Forum Moderators: phranque
What does everyone here think of captcha.net and using it to create a captcha and/or email form on your site?
I'm trying to make my own php email form, so far i've got a basic one..but i want to add a captcha thingy to prevent spam bots from spamming me.
Is captcha net a good site to get one from or is it better seeking out a free tutorial and making one yourself? I've found a couple but not sure, as they're in the open (so to speak), can the spammers crack those? Although not sure how they can tell your using a particular captcha method.
:)
1. if you are designing a custom email form it is doubtful that a spam bot will even be able to recognize it - just be sure to obfuscate your email address, e.g using JavaScript
2. CAPTCHAs and questions will not prevent you from getting spam because it will be hired humans in third world countries that are entering information into your email form
3. if #2 is the problem, then that can usually be solved by designing your form in such a way that it emails the user a link which must be clicked to actually send (email) you the email form info - this also has the added advantage of verifying your user's email address
CAPTCHAs and questions will not prevent you from getting spam because it will be hired humans in third world countries that are entering information into your email form
In my own experience asking a question most certainly does work. When I did this spam stopped overnight. Even in the third world it is not viable to have humans seeking out forms on websites just to spam them.
We must remember that these forms are on business websites. The form submissions are dealt with my business people who are extremely unlikely to respond positively. Spammers generally tend to target non clued up people who are mor likely to click the links they provide.
I believe that captchas are a different proposition entirely. they are a PITA and I tend to avoid sites that use them when I can because I find it infuriating when I have to type in my best guess several times before I get it right. This turms me off these sites big time.
I still cannot for the life of me understand why captchas seem to be preferred to simple questions.
Even in the third world it is not viable to have humans seeking out forms on websites just to spam them.
and this:
I still cannot for the life of me understand why captchas seem to be preferred to simple questions.
Have you tried to purchase a Hanna Montana concert ticket recently? They are sold out within minutes with as many as 70-80% of the tickets going to ticket scalping systems - bots that spam the sites like Ticketmaster and sell out the concert within minutes of them going on sale.
Companies have now developed systems to read captchas. These systems are very expensive so it depends on the industry. For ticket scalpers where they can make $2000 on a $40 Hanna Montana ticket, it is worth the financial outlay to purchases these expensive systems. Eventually the cost of captcha readers will no longer be cost prohibitive.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that nothing is fool proof. Captchas may be perfectly fine for some applications/sites. Questions may work to eliminate spam for other applications/sites... Yet both of those solutions may fail for others. Find what works for you and stick with it until someone finds a way to beat it... And if the gain of beating your system is substantial enough, they WILL eventually beat it.
[edited by: ZydoSEO at 6:26 am (utc) on Dec. 29, 2007]
Both questions and variable security graphic input are forms of CAPTCHA, and both can be defeated in a number of ways that vary from high tech methods described by ZydoSEO, to low tech third world sweatshops, and trickery like Melissa Strip.
[edited by: phranque at 1:48 am (utc) on Jan. 19, 2008]
[edit reason] no URLs please [/edit]
BeeDeeDubbleU, you need to do a little reading about CAPTCHA's before making such uneducated statements as this:
Web wheeler as a relatively inexperienced member I think it is you who needs to do a bit of reading about the rules of etiquette on this forum. It is not really acceptable to imply that people are uneducated because you happen to disagree with what they say.
I am quite happy with my level of education as well as being quite ready to accept that almost all of the people in this forum are better qualified than me to speak about their specialist area. If you stick around you will learn that this is what makes it a great forum. What I am not happy about is the tone you used in your response.
I can also tell you that I do not have to do any further reading about Captchas. I told you about my own experience. Feel free to agree or disagree but please do not call me uneducated.
All I can do is repeat that it completely solved the problem for me and I am quite happy with my solution, which has been applied successfully to about 15 or 20 websites so far.
Even in the third world it is not viable to have humans seeking out forms on websites just to spam them.
So far, I haven't seen anything that would suggest you are an expert on the use of third world labor to solve CAPTCHAS, and that you are in no position to make such a statement. If you can, indeed, demonstrate your expertise in the subject above, I will happily apologize for calling your statement "uneducated".
If putting your questions on your webpages worked for you, I would suggest that, based upon the previous examples I and others have already provided, either your websites have little or no value to a spammer, or that it's just a matter of time before your CAPTCHAS are defeated.
So far, I haven't seen anything that would suggest you are an expert on the use of third world labor to solve CAPTCHAS, and that you are in no position to make such a statement. If you can, indeed, demonstrate your expertise in the subject above, I will happily apologize for calling your statement "uneducated".
Is anyone an expert on this? Are you? Can you demonstrate your expertise apart from linking to Wikipedia?
Give me a break! Read my post again. I did not claim to be an expert and I did not dismiss anyone else's opinion as being "uneducated". All I did was tell you my experience based on facts and "facts are shiels that winna ding". (Look it up.)
I can live without an apology from you so none is necessary. Have a happy new year!
[edited by: BeeDeeDubbleU at 10:36 pm (utc) on Dec. 29, 2007]
