Re: Spam resistent guestbook ?
Hello,
I'll agree that this isn't very ISP secific, but I wanted to add my
observations below:
On Mon, 25 Sep 2006, Marek Podmaka wrote:
1) use verification code (those images with hard-to-read codes in it
which you have to enter)
This might work. I havn't tried it yet.
2) use preview - after submit, don't add to database (or send email if
it is mail form), but only display preview - and only after submitting
this preview, do the action. Spam bots don't know that the action was
not taken after the first submit...
This will only stop the spambots for a day or two. Many of them have
actual humans that will tweak the scripts used by the bots and adjustments
are made very quickly.
3) use anti-spam checkbox :) Put one more checkbox to the form and
submit only if it is checked (if default is not checked). Spambots
don't know whether it needs to be checked or not, but users will read
instructions. This one is not tested, but I think it will work :) You
can name the checkbox as "I'm a spambot" with default checked and
perform the action only if unchecked :)
This method is about as effective as number 2. I've tried checkboxes,
hidden fields with random data, preview forms, and probably a couple other
variations, and all of them had little to no lasting effect on reducing
spam.
And now for my own option:
4) Use a different domain name for the guestbook. If the site is
http://mydomain.com, try using http://guestbook.mydomain.com, and be sure
to put something in robots.txt that tells web crawlers not to index the
guestbook.
One of the desired effects that the spambots are trying to achieve is
higher rankings in search engines for the sites that they are listing in
the spams by having as many sites as possible linking to them. By
removing the guestbook from the main domain and limiting the webcrawlers
from indexing the site, it makes the guestbook a less desirable target.
Ken
Reply to: