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Spam Filtering?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 7:55 pm
by SteveMann
It has been a few years since I did anything with php programming, and if not for the Wizards in WWB, I wouldn't even attempt forms.
But, of course, the contact form is a spam magnet.

I couldn't get the included Captcha tool to work, but just retyping a few letters is the weakest Captcha of all, so I didn't spend much time with it.

What I have noticed in the few days of watching the spam traffic, I've noticed that the messages almost always contain words like "viagra", Prednisone", "pills", "online pharmacy". Words that my client would never expect from a legitimate contact. Also, the IP addresses are repeating.

Would it be possible in the PHP form handler to look at the IP address, subject and message text to decide if the contact is spam or possibly legitimate?

Re: Spam Filtering?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:06 pm
by Pablo
There is no standard solution for this, this will require a custom script.

Note that the built-in CAPTCHA has many improvements. I personally have good experiences with recatpcha v3.
https://www.wysiwygwebbuilder.com/forum ... 30#p447360

Re: Spam Filtering?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 8:37 pm
by SteveMann
Thanks for the link. I'll give the internal CAPTCHA another look.
Maybe a suggestion for a future version- IP and content filters before sending a form content by email?

Re: Spam Filtering?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:17 pm
by BaconFries
Regarding IP filtering this is already possible with the use of a .htacess file on your server. Within the .htacess will berange of IP's written. There is one issue with this if one of the IP's in the range may be coming from a legit user and they will be blocked. This can be fixed within the .htacess by using allow rather than deny. With all this said it is a feature of your host / server so you would need to contact them by for assistance also note your host /server needs to use Apache for it to work.

Re: Spam Filtering?

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:28 pm
by SteveMann
Thanks, I thought of the .htaccess method, but I would worry, as you said, that the IP could change in the future...