I’m frustrated

Can we have Captcha added to forms and guestbook to combat spam?

Are there plans to add CAPTCHA or something similar to guestbook & forms on Webs? I see it's now available when becoming a website member, so why not add it for use within the website for submissions? It makes no sense for me to password-protect my form as I want people to fill it out and submit it easily. We run an animal rescue and use the forms for prospective adopters to apply for a new family member - spammers are making it so that prospective adopters have issues applying to adopt and dogs are potentially missing out on a wonderful forever home because of it.

www.bassetrescecalgary.com
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  • 1
    I agree with you. In fact this is what I was going to suggest: Can the Captcha be implemented on individual forms? Wouldn't the Captcha be more effective on submission forms before they are submitted and recorded on csv reports? So, when people are trying to submit spam, it can be stopped before being recorded on csv reports. Or, can site owners review submitted forms before being recorded to csv reports?
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  • 2
    Believe me, there are topics asking this for ages, but Webs will sleep on it for another year or so. Ignore the topic for another two years, put it "into consideration" for another five and then if we're lucky Webs might give it a "to do/planned" status. Maybe if we push for it real hard our grandchildren will have this MOST BASIC and useful feature and we will have done our good deed for a lifetime by "liking the idea".
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  • I’m confused
    1
    It seems to me that Captcha was implemented solely to verify owners of sites instead of stopping spammers.
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  • I’m frustrated
    3
    Please can we have some sort of verification solution to stop automated spam ending up in our guestbook, we are having to go in every few hours to delete inappropriate messages. It is becoming a real drain on our resources to keep checking particularly as the Webs email system only notifies us of the first three activities each day, so we now have to check the guestbook regularly ourselves. Thank you
    • view 1 more comment
    • isn't there an option to approve messages before they are published??
    • A while back I did suggest two solutions either some sort of captcha mechanism and/or a prior approval option to foil the automated spam. I made my thread a problem comment because we had so much spam at the time but Webs asked instead that I created an ideas thread, I found this one had been started already and so I tagged onto it.

      If a prior approval option for guestbook messages has now been implemented, I would be grateful if someone could tell me how to switch this on.

      We want our visitors to be able to leave guestbook messages relatively easily. The only other solution I saw suggested was that you made it a members only facility. That wouldn't work for us as not everyone who looks at our website wants to be a member, but they do like to look at and comment in the guestbook. We don't want our website visitors to restricted from being able to do that.
      Thanks
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  • I’m annoyed
    1
    I agree...I need captchas on my forms. Adding free ones from other sites doesn't work easily and is tricky to add.
    PLEASE ADD CAPTCHAS TO FORMS...
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  • This reply was removed on 2011-09-12.
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  • 3
    Hi Eric

    I notice that you removed bielefeldpompey's comments about the spam they had received. I don't think that is entirely fair. To my mind the website owner was making a legitimate point about the issues faced in dealing with unwanted guestbook spam.

    I also read the comment which said "Both I and my members mark it all as spam but nothing I happens to that either" which was also posted by bielefeldpompey and which has been removed also. Actually quite an important point was being relayed to you here about guestbook spam and spam handling generally, which is highly relevant and entirely appropriate to this topic which is after all tagged as "captcha" "spam" and "stop spammers".

    When a guestbook message has been posted, there is an option for us to report the message as spam (bottom right hand corner) . I spoke to Webs help about this facility some time ago and as I understand it, Webs requires three such spam reports to be lodged in order to take action. There is an issue with this approach, we want to report and remove spam messages when we see them, not leave them hanging around waiting for two further reports to be filed.

    So please can I just check:
    1. Can you confirm that three such spam reports are required?
    2. Can I ask, what action does Webs take when three reports have been filed?

    Thanks ever so much
    Annie xx
    • view 14 more comments
    • I have some joker from Brazil using up my form submissions as spam. How do I ad a Captcha to my forms page to stop this crap? Thanks
    • Eric (Official Rep) April 11, 2016 20:08
      @cincyparanormal:
      Sorry, it's not possible to put a captcha on forms. What is your site address?
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  • I’m VERY FRUSTRATED
    Yes, we need a CAPTCHA at least for form submissions. This service is very limited in my case (I only have 25 a month) and it's being spent mostly in unsolicited service offers.

    I don't want to pay more to extend my 25 -a-month allowance, because I can't support those messages that do not come from CUSTOMERS!!
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  • I’m sad
    I have spent the last two weeks dutifully marking my unwanted entries as Spam and deleting some because of their aggressive nature. The http://www.longbuckby.net/apps/guestb... now looks ridiculous showing all 29 of them as "Comment marked as Spam" and the one decent comment I have now off the 1st page!!

    I will be withdrawing the guestbook from the site once other users and possibly Webs have seen what it looks like.

    If I view them on the mobile site, all spam entries are also displayed as normal hence my reason for removing those most offensive.
    • view 1 more comment
    • Hi bielefeldpompey

      I took a look at your guestbook - what a mess! I share your frustration, we worked really hard to make our website as beautiful as possible and we were so upset the first time the guestbook got trashed!

      I agree with Eric - there is no point reporting this stuff as spam to yourself - delete them all.

      And, I know this is finger in the dyke stuff, but we also report automated spam to
      www.botscout.com/
      and I always report their email address to the provider! I know it is a drop in the ocean and it is really time-consuming and probably doesn't do much but it makes me feel better!

      Eric, Any news on the solution and/or implementation date?

      Regards
      Annie
    • Not yet, Annie. I know this is very important to you all, so I'll post updates here the second that I have more information.
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  • Hey folks

    Our guestbook has got a captcha screen! Thanks Eric - is it permanent?

    Annie xx
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  • I’m Very happy
    Thank you Eric and thank you webs! Looks good and by golly it works too. No spammers since it was installed.
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  • I’m very happy
    Hi guys thought you might appreciate an update - since the implementation of the captcha capability we have not had to deal with any spam. Don't know how long it will last but so far so good!
    Thank you and I'll keep you updated as to how we get on.
    Best wishes
    Annie xx
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  • It would be great to have a Submit Web Form that when visitors / customers fill it out it could be made so as its to be done correctly to avoid junk submissions ..As an example : their email must be valid, A valid name & address ect: or it wont submit until done correctly.. l really think Webs needs to offer their customers this sort of enhancement ...l am sure there are may out there that get quit annoyed at getting junk submitted forms ..

    This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
    Customer Identification Varification Submit Forms.
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  • Any updates on this? I had to remove guestbook because of the spam problem but now I just put it back and I wanted to set it so I can approve comments but I don't see a way to do that. The only way to help this problem is to limit comments to members only. So I was wondering if webs.com plan to require captcha or allow admins to approve comments before they are published.
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  • I’m thankful
    Liz,

    As Webs Staff are probably away on a well earned break today I can confirm this problem has been resolved. If you check the guestbook without being logged in, you will see the form has captacha installed. Members can enter a message without captacha and therefore you won't realise this has been fixed. I used to receive 3 or more spams entries each day, I've had none since this was added some months back.

    Well done Webs I say.

    Merry Christmas to all

    Brian
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