[Mailman-Users] Automated Subscription Bots Inundating List Owners With Subscription Requests

[Carl Zwanzig]

On 10/22/2012 11:55 PM, Ralf Hildebrandt wrote:
> I recently got 30 new comments on my blog, all of which were spam.
> And of course I'm using a CAPTCHA there. So Brad's point is probably
> valid.

I don't like captcha's either, and one of their problems is that they're so 
easy to see programatically.

I've seen an interesting method in use:
Right above the form, the page text says "Enter the word blue below", it's 
in body text. In the form, there's a box named whatsthecolor (or maybe just 
'fred'). User enters "blue" and everything goes on. I think it unlikely that 
anyone will code their bot to parse the correct word out of the body text 
and enter it in the right form field.

I've used a similar method for help email to places like yahoo. At the 
bottom of the text I ask "Please tell me your favorite color so I know I'm 
working with a real person." Seems to work.

z!