Solved Users get CAPTCHA even when turned off

I'm on Joomla 3.2.1 and Kunena 3.0.4 also with JomSocial 3.1. Some, but not all, of our users are getting the Captcha message even though the appropriate settings are turned off (as far as I know). One modification to our site is that new users are added to Publisher instead of Registered. But my account as only a Publisher works fine.

Relevant settings:

Captcha for Guests: No
Captcha for Users: 0


Here's a screenshot showing that it is showing the Captcha form for this user:





Anyone have an idea?

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Kunena menu details:

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ID	Name	Menutype	Link	Path
204	Forum	mainmenu	view=home&defaultmenu=228	forum
264	Forum	mainmenu	view=category&catid=1	kunena-2012-09-11
255	Forum	kunenamenu	view=home&defaultmenu=257	kunena
256	Index	kunenamenu	view=category&layout=list	kunena/index
257	Recent Topics	kunenamenu	view=topics&mode=replies	kunena/recent
258	New Topic	kunenamenu	view=topic&layout=create	kunena/newtopic
259	No Replies	kunenamenu	view=topics&mode=noreplies	kunena/noreplies
260	My Topics	kunenamenu	view=topics&layout=user&mode=default	kunena/mylatest
261	Profile	kunenamenu	view=user	kunena/profile
262	Help	kunenamenu	view=misc	kunena/help
263	Search	kunenamenu	view=search	kunena/search

Joomla default template details : rt_diametric_responsive | author: RocketTheme, LLC | version: 1.5 | creationdate: Unknown

Kunena default template details : Blue Eagle | author: Kunena Team | version: 3.0.4 | creationdate: 2013-12-22

Kunena version detailed: Kunena 3.0.4 | 2013-12-22 [ Ukko ]
| Kunena detailed configuration:

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Kunena config settings:
board_offline	0
enablerss	1
threads_per_page	20
messages_per_page	20
messages_per_page_search	15
showhistory	1
historylimit	20
shownew	1
disemoticons	0
template	blue_eagle
showannouncement	1
avataroncat	0
catimagepath	category_images
showchildcaticon	1
rtewidth	450
rteheight	300
enableforumjump	1
reportmsg	1
username	0
askemail	0
showemail	0
showuserstats	1
showkarma	1
useredit	1
useredittime	0
useredittimegrace	600
editmarkup	1
allowsubscriptions	1
subscriptionschecked	1
allowfavorites	1
maxsubject	125
maxsig	300
regonly	0
pubwrite	0
floodprotection	0
mailmod	0
mailadmin	0
captcha	0
mailfull	1
allowavatarupload	1
allowavatargallery	1
avatarquality	75
avatarsize	2048
imageheight	800
imagewidth	800
imagesize	2000
filetypes	txt,rtf,pdf,zip,tar.gz,tgz,tar.bz2,doc,docx,xls,xlsx,*
filesize	8000
showranking	1
rankimages	1
userlist_rows	30
userlist_online	1
userlist_avatar	1
userlist_name	1
userlist_posts	1
userlist_karma	1
userlist_email	0
userlist_joindate	1
userlist_lastvisitdate	1
userlist_userhits	1
latestcategory
showstats	1
showwhoisonline	1
showgenstats	1
showpopuserstats	1
popusercount	5
showpopsubjectstats	1
popsubjectcount	5
usernamechange	0
showspoilertag	0
showvideotag	0
showebaytag	0
trimlongurls	1
trimlongurlsfront	40
trimlongurlsback	20
autoembedyoutube	1
autoembedebay	0
ebaylanguagecode	en-us
sessiontimeout	1800
highlightcode	0
rss_type	topic
rss_timelimit	month
rss_limit	100
rss_included_categories
rss_excluded_categories
rss_specification	rss2.0
rss_allow_html	1
rss_author_format	name
rss_author_in_title	1
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defaultpage	recent
default_sort	asc
sef	1
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polltimebtvotes	00:15:00
pollnbvotesbyuser	100
pollresultsuserslist	1
maxpersotext	50
ordering_system	mesid
post_dateformat	datetime_today
post_dateformat_hover	datetime
hide_ip	1
imagetypes	jpg,jpeg,gif,png
checkmimetypes	1
imagemimetypes	image/jpeg,image/jpg,image/gif,image/png
imagequality	50
thumbheight	32
thumbwidth	32
hideuserprofileinfo	put_empty
boxghostmessage	0
userdeletetmessage	1
latestcategory_in	1
topicicons	1
debug	0
catsautosubscribed	0
showbannedreason	0
version_check	1
showthankyou	1
showpopthankyoustats	1
popthankscount	5
mod_see_deleted	0
bbcode_img_secure	text
listcat_show_moderators	0
lightbox	1
show_list_time	720
show_session_type	0
show_session_starttime	0
userlist_allowed	1
userlist_count_users	1
enable_threaded_layouts	0
category_subscriptions	post
topic_subscriptions	every
pubprofile	0
thankyou_max	10
email_recipient_count	0
email_recipient_privacy	bcc
captcha_post_limit	0
keywords	0
userkeywords	0
image_upload	registered
file_upload	registered
topic_layout	flat
time_to_create_page	1
show_imgfiles_manage_profile	1
hold_newusers_posts	0
hold_guest_posts	0
attachment_limit	8
pickup_category	0
article_display	intro
send_emails	1
fallback_english	1
cache	1
cache_time	1800
iptracking	1
rss_feedburner_url
autolink	1
access_component	1
statslink_allowed	1
userlist_usertype	0
sefutf8	0

| Kunena integration settings:

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Kunena - AlphaUserPoints Disabled
Kunena - Community Builder Disabled
Kunena - Gravatar Disabled
Kunena - JomSocial Enabled: access=0 login=1 activity=1 avatar=1 profile=1 private=1 activity_points_limit=0 activity_stream_limit=0
Kunena - Joomla Enabled: access=1 login=1
Kunena - Kunena Enabled: avatar=1 profile=1
Kunena - UddeIM Disabled

| Joomla! detailed language files installed:

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Joomla! languages installed:
en-GB	English (United Kingdom)

Third-party components: Jomsocial 3.1.0

Third-party SEF components: None

Plugins: JomSocial - My Kunena Forum Menu 2.0.3 | JomSocial - Kunena Groups 2.0.3

Modules: None

G'day, thistle, and welcome to Kunena.

thistle wrote: Captcha for Guests: No
Captcha for Users: 0

The relevant settings are described in the article Using CAPTCHA spam protection in Kunena and one other one:

Forum Configuration » Security » Security Settings » Moderate New Users

According to your configuration report, the value for this setting is zero. Therefore, new users should not be subjected to the CAPTCHA challenge.

One other point revealed by your configuration report could be a problem. You have a Joomla menu item (id=204) that points to a non-existent or out-of-date reference. This may or may not be relaed to your current problem.

I would also recommend that you uninstall the two Kunena add-ons : JomSocial - My Kunena Forum Menu 2.0.3 and JomSocial - Kunena Groups 2.0.3 because those versions do not work with K 3.0. Ask JomSocial for the updates for those things if you require them.

Thanks for the reply.

The issue is that even with the number for Challenge for Users set to zero, they still get Captcha. I have all the settings described, but at least one user is still getting the Captcha.

Thanks for pointing out the menu item...I actually changed the alias for that item and Kunena between my original post and your reply.

I was able to get the captcha at least in the right place so users can put it in, so I don't think it's worth any more effort, but there's still something going on.

Thanks again.

thistle wrote: I was able to get the captcha at least in the right place so users can put it in, so I don't think it's worth any more effort, but there's still something going on.

Oh! :blush: I'm sorry. I didn't see the CAPTCHA hidden behind your main menu!

So, in fact there were three problems!

(1) Some of your users are getting CAPTCHA.

(2) All your new users are being registered as Joomla Publishers - there's a Joomla configuration opion in the User Manager panel to change that.

(3) When the CAPTCHA displays, it is displayed in the wrong place.

You have fixed the last of those issues. As far as the first issue is concerned, I'm not sure what is behind it.

Kunena configuration settings can be problematic - they still confuse me sometimes! :laugh: Some settings interoperate with other settings and some settings may, in fact, conflict with others. I wish I had a few months to document what I know about configuration settings. My advice is always to use the KISS principle: change one thing at a time and test the results of that change. The more changes you make, the more likely that problems can occur.

As a simple way around this, try resetting the Kunena configuration settings back to their original default values to see if this eliminates the issue in which some users - we don't know which ones they are or what are the circumstances when they are hit with the CAPTCHA challenge - get the CAPTCHA challenge. By default, the original settings of Kunena do not impose any CAPTCHA challenge.

Let us know if the problem persists and, if it does, post your updated Kunena configuration report.

Very strange indeed. :S

sozzled wrote:

thistle wrote: I was able to get the captcha at least in the right place so users can put it in, so I don't think it's worth any more effort, but there's still something going on.

Oh! :blush: I'm sorry. I didn't see the CAPTCHA hidden behind your main menu!

So, in fact there were three problems!

(1) Some of your users are getting CAPTCHA.

(2) All your new users are being registered as Joomla Publishers - there's a Joomla configuration opion in the User Manager panel to change that.

(3) When the CAPTCHA displays, it is displayed in the wrong place.

You have fixed the last of those issues. As far as the first issue is concerned, I'm not sure what is behind it.

Kunena configuration settings can be problematic - they still confuse me sometimes! :laugh: Some settings interoperate with other settings and some settings may, in fact, conflict with others. I wish I had a few months to document what I know about configuration settings. My advice is always to use the KISS principle: change one thing at a time and test the results of that change. The more changes you make, the more likely that problems can occur.

As a simple way around this, try resetting the Kunena configuration settings back to their original default values to see if this eliminates the issue in which some users - we don't know which ones they are or what are the circumstances when they are hit with the CAPTCHA challenge - get the CAPTCHA challenge. By default, the original settings of Kunena do not impose any CAPTCHA challenge.

Let us know if the problem persists and, if it does, post your updated Kunena configuration report.

Very strange indeed. :S

Thanks for the followup! The second issue is also intended (Publisher by default). We're a pretty tight knit community and almost everyone knows everyone in real life. We need pretty much everyone to be able to publish regatta reports, notices of events, etc. And we just heavily moderate who signs up.

I think now that the Captcha is at least in a place where the users can enter it, we won't get any more complaints. I'll see if the users who had the issue continue to after a few posts. I changed the number for users to 3 just assuming it's good practice.

Thanks again for you help here and all your work.

For anyone with the Captcha display issue in a Rockettheme template there's a div called recaptcha_widget_div and you need to override the position: absolute element.