Spam-free?

[Brion Toss]

Hello all,
As you might have noticed, the board has not had any of those infuriating spam postings show up for several days now. The reason is that our stalwart moderator and all-around techie Bob Pingel has instituted a simple questionnaire for prospective members to fill out. Very, very simple, rigging-related questions, and if the applicant doesn't know the answers they can always contact us directly, but it seems to have been enough to scare off the sweatshop employees that spammers hire to fill out simpler forms. Many thanks to Bob. What a relief!
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

[Brian Duff]

So whats the questions ?

Got time to post them here or should I start a new membership to see them ?

Just curious really ....

[Bob Pingel]

Well it cut down the spam content about 99% but I have still had to remove a few postings (maybe 3 in a week or two). But, way better than where we were -- we were seeing 10+ a day!

As far as the questions, they are below. I am not including the answers to preclude any industrious spammer from searching for them -- but I bet you can figure them out.

We struggled to make the questioms simple enough to only filter the spammers, international enough to be inclusive, in the end we stayed in the marine domain and figured we could do the regs manually for folks from other domains (arborists and alike).

BTW, I will be out of the country for the rest of the month (delivering a boat in Greece) so if we do get spam I'll need someone else to clean up...

Bob

What rig type has one Bermudean-style headsail?
What rig type has two headsails?
Who wrote The Rigger's Apprentice?
What do you call the line you use to raise a sail?
What is the most common knot used by sailors?
If you are sailing approximately 90 degrees off the wind, you are on a ____ reach.

[Brian Duff]

thats great, thanks Brion .

have fun sailing- I a jealous !

i like the auto spell checker you added too !

[Dan Lehman]

Originally Posted by Brion Toss

Hello all,
As you might have noticed, the board has not had any of those infuriating spam postings show up for several days now.

Though I must confess that, after one of the headings about some hot thing in nylons,
I was sorely tempted (but mustered sufficient restraint) to add a new topic about such
heat "in aramids." Now, my time is past/passed.

> Who wrote the Complete Rigger's Apprentice?

If answering "Shakespeare", do we win any gifts from the rigging shop?

[Stillraining]

Hay I dont know any of thoes answer's ...how did I get in here...

[bwindrope]

I've noticed these questions when I do a search. I wish we only had to answer questions and not try to figure out those darn letters that are so hard to discern. Takes me multiple attempts every time, but worth it to defeat spam. In fact, I like the quiz feel of the questions. It would be fun to have an optional set of questions and each time you search you are asked to answer them and the server keeps score of how well you do! You know, your % of correct answers. I think I would be very low on the pecking order, but it would motivate some study!

Here's an offer straight from Brion: What is the purpose of the standing rigging? That'll weed out most everyone, including sailors.

Cheers