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Spam from Contact Page

Sep 21, 2012 2:14 AM

Hi all,

 

I have the following contact form http://www.nick-lawrence.co.uk/contact_us.html trouble is I have just started to recieve bogus/spam submissions from it, what is an easyish way to minimise the risk of this?

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

Nick

728 Views   12 Replies   Latest reply: Nancy O., Sep 23, 2012 10:40 AM
 
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  • WolfShade
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    1. WolfShade,
    Sep 21, 2012 5:29 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    Well, if the spam is automated/scripted, the most common approach is to use a CAPTCHA to make sure the submissions are from a human.  (I cannot see your website, as my workplace is blocking it.)

     

    If you have your email address on the page, no matter how you try to obfuscate it, the 'bots will get it and add it to lists.  Remove it.

     

    ^_^

     
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  • cdeatherage
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    2. cdeatherage,
    Sep 21, 2012 5:50 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    I don't see your email address visible anywhere on your site. What I'm wondering is if there is a photography directory somewhere that lists your contact info, including the email address. If so, that may be how spammers have gotten it. Still, if you think the spam is being generated only from your site, then implement a CAPTCHA as suggested.

     

    Chris

     
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  • NeoGen Hawk
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    3. NeoGen Hawk,
    Sep 21, 2012 6:08 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    Hi Guys,

     

    Many thanks for your replies, I don't have my e-mail address on there, it is actually completing the form so I need to put something like CAPTCHA in place to distinguish whether it is being completed by a human. I hear that CAPTCHA is a bit tricky to get up and running, is there any alternatives?

     

    Many thanks

     

     

     

    Nick

     
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  • WolfShade
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    4. WolfShade,
    Sep 21, 2012 6:10 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    Look around (try cflib.org) for a CF CAPTCHA.  I found one for PHP, it's awesome and easy to set up.

     

    ^_^

     
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  • NeoGen Hawk
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    5. NeoGen Hawk,
    Sep 21, 2012 6:11 AM   in reply to WolfShade
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    Hi WolfShade,

     

    I'm curious as to why your workplace is blocking it? There is nothing untoward on there; I need to look at ways to make it more accessible.

     

    Regards

     

     

     

    Nick

     
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  • NeoGen Hawk
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    6. NeoGen Hawk,
    Sep 21, 2012 6:11 AM   in reply to WolfShade
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    Many thanks, I'll have a look.

     

    Regards

     

     

     

    Nick

     
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  • WolfShade
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    7. WolfShade,
    Sep 21, 2012 7:15 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    A) Don't take it personally, and B) there is nothing that can be done about it.  My employer is the US Gov't and they block just about anything that isn't necessary for us to do our job. 

     

    ^_^

     
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  • NeoGen Hawk
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    8. NeoGen Hawk,
    Sep 21, 2012 8:00 AM   in reply to WolfShade
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    Hi WolfShade,

     

    That's fine, was just worried there may be something on my site causing it.

     

    Kind regards

     

     

     

    Nick

     
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  • Nancy O.
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    9. Nancy O.,
    Sep 21, 2012 8:57 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    Captchas are not friendly to humans and should really only be used as a last resort.  I prefer to use a hidden field (honeypot) to bait & catch spambots. 

     

    The hidden form field is not visible to humans.  But spambots are stupid.  They auto fill any field they encounter.  So if the hidden field is completed, my script flags it as spam and doesn't execute. 

     

    <input type="text" name="nospam" value="" style="display:none" />

     

    There are no risks associated with this method and it's much kinder to your human visitors who never see it.

     

     

    Nancy O.

     
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  • WolfShade
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    10. WolfShade,
    Sep 21, 2012 9:39 AM   in reply to Nancy O.
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    Interesting.  I'll have to give that method a shot.

     

    ^_^

     
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  • NeoGen Hawk
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    11. NeoGen Hawk,
    Sep 23, 2012 5:52 AM   in reply to Nancy O.
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    Hi Nancy,

     

    If I want to include this hidden field, do I just need the code you put up?

     

    <input type="text" name="nospam" value="" style="display:none" />

     

    Many thanks

     

     

     

    Nick

     
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  • Nancy O.
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    12. Nancy O.,
    Sep 23, 2012 10:40 AM   in reply to NeoGen Hawk
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    You need a script that can identify your hidden field and flag/stop spammers.

     

    Formm@ailer PHP from DB Masters

    http://dbmasters.net/index.php?id=4

     

     

     

    Nancy O.

     
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