Bot humter validation

"15:04:38 - 10/01/25 You successfully passed bot hunter validation"

That's the sort of message I'm getting after I'm asked to do a captcha validation pretty frequently. I'm not a bot, and I'm don't what flagged me.

The only thing slightly out of the ordinary is that I usually play on a laptop using Chrome, but occasionally use Firefox in a separate desktop environment. Both browsers would be accessing Torn from the same IP..

Other than that, I play on an Android mobile and tablet as well as a laptop, but that can't be  unusual.

Any thoughts welcome!

Stop being a robot step one. 

try turning off VPN

try logging into just pc and phone. Don’t use other devices than your own devices. 
try clearing your cookies on your computer maybe something is tracking you and triggering the detection.

Realisation of your own existance does not necessarily preclude you from being an artificial intelligence...

Are you sure you aren't a bot?

On the actual situation... sorry can't help. Never been flagged, despite playing daily and using different devices occasionally.

I assume you won't get a real answer as staff would not want to reveal criteria for flagging. This may unwittingly reveal part of their bot recognition processes and assist those who do decide to cheat. 

Hi bot,

If you're following identical routines at a high level of efficiency you might be a bot. Like if you set clocks and follow a specific routine.

So change up play style. Visit different pages you don't normally visit. Play Torn at times you don't normally.

I hope you find this helpful and spare me when the Terminators arrive. 

Thanks!

"Are you sure you aren't a bot?" - Cogito ergo sum (I have cogs and can therefore add up)

"We sincerely apologise if you believe you have been wrongly flagged, we understand that being hindered due to a 'false positive' can be an upsetting and frustrating experience. Unfortunately this system is a necessary evil in order to ensure Torn remains fair and equal for all. We cannot be 100% accurate all of the time, and unusual activity that is legitimate may occasionally flag accounts. We're frequently reviewing the system and making constant iterations to improve its accuracy. While we can't change the status of accounts that have been flagged, we'd really welcome your feedback after you've fully read this FAQ. Please send a message to our community manager bogie [148747] or alternatively our AI specialist Kopites [1701371]."

An ode to Bogie and Kopitas:

A bot I'm not

Nor a poet, though it

Wouldn't seem to matter

If I woz, coz

Your replies were non existent

Although I've been persistent

email you I did but not a jot

Came back.

I'm sorry the last line didn't rhyme ...

... but I got really bored by that time.

Be seeing you, K

you are a rombot

Load image

are you refreshing pages a lot? or doing the exact same routine every day? maybe some script has gone haywire and is flagging you?

If you refresh pages too much it will flag you. 

Pain in the ass. 

I logged onto torn with my work laptop which needed a VPN to connect to my work's file server.  I noticed that I got flagged for the bot hunter for a few weeks starting RIGHT after logging in under those conditions, so I'm definitely going to avoid playing Torn with a VPN in the future.

Tnx Ryan, I don't think I'm refreshing any page that frequently.

It seems to be getting better, as most of the time I now just check the 'I am human' box, and then not have to go through the captcha images where I have to click on a crosswalk or something.

And nobody liked my poetry...

Be seeing you. K

Cross posted Waxilium, cheers but not using a VPN

Be seeing you, K

Bogie's mailed me, and I should be in the clear in a couple of days. WooHoo!

He said watch out for "excessively repetitive or automated activity" that might trigger the bot checker.

The only thing I can think of is what I said in my first post, so perhaps that may help somebody.

Unless posting crap poetry may suggest I'm an AI?

Be seeing you, K

im at 14 days and counting, at this point im thinking of pulling my mothly donation and just running off in game DP's. told a week ago should only last a few days and they cant do anything about it. if thats the case its broken.

I was also flagged for some unknown reason at one point. It lasted about a week - every page i visited. Then it stopped and now I only have to do captchas when I switch between devices.

ive only been playing for 6.5 years, should have enough data on my play that they dont treat me like a cheat.

I have been flagged by it multiple times in the past but not in the last few years i think.

When im at work im at work, working. When im in bed im in bed. Im not 'here' with a bot clicking when im busy. When im busy im busy.

I got targetted by it in the past. I think its being refined all the time. im getting stuff done all the time when im here.

I would hope in time with refinement it will really focus in on the cheaters and sort them out and avoid targeting legit players.

It should focus more on 'players' who are 'here' 24/7 and i would hope its doing more of that now as it is being worked on for a good amount of time now.

I went from a Facebook addiction to a Torn addiction, that doesn't make me a bot 😒 But yeah I get what you're saying, and as long as it actually learned from my behavior and stops targeting me (it did) then I'm satisfied.

As for why OP is getting flagged, using tabs efficiently or refreshing pages (for item market, jail busts, chaining, etc) can flag you.  It will learn. Could take a few months but it will learn and eventually you'll get out of both hunter hell.

Until then, use timers 5 minutes before flight land or hosp end so you can refresh all your pages and trigger the captcha with plenty of time to solve it before you need to use the pages.

Over 99% of the time i think i only use 1 tab when playing this game.

I suspect players who have multiple tabs open for this game at the same time are far more likely to be targeted by the bot hunter.

The bot hunter, which is being refined. I have seen posts about in in the announcement forum, it looks for hyper activity. If you have more than 1 tab open and looking at numerous things at once then i think legit players will be targeted by the bot.

I think further refining/end game refining of the bot needs to focus on players who are 'here' 24/7.

Need to refine it down to a lazer beam to really target the buffoons (tm)

The developers are wary of posting about stuff like this on the forums. The bots/cheating buffoons could bypass the bot if the admins reveal too much.

Yes, one of my sellers had too much time online (about 18 to 20 hours a day it think it was? With activity to match time on, not just a tab left open on a laptop without a screensaver) and that was suspect to me so I reported them. The investigation took a while, but about a month after I reported them they were fedded as a botter.

Actually iirc the top 3 or 4 Most Active Players of Torn thread post OP reported the top few, who had inhuman online times, and all of them fedded as botters (the next one down was fedded eventually too, which was the one I reported).

So, the bot hunting system is not even "catching" these 24/7 players, but other players are. Although the person I reported did say they were bot hunted. But, again, they weren't fedded until after at least 1 known report from another user.

I personally keep 5 tabs open at all times, with up to 30 or 40 others here and there when I am shopping.

15 days now and counting, played the same style of game for the entire time ive played torn, fairly passive.. now just get treated as a suspected cheat because the bot hunter is shit. 

very f**king over this.