[Suggestion] Ban IP Address on File

[CMPortal]

Hi there,

We are running the latest version of the script and to be honest couldn't do business without it. We love it including the ability to stop spam attacks.
The one problem we have is from ad posters (Specially from India). Ad posters visit the form and physically type or copy and paste the ad, which doesn't trigger any spam filters. They even fill out the capthca which means the email gets delivered to the recipient.

Usually we just click delete - end of story, however when you get around 50 - 80 per day it gets on your nerves.
One solution we had was adding the IP address to our .htacess file - works well however time consuming to keep updating the file.

Suggestion: (not sure if its already available for the script)
- Create a TXT file or similar file.
- Add all IP addresses and or subnet to this file. One per line.
- When form script is executed, the txt file is referenced and if the IP address is listed, the user is directed to an anti-spam page, blocked, or similar.
- You can use any web base txt editor to add IP addresses to the txt file (So no need for ftp, download / upload, cpanel etc)

Let me know what your thoughts are.

At the end of the day this will hopefully stop spam from users who repeatedly fill out the form.

[russellr]

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion, it's clear and straightforward.

We've avoided implementing an IP block because of the fact that IP addresses change. That bad person's IP address this week might be a good person's IP address next week.

So, without an automated way of un-banning IP addresses after a time, problems arise.

We're planning on providing a service that might resolve all this. Here's how it would work:

1. FormMail users such as yourself would subscribe to this service (hosted by us).
2. If you receive a spam form submission such as the ones you've described, you'd login to the service and copy-and-paste the form results or just a special "Originating IP address" value.
3. Your copy of FormMail running on your server would check the list of spam IP addresses on the server for each form submission. If found, the results would be flagged with an "X-SPAM" header, and your email program can then place it in the spam folder. There would be an option to reject the submission entirely, instead.
4. The service would automatically un-ban IP addresses after a period of time. Probably 1 month as a default. If someone else reports the same IP address then the un-banning period would reset to that day - making it 1 month from the date of the new report.

The un-banning period at step 4 can be done in all sorts of ways and certain IP addresses may never be un-banned.

The great thing about this service is that all FormMail users get to share the anti-spam detection of everyone else.

Does that sound like a good solution?

[CMPortal]

Does that sound like a good solution?

Yes Perfect! +1 for me.