle "Arcueid"

Probably because it's me (who argues this stuff all the time) but I'm divided between katana/sword and knife.

Yeah, I wasn't too sure about that one.

I woulda put 'Complete the following title:' and put 'MELTY _____' to make it easier but this is good.

Yeah, that's probably better, actually, although a spam-bot might be able to work that one out.

Seigi no mikata = 正義の味方. You've probably heard it.

Yeah, but if I can't answer that off the top of my head, there's no way a casual fan could.

[Kotonoha]

a spam-bot could just goodle "Arcueid"

Typo aside, can bots do this?

[Mike1984]

Typo aside, can bots do this?

Potentially.

Spam-bots are big business, so the people writing them can be very smart. The point of a test like this (just like a captcha test) is to make sure you're human, so anything which could be found by a person with no knowledge of the topic in question just by entering a word into google could also be found by a bot doing so.