How long do you think it'll be before Neopets takes down the reCAPTCHA feature?

[thegrandfinali]

I apologize if this question is under the wrong section, but I didn't know where better to ask. I am really, really, REALLY hoping TNT realizes how much of a mistake they've made and removes all the reCAPTCHAs, but if they don't, I'm not sure what to do. It's way too tedious to have to verify that you're human just to visit a userlookup, not to mention the fact they don't work on some computers and are problematic for those who use Neo in English but have another first language. Is there anything we can do about it? Should we just continue letting TNT know how we feel?

 

 

 

[marywoah]

Not very long, I hope... It seems like they sat down and figured out the most annoying solution possible.

[hrtbrk]

Basically what was happening was bots were rapidly searching user lookups and pet lookups for abandoned accounts with UC pets on it (even if they were active and only had "stealth" on them) to break in and sell for real life money. By searching so many accounts so rapidly, it was causing the site to lag and break.

 

I don't foresee them removing the reCAPTCHA any time soon for several obvious reasons (better account security, which means less tickets/happier customers and of course less server strain/breaking pages). They did admit they are working on other ways to prevent this but since that takes more time, this is their quick and temporary solution for account/site security.

 

It sucks to have to click it every time but people want to break into steal accounts. Be mad at those people, not Jumpstaff for trying to protect us.

 

Thanks Jumpstaff for actively working towards protecting us and our accounts. It's refreshing and well worth 2 extra clicks for me!

[serein]

^ This. I have seen firsthand these sites selling programs that do things like let you track others' accounts and pets, etc... It's honestly terrifying, and I feel like everyone's account and the neopets economy is much safer with this temporary solution... Unfortunately, we have to deal with the immediate consequences for a positive change in the long run.

[ryzegazelle]

I just realized we had these. I'm not surprised people were trying to cheat. It's annoying that it caused the sight to lag, and i'm sure people were doing it for restocking shops too. 

 

I googled something about paint brushes the other day and a lot of sketchy sights showed up on google. It's sad to know that people are cheating, especially with how small a community Neopets is already compared to other sites/games :'(

 

It is comforting to know that Jumpstart is on the case though. I don't have any unconverted pets but I would be destroyed if my main got compromised :(

[jaydeed]

I hadn't realized this was happening but it's a shame some people have to be so unscrupulous. I don't get it. Neopets is addictive and I take it way too seriously, lol, but it's a game for fun when all is said and done.

[thegrandfinali]

I agree with you that Jumpstart needs to do something regarding the security issues, but I think there's a better solution than the reCAPTCHA. I admire JS's attempt, but the reCAPTCHA creates far more problems IMO than it solves. Can't they detect and ban auto-refreshers? I'm no computer science person, so I don't know if it's possible, but I feel like there should be a way for JS to detect which IP addresses are causing their system to lag and then ban them as such.

[Musical_Shoyru]

I feel awful for those who are losing their pets and I'm glad that Jumpstart is taking action, I just wish they'd fix some other things too. These ridiculous people are taking away JS time to work on stopping them when they could be working on other things. I don't understand how people can be satisfied with taking other peoples hard work.

[hrtbrk]

I agree with you that Jumpstart needs to do something regarding the security issues, but I think there's a better solution than the reCAPTCHA. I admire JS's attempt, but the reCAPTCHA creates far more problems IMO than it solves. Can't they detect and ban auto-refreshers? I'm no computer science person, so I don't know if it's possible, but I feel like there should be a way for JS to detect which IP addresses are causing their system to lag and then ban them as such.

Even if they banned an IP address, it would take a whole 30 seconds for the banned person to get a new one. They are likely masking their IP to begin with to make sure their actual main account doesn't get caught in the mix.

 

This way with the captcha, it prevents bots from even being able to access the pages to begin with. :)

[jellysundae]

Something people might not have considered, but because IPs are dynamic now, banning them's not such a hot idea these days. Sooner or later that combination of numbers gets re-used for someone else's IP, and a completely innocent person suddenly finds themselves banned on Neopets...

 

It might seem unlikely if you think about the amount of possible  number combinations that there will be, but we had it happen several times on the forum I'm staff on, back when dynamic IPs first started.  Poor users making very angry and/or panic stricken threads with their second accounts because their main was suddenly and inexplicably banned. We soon figured out what was happening and realised we had to stop banning IPs.

 

It's pretty pointless now anyway because all a cheater needs to do is shut their device down and start it up again and they're likely to have a new IP.