Webmaster tools frequently asked questions

Free captcha

Q: What are the system requirements to use your free captcha?

A: In order to use the captcha you must place a line of HTML code in the form where you would like to verify human submission and you must have a way to receive a confirmation from our servers that the submission is valid. Typically this means that you need to be using a server side programming language such as perl, cold fusion, ASP 3.0, ASP.net, etc. You also need a way to POST to our server. This can be done using Microsoft's XMLHTTP, ServerObject's AspHTTP, or any number of Objects that can generate an automated POST. I recommend ServerObject's AspHTTP. I've had problems with concurrent sessions using XMLHTTP.

Q: Do I have to install code from your server?

A: No. Verification of the captcha submission is done on our server. You simply need to post your webmaster ID, your visitors remote IP address, and a no cache string to our server at www.teleportjobs.com/captcha/captcha_verify.asp. The from variables are:

uid:	Your webmaster ID assigned when you registered
rip:	The remote IP address of your visitor
nocache:	A unique string such as a timestamp that prevents caching of the image

Q: Can you give me an example of the code I should use to post to your server?

A: Yes. However, keep in mind that this sample is written using ASP 3.0 (Classic ASP) and that it can be tailored to other server side languages. It also uses AspHTTP as the post mechanism. See sample code here. I would provide other examples but my expertise is in Classic ASP.

New! Use AJAX JavaScript to validate our captcha. Here's how to implement the AJAX method.

This just in! The AJAX method works but only on our servers. I bet you would like to actually use this so we found a way to validate our captcha without the cross-domain restrictions using JSON technology.

Try both methods of captcha verification.

Q: How do I know if a visitor has entered the correct captcha text OR How do I validate the user?

A: When you post the users captcha submission to our server you will read the response from our server. We will post back True, False, OR an empty string. True means that the user entered the correct text that matches the captcha image and you can let the user continue. False means it didn't match and you probably want to tell your visitor that. An empty string might mean that our server is down. See "No image appears when I try to use your captcha. Why?" below.

Q: Why is it free?

A: In the tradition of our free online job board I wanted to provide something of use to the webmaster community. You are welcome to use the human verification captcha for free as long as you follow these simple rules:

• You MUST place a link to www.teleportjobs.com/captcha/free_captcha.asp directly under the captcha image.

• The anchor text for the above link must be "free captcha" and "Powered by TeleportJobs" must be placed directly under the anchor text.

• The free captcha is embedded with "Powered by TeleportJobs." and this must be visible to your visitors.

Q: I want to use your captcha but I don't want to link to you. Can I pay to use your captcha without having to do this?

A: Of course you can! We offer a paid license for $19.95 USD per domain. You can purchase a domain license using PayPal once you have registered as a webmaster. Try it for free first (see conditions above) and then upgrade later if you'd like.

Q: When I try to use your captcha it says "BAD_USER" Why?

A: There are a couple of reasons why this would happen. The first reason is that you are trying to use our captcha for free and you have not followed the guidelines for this. See "Why is it free?" above. The second reason is that you did not validate your email address. When you register as a webmaster to use our free tools we send out an email to the email address that you supply. You must click on the link in the email before logging in and using our free tools.

Q: When I try to use your captcha it says "SERV_ERR" Why?

A: There are a few reasons why you might see this message. The first reason is that you have called the image prior to registering a domain license. You must register a free or pay for a domain license first. The second reason is that you have registered a domain name that does not match the domain where you are placing the image. When you register a domain it should be formatted like this: www.mydomain.com. It should NOT contain http://, https://, or sub pages. Also remember that if you are using our captcha on secure pages the domain of the secure page may be different than your non secure pages especially if you are using a shared certificate. As a recommended security measure you may want to only use a human verification method only on secure pages so if your secure domain is different than your non secure domain you should register the captcha for the secure domain.

Q: No image appears when I try to use your captcha. Why?

A: Either the image link in your page is wrong or our server is down. The link to the captcha image on our server is located at: https://www.teleportjobs.com/captcha/captcha_gen.asp?uid=XXX where XXX is your unique webmaster id assigned to you when you registered for our webmaster tools. If you are using classic ASP (ASP 3.0) and copy and paste the link code generated in your captcha management page you should not have this problem.

If our server is down then we can not and do not take responsibility for this. It is beyond our control and when you registered to use our free webmaster tools you agreed to the webmaster tools terms of use that states that we are not liable for server outages whether you are using our free captcha OR paid.

Having gotten this legal portion out of the way you should write your code to compensate for an outage on our side. The sample code gives one option for this.

Q: What is your refund policy for paid licenses?

A: We will refund your money in full if you request the refund within 1 week of purchasing or upgrading to a paid license. There are no refunds after this period. We keep a record of when you purchase a license. After your money has been refunded for a license we will downgrade it to a free license. You are welcome to use the free captcha as long as you follow the guidelines for the free license as stated above. See "Why is it free?"