Spams in guestbook, anything I can stop this?

Brigitte · Post by **Brigitte** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:19 am

Just wondering if someone has a tip for me how I can easily without big effort stop spam robots leaving messages in my guestbook. It is really annoying as every 2 or 3 days I have to delete 20 or more entries, and po%n-spams now start, too which is ridiculous. Is there something I could threaten them with? Thing is that in Germany we could under specific circumstances be made liable for links and their contents and I am not interested to have to go in there every day to delete a whole bunch again.
Thanks for any tips....
from a homebound-angina-struck-Brigitte

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:31 am

What's wrong with the lichen? Not enough Hot Asian Teens?

Are you with me on this Dale, or what?

Loren

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:34 am

I've seen a few websites request you to enter a code to make your post or to send them a messages. I'm not sure how it's done. The code is randomly generated. Your message is blocked from posting without it.
Who hosts/provides your website? do they have any suggestions for increased security?

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:36 am

Brigitte wrote:Just wondering if someone has a tip for me how I can easily without big effort stop spam robots leaving messages in my guestbook. It is really annoying as every 2 or 3 days I have to delete 20 or more entries, and po%n-spams now start, too which is ridiculous. Is there something I could threaten them with? Thing is that in Germany we could under specific circumstances be made liable for links and their contents and I am not interested to have to go in there every day to delete a whole bunch again.
Thanks for any tips....
from a homebound-angina-struck-Brigitte

I feel for you Brigitte. When people started leaving lichen in my guestbook, I just removed the thing. I don't have a good answer for you.

Brigitte · Post by **Brigitte** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:56 am

I have talked with the host "1und1" and as I am using frontpage (2003 meanwhile) the only thing they could advise me to do is to implement an asp or php pearl guestbook which I am actually looking into to see if my technical talents are enough for this, changes in the source code I learned when working for Motorola that is not the big deal I hope. I get always told that Frontpage is not the best to deal but it is the one programm I am used to for about 9 years now and changing to something else is kind of SCARY

and means most likely a lot of work besides what I am doing already....

Thanks again...

Brigitte

hans · Post by **hans** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:00 am

perhaps you can configure the guestbook so that it does not allow posting of html and links? Link spamming is happening because people make money with it, the objective is to raise rank for search engines. Disallowing links (best: disallowing posts which have links in them) will make it unattractive for link spammers.

Und ich wünsch Dir gute Besserung!

~Hans

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:36 pm

I think that guestbooks aren't worth it anymore. Any promotional or sentimental value has been ruined by the spammers.

This happened here at CF years ago. We had fun with a thread about it but it made the site not family-friendly, if you followed the link by the signer.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 12:55 pm

I have trouble with this as well.

I will clean it out by hand until it starts happening multiple times a day, then I disable the guestbook for a week or so and the cycle starts over.

--James

Post by **Dale** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:00 pm

It's a problem. I've eliminated guestbooks on all websites I run because of the very problem you've had. I administer three blogs and all of them get spam comments which I have to delete.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:05 pm

I am not familiar with guestbooks, but I am curious about what Tony mentioned regarding giving the user a password to be able to log in to your guestbook. This does not have to be changed. Simply put the password on a graphic. Robots can't read graphics. Same with putting your e-mail address on your website. Put it on a graphic, so that robots can't read it. Only a human can. That can help eliminate one source of spam.

djm

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:44 pm

I get them occasionally. They seem to be triggered by new blog entries.

So Dale...does Dr. Candle have an artificial left arm?

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:48 pm

emmline wrote:I get them occasionally. They seem to be triggered by new blog entries.

So Dale...does Dr. Candle have an artificial left arm?

"It wasn't me! It was the one-armed man!!"

Feadin · Post by **Feadin** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:41 pm

Using that graphic "password", as Tony and djm mentioned, may work; but of course only if the spam is written by a bot...
And it shouldn't be difficult at all to make it in PHP. You can give it a try and also you can ask here any question you may have. I used to program in PHP and I bet there're many others PHP Chiffers around

And I agree with the people that said Frontpage is not the best tool for html. It's not good, the source code is not clean nor easy to read.

BTW: This is a little off-topic, but it would be very nice to have some soundclips in the site, I'd love to hear those low and bass whistles...

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:35 pm

my error

djm

Brigitte · Post by **Brigitte** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 3:57 am

Thanks a lot for all the information. I also checked into the guestbook with a code option and found a company who offers these, no idea though how much it could cost. I also will have another talk with a friend about the php and how I could go about it as soon as my head is clear again from coffing and sneezing

or just leave it online as it is now and not have any adding possibility anymore. I hang on to Frontpage also because I have so much work put into all the lists and writing it again into another program I do not have the time anymore as I used to have. Flash design I am not fast about as I do not want the site to get slow not everyone has dsl and flatrates and also I know from feedback of blind users, that my layout is working perfect for them (userfriendly) and that is what I really like about it, hard to get lost on it.

feadin:BTW: This is a little off-topic, but it would be very nice to have some soundclips in the site, I'd love to hear those low and bass whistles...

Regarding sound clips on the site, it always was an aim but never had the proper tools for doing it well and time is also a big factor. Colin has his own computer now and is learning to record on it properly, some first recordings and mixings of tunes worked already fineand I hope that there will be sound clips on how the different whistle versions and keys can sound soon. There are recordings on clips and snips and also on CD, some I have listed on our CD reference list and there are many more CDs in our shelf by now which need adding when I have time again. With the Bass whistles, Sean Smyth comes straight to mind as he just used a Bass A on Lunasa's new album and Bass Bb also on previous ones. There are also plenty of band movies with Overtons on another makers website.

Need a peppermint tee for my throat now..... thanks again for your help, if I decide to carry on and get stuck with php I will happily take up the offer for contacting and may do so via pm or email option.

Have a great start into your day
Brigitte

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Spams in guestbook, anything I can stop this?

Spams in guestbook, anything I can stop this?

Re: Spams in guestbook, anything I can stop this?