Spam Busters!
This is a very quick post, of only 278 words about a potentially useful plugin for your WordPress site. It'll take you just a couple of minutes to read!
Over time, I've seen many people asking about how to reduce spam from comments and contact forms. The thing is that we can't stop humans from manually wasting their "oh so valuable" time to create spam and if we block their email or IP address they often simply use another one. But about 90% of spam comes from auto bots, in my case through my contact form.
A few days ago I got around to looking for a solution and found "WP Armour".
The way "WP Armour" works is that it adds an extra, hidden field to forms it finds on your site. The hidden field, surprise surprise, can't be seen by humans however, it is detected by the bots which then fill it/them out, thereby identifying themselves as nuisance bots.
Nuisance bots are then told to "go away and leave us alone" or similar.
I had been receiving between 10 and 20 spam messages from bots through my contact form most days. The last 3 days have been bot spam-free!
The nuisance bots are now being slapped. If you like smacking bots this is one way to get the job done.
If you want to try out WP Armour you can download it under Plugins in the WordPress dashboard. It's very simple to set up (plug and play) and free! There's a premium version that apparently broadens the spam detection methods: the free version does what I want at this time.
If you have knowledge of other solutions to this problem, please share in the comments.
:-)
Richard
PS. I tested the site load speed before and after implementation. It made no difference to the load time.
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Recent Comments
67
That's awesome!
I use the Honeypot for Contact 7 plugin and that works in a similar way to the Amour plugin by adding hidden code to dissuade bots from following.
That recent spam issue I wrote about was cleared up instantly, and no slow-down either.
Rudy
Yes, Rudy! For those who don't know ... The Honeypot is a term used to mean the method described of adding a trap that humans can't see but the bots can.
Thanks for that feedback.
:-)
Richard
That is true.
The Honeypot for Contact7 is also the name for the plugin for those who want to use it with their contact form7.
Rudy
Thanks for the heads up Rudy.
Excellent ... so that's another option for people using CF7.
WP Armour works with a long list of forms as follows:
WP FORMS
TOOLSET FORMS
EASY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
CONTACT FORM 7
FORMIDABLE FORMS
WOOCOMMERCE
GRAVITY FORMS
BB PRESS FORUM
QuForm
NINJA FORMS
WP REGISTRATION
BUDDYPRESS
CALDERA FORMS
WP COMMENTS
MC4WP: Mailchimp for WP
I use WP Forms on my sites.
:-)
Richard
Hi Rudy
To clarify ... it automatically "attaches itself" to whatever forms it finds and allows the WP Admin to see and test the effect that the bots see. People not logged in as admin simply see the normal forms.
:-)
Richard
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Thanks for sharing Richard :-)
It's nice to see you here, Lisa. Thanks for commenting.
:-)
Richard