Spam protection ?

[newhere]

hi guys
stupid question from a beginner here

I want to insert a VERY SIMPLE form on a charity's website which asks users to insert their email address in order to be added to the charity's mailing list ..ie just a text box on a web page.

I'm using Dreamweaver 8 for this.

Do I need to be worried about SPAM ? I mean will spambots fill in the form and bombard the charity's email address which unfortunately is outlook express and therefore not good at filtering spam ?

I don't want this worthy charity to be forced to close down their email account.

Advice much appreciated !

thanks

[dtm32236]

Here's what I do with my email forms, and it seems to work pretty well...

I set up a text field and call it 'info' or whatever you'd like to call it. <input type="text" name="info" class="formInfo">. Then in my external CSS file, I create a 'formInfo' class and make it hidden. This way, the field is hidden on the form, but the bots don't know that. Then when I set up my form validation, I make it so that if there's anything in that field, it'll be invalid (there's no way a human could input anything, but a bot certainly will).

That seems to work pretty well for me...

[greenmedia]

I've found that adding a simple text field with a question along the lines of 'What is the answer to 2+2' can cut down the number auto submissions.
You would need to take account of people typing 'four' as well as 4 in the validation though.

[dtm32236]

I've found that adding a simple text field with a question along the lines of 'What is the answer to 2+2' can cut down the number auto submissions.
You would need to take account of people typing 'four' as well as 4 in the validation though.

Note that I would make the 2+2 an image, so that bots can't read it. Although I'm not sure they would read it as text anyway.

[Dan Schulz]

Here's what I do with my email forms, and it seems to work pretty well...

I set up a text field and call it 'info' or whatever you'd like to call it. <input type="text" name="info" class="formInfo">. Then in my external CSS file, I create a 'formInfo' class and make it hidden. This way, the field is hidden on the form, but the bots don't know that. Then when I set up my form validation, I make it so that if there's anything in that field, it'll be invalid (there's no way a human could input anything, but a bot certainly will).

That seems to work pretty well for me...

Except that people without a CSS capable device will see the form input (such as me when I'm on my cell phone).

[newhere]

ok i'll have to battle it out about how to include an invisible text field in my form -can anyone help me out with the server-side scripting needed to process this simple form - ie just gather the web users' email address and send it somewhere

many thanks
newhere

[cfernald]

Good stuff - thanks.

[molona]

It depends on the server language you use

If it is php and the method is GET (and saving it inside a variable)

$myVar = $_GET["name_of_variable_in_form"]

If it is php and the method is POST

$myVar=$_POST["name_of_variable_in_form"]

if you are using ASP and the method is GET

varName = request.querystring("name_of_variable_in_form")

if you are using ASP and the method is POST

varName= request.Form("name_of_variable_in_form")

Of course, you can use ASP .NET, then it is a bit different because you'd be using <asp:label></asp:label>

[bullshitwebsites]

Spam them back...

[Dan Schulz]

Spam them back...

Two wrongs never make a right.