Contact page spam

[Shawn Gossman]

Who here gets a lot of spam from the contact page?

You would think you could add some kind of captcha to it by default.

I usually get a few spam emails a day. Ultimately, I've decided to just remove the contact page altogether. If someone wants to contact me, they can join and send me a message.

Have any of you removed your contact form on XF at all?

 

[frm]

Have any of you removed your contact form on XF at all?

No. In fact, I make them into threads so they're not sent into the abyss as you can miss something.

Ultimately, I've decided to just remove the contact page altogether. If someone wants to contact me, they can join and send me a message.

Unfortunately, this isn't DMCA compliant (I'd wager GDRP too but don't really care about that side of the pond). I'd add a Help page with the relevant information if you're going to remove the form.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

No. In fact, I make them into threads so they're not sent into the abyss as you can miss something.

How do you go about doing this? Make a guest board?

 

[frm]

How do you go about doing this? Make a guest board?

A private node (that doesn't add to post count) and with Ozzy's (now Xon) Contact Us Thread add on.

[OzzModz] Contact Us Thread

Xon submitted a new resource: Contact Us Thread - Creates a thread when the Contact Us form is used. When the Contact Us form is used, this add-on will create a thread in a specified forum. Associates the thread ownership with the logged in user or as a guest user, and uses a phrase to format...

xenforo.com

I find sorting through one forum easier than going Inbox, Promotion, Forums, Spam (Google's foldering/labeling) then locking it if it's unimportant (a custom add on where locked threads go to the back) so I can later batch examine spam to hopefully build better spam measures or emailing them back as required.

 

[Tracy]

You would think you could add some kind of captcha to it by default.

I believe that there is an option to allow captchas.
If you are using captcha, then it should be enabled on the contact us page. Some of the old ones required the contact us page to not be in an overlay.

I use Turnstile and get no contact spam even though I frequently see people attempting to use the contact link. When I do see it I check the IP and they are usually bots.
If you are using DP's CloudFlare add-on there is some info in the ACP about it.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

A private node (that doesn't add to post count) and with Ozzy's (now Xon) Contact Us Thread add on.

[OzzModz] Contact Us Thread

Xon submitted a new resource: Contact Us Thread - Creates a thread when the Contact Us form is used. When the Contact Us form is used, this add-on will create a thread in a specified forum. Associates the thread ownership with the logged in user or as a guest user, and uses a phrase to format...

xenforo.com

I find sorting through one forum easier than going Inbox, Promotion, Forums, Spam (Google's foldering/labeling) then locking it if it's unimportant (a custom add on where locked threads go to the back) so I can later batch examine spam to hopefully build better spam measures or emailing them back as required.

Thanks.

I think I'll use this option. It seems to be a better method.