Web Design challenge - Form spamming.
Latest spamming technique involves using the standard forms on the site to send unsolicited messages to the owners of the site. Instead of sending spam email – illegal practice – spammers now are beginning to fill in the forms with inappropriate content and submitting it to the site owners.
Web Design has now a dilemma to work with:
1. Make sure that the forms cannot be auto filled in by adding the visual verification code to them
2. Deter prospects and customers by adding visual verification code to forms.
No one was ready to this new angle in spam distribution. Since it is not affecting large populations it is unlikely to be banned and with billions of websites it is likely to spread fast and wide. These distributions rely on ability of the form to be populated by a computer program and automatically submitted. The only sure way of combating this behavior from the design point of view is to block the submission of the form with a visual confirmation. The form still can be populated by software, but the verification ode must be entered by a person. This will not stop the spammers but will severely limit their ability to have a wide distribution.
Please comment on this issue and add your opinion on how it will impact yourself and your customers while submitting standard contact us forms.