[Mailman-Users] creating hidden field to stop bot spamsubscriptionrequest

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Mark Sapiro writes:

 > The asking of a question which requires an "obvious to a human but
 > extremely difficult to a machine" answer is probably the best
 > defence as long as the questions and answers aren't fixed over many
 > Mailman installations.

That's a great idea, actually!  How about a standard (but optional)
feature for the subscription page like this:

   *Please read the following description carefully.  You will be*
   *tested on the content later.                                 *

    This is the mailman-users list.  It is used for communication
    about the Mailman mailing list management software, primarily
    among users, although developers often participate.

    To subscribe

    Your name: [                                                ]
    Your email: [                                               ]
   *Test question:                                               *
   *    Do programmers of this package lurk here?  (yes/no) [   ]*

Of course the "test question" would be list-owner configured, a la the
"security question" for password recovery that is commonly
implemented.  The portions enclosed in stars would only be generated
if the "test question" were non-blank.

The answer to the "test question" could be further obfuscated by
placing it on a different page.

Steve