Eliminate Form Spam with CAPTCHA

Incorporating Forms on Your Site? Got “CAPTCHA”?

If your website includes forms, you may encounter the annoyance of “form spam.” This issue can impact various forms on your site, such as comments on blog posts, the Contact Us form, and inquiry forms. Spammers use “spambots” to scour the internet for website forms. When a form is identified, these bots infiltrate and initiate spam submissions. Their goal is to have their submissions visible on a platform, creating a space for their links. They are not interested in forms unrelated to forums or blog comments. Even if only a small fraction of these messages successfully bypass the defenses, it’s considered a victory for them.

Your business becomes a target for this form of spam attack, and the content of these messages may need clarification or be more concise. The influx could start at around 10 messages daily, escalating to 20, 50, or even more, causing significant irritation.

Fortunately, there’s a solution to counter the majority, if not all, of these form spam attacks. It goes by the name “CAPTCHA,” an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” often simply referred to as CAPTCHA. This system prompts users to enter the characters and digits displayed in an image, verifying their human identity. CAPTCHA has proven highly effective in preventing the infiltration of form spam.

Ensure that CAPTCHA has been properly installed

When crafting new website software customized to your specifications, it’s vital to include CAPTCHA integration. If you’re adding CAPTCHA to existing software on your website, be aware that this may slightly extend the development timeline. Nonetheless, the substantial benefits of having CAPTCHA in place make it a worthwhile investment. This strategic implementation enhances your business’s productivity by minimizing and, ideally, eliminating such troublesome inconveniences.