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ILH
Canada
120 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 03 2008 : 04:27:12
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Has anybody successfully encorporated CAPTCHA into subscription forms? I'm getting hit by spiders on my sign-up forms - and while the double-opt in system is keeping them off the list, its really bogging down MLK with the verification process.
Thanks.
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Ian Hubling
ian@hubling.com |
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xequte
7042 Posts |
Posted - Jul 06 2008 : 01:10:09
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Hi Ian
You don't mention what kind of forms/cgi you are using. For instance if it is ASP a resonably competed developer could add CAPTCHA without much difficulty.
If you just want to roll a simple solution yourself you can do by inserting some Javascript into your web form page:
http://www.google.com/search?q=javascript+captcha
Though, I well designed robot would be able to evade it, so if you try it please advise us how well it resolved the problem.
Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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Douggg
USA
201 Posts |
Posted - Jul 14 2008 : 19:10:16
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Captcha don't work here's why. There' a site called Amber. If you enter a catcha Amber takes off an article of clothing. Guess where Amber's site is getting the captchas? You guesed it, they are from your site.
Don't know where you are, but I live in the US, and we have an endless supply workers who are willing to enter captchas all day long.
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ILH
Canada
120 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2008 : 06:40:46
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Hi Doug,
I hear you - but 99.9% of the spam I'm getting is automated - gibberish entered into the fields. If a simple captcha can deter a percentage of it, it will be welcome.
Besides, any 'human' form filler will know that this requires a double-opt-in email - and hopefully won't waste their time.
I'll post an update to let you know how effective its been at reducing spam.
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Ian Hubling
ian@hubling.com |
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Douggg
USA
201 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2008 : 07:08:28
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I'm getting the similar. Once I heard about the Amber site I decided not to use a captucha.
I'm really curious to know if it helps.
One other question. Some of the captuchas have text/colors that are hard for me to read, (and I have good eye site). Don't you think you'll loose people because they can't understand the captuchas?
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ILH
Canada
120 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2008 : 12:15:10
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I agree - some of the Captchas are very difficult to read. I've been on sites where I have to refresh the code 2 or 3 times to be able to read it. The captcha that I've chosen is very clean and simple.
My submit form needs to be cleaned up - the underlying code has become messy - not to mention that the aesthetics are old. Let me rework it before submitting the page for the group to see. I'll let you know if it cuts down on the spam.
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Ian Hubling
ian@hubling.com |
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xequte
7042 Posts |
Posted - Jul 15 2008 : 16:22:00
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Yes, Ian, I'm interested to know too.
On a more general issue of Spam, it reached a tipping point for us. I went on holiday for a few days last year to an isolated (yet utterly beautiful: www.flickr.com/photos/einalem/1717264355/ <- not my photos) part of New Zealand. Unfortunately it was 40 minute drive just to download my email and so i left it for the weekend, a period in which there was such a deluge of Spam that my account overloaded and we lost quite a bit of real email.
After that we signed up for the Google Apps service and use it for managing most of our incoming email. Their Spam blocker is so good that now receive about 1 spam for every 10 real messages (versus 30 Spam for every 1 real message prior). The only downside is that they snaffle the occasional real message.
Nigel
Xequte Software
www.xequte.com
nigel@xequte.com
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ILH
Canada
120 Posts |
Posted - Jul 17 2008 : 10:08:24
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Well... I'm still waiting to see if it holds out (or just a temporary lag from the spam bots), but so far after implementing a Captcha scheme, I've gone from about 40 or 50 spam subscriptions per day to about 1 per day (its a quiet site to start with).
That's a pretty good reversal of volume - given the minimal investment of time to implement the code.
Again - I haven't had a chance to clean up the page, so I'm a little embarrassed by the sign-up page. When I clean it up I'll post the URL so others can see it in use.
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Ian Hubling
ian@hubling.com |
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Captcha Forms
