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Your LimeSurvey version: LimeSurvey Cloud Version 6.6.9
Own server or LimeSurvey hosting: Cloud
Survey theme/template: Extended Fruity TwentyThree
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Are there any options to use third party captcha providers, such as FriendlyCaptcha, with LimeSurvey that don't require custom plugin development? I tried searching for similar questions in the support forms, but did not come to a satisfying solution.
Adding the captcha widget via themes is easy, validating the response is another story. My first starting point would be the BeforeSurvey event to validate with the third party server before even continuing with the rest. Other options would be building upon the existing captcha function.

Any help or pointers are appreciated!

Best,
Mirko

No,

And even with custom plugin development : i's complex.

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately not the answer I had hoped for May I ask how other people go about this? Are you all comfortable in posting your survey links into the wild with nothing but the built-in captcha support? Or are people resorting to things like CloudFlare?

I guess most people are not posting their survey links into the "wild" at all.

Because sampling is a very important part when it comes to data quality. And posting links in the wild usually results in something one might call "GIGO" ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out ), and you don't need bots for that, normal humans are enough for such an outcome. And they usually pass the captcha tests. At least most of them. :-)

I have an offer to create an alternative way to get captcha, big company, then I can include a «Update of LimeSurvey core to create plugin events to allow replace captcha»
I create the Feature request to see if we move current one to core Plugin

I think of 2 plugin events
1. To get the captcha HTML (can be only JS if needed) : return html content (+script to register ?) : included in LimeSurvey form (for CRSF issue)
2. To validate the request sent (call to api.friendlycaptcha.com/api/v1/siteverify ) : return boolean + message

@holch: I get it, but some clients just want to do, say, a short user experience questionnaire and promote it on their website, which to me is "in the wild" enough for a bot to pick it up.

@DenisChenu: Not sure I understand what you mean, you offered development to work on this feature request? But yes, the steps are probably as simple as you describe. It requires the JS library for the widget, which could even be a custom question type to put it anywhere as long as it's in the form. And then after the form is submitted, do a validation using the appropriate API > proceed if the result is good. Most captcha systems work almost the same from what I've seen, so adapting this to use with recaptcha, hcaptcha, mcaptcha, wouldn't be a lot of work.

I don't offer development, i have currently a client who need
1. Captcha survey
2. Using own (and specific) Captcha system

Then : i try to create a plugin