>I have two forms for prospective students to fill out and I'm being deluged
> with spam bots. What is the best way to prevent this? Thanks.
> Here are the forms:
> http://saxlessons.com/privatelessonform.htm
> http://saxlessons.com/onlinelessonform.htm
>
You need some sort of validation mechanism. Captchas or one option (the
fuzzy image you have from which you enter the text it displays). Although to
be fully effective these need to rotate, even a static one can work.
See
http://www.captcha.net/
Another option is some self evident question that has to be answered, with a
number of check box options. 'What color is a blue parrot?' With red, green
and blue check boxes. These are difficult for spam bots to deal with. For
added security give the checkboxes (or whatever you use) ID's something
other the red, green and blue.
With the Captcha or question you test for the correct answer before
continuing to process the form.
Either of these approaches will stop or vastly reduce the amount of spam you
receive.
HTH
--
Ian Haynes
MS MVP FrontPage
http://www.ew-resource.co.uk