contact us form spamming

I building my store anew using zen cart 1.5.4. This time I want to redo the contact us to get rid of the constant spamming.
I found a site http://www.html-form-guide.com/contact-form/creating-a-contact-form.html that offers free simple contact us forms.
I would like to use the simple form with captcha but I don't know how to incorporate it into my zen cart.
Can someone tell me how to go about adding it.

Have you looked at the zencart captcha 3rd party module
https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=215

What version is/was your old store? newer versions of Zen cart have a "honey Pot" method of controlling spam built in, requiring an actual human to fill out the form. A robot will fill out the hidden field.

The last version of my store was 1.5.1 and I got nothing but spamming. That's why I want to either put in the contact form I mentioned or just do away with it.

I'll take a look at it. Know anyone who has used it?

yes, I have upgraded 100 zen carts since January....they all use it, and I haven't heard any complaining. Most of the contact us spam comes from robots, that will fill in the hidden form field, humans don't .....human's also can fill out a captcha, so captcha doesn't do anything except annoy people.

As far as I know the hidden field was added in 1.5.1
Was your 1.5.1 store an upgrade from an earlier version?

Some templates which use the mega menu neglected to add the hidden field in the contact us form embedded within the megamenu.

I didn't see a link to your site or template. That might be beneficial for additional help.

RixStix:

Some templates which use the mega menu neglected to add the hidden field in the contact us form embedded within the megamenu.

I didn't see a link to your site or template. That might be beneficial for additional help.

Starting with ZC 1.5.1, the above is definitely the primary path of spam. Otherwise using the template files associated with an old version of ZC (not comparing your template version with those of the template_defaults version) is the other primary path. Have to incorporate the honey pot from the current version into the template file(s) that override the default files for it to work.

Sorry for the delay in response. I've been working on an install/migration to a new server.
My old zc was 1.5.1. It was an new install.
The store I'm building now is zen cart 1.5.4 and based on the Winchester Responsive template by Anne at Picaflor-Azul.
You can see the sandbox site at h t t p : / / sandbox.byethost3 . c o m/index.php?main_page=
I confused as to what the "Honey Pot" method is. Is that part of zc or the module. If part of zc how is it set up.

The 'honeypot' referred to is built in to 1.5.4. As described, it provides a 'hidden field' which bots fill in, but humans don't see. It isn't set up - it just is included in the code.

ken1:

Sorry for the delay in response. I've been working on an install/migration to a new server.
My old zc was 1.5.1. It was an new install.
The store I'm building now is zen cart 1.5.4 and based on the Winchester Responsive template by Anne at Picaflor-Azul.
You can see the sandbox site at h t t p : / / sandbox.byethost3 . c o m/index.php?main_page=
I confused as to what the "Honey Pot" method is. Is that part of zc or the module. If part of zc how is it set up.

The ContactUs code used in the megamenu included with your template does not utilize the same code as the core zencart contactus. Therefore the contactus in the megamenu does not contain the hidden field/honeypot used to trap the spambots.

Unfortunately, I neglected to document the changes I had to make.

Ugh.
So do I have any options. I am also searching the template help site but I haven't found any options other than removing the form.

Yeah, look at how the tpl_contact_us.php file handles it/what it displays, search the forum for honeypot, take a look at some of the other forums related to templates from the same author, search for mega-menu, etc.

I think there is a decent summary of at least three options in the responsive sheffield blue forum (look at the first edition not the most recent version.)

ken1:

Ugh.
So do I have any options. I am also searching the template help site but I haven't found any options other than removing the form.
Just dump the contact us form in the mega menu.. You won't miss it.. (I think it's silly personally) It's not THAT useful IMHO.. Other than it being something kinda cool to do (having a form inside a menu), without the honeypot spam deterrent code, the form is a gigantic PITA.. Hardly worth the "cool factor" it provides.. There are posts (you will have to look for them) which address how to fix it to add the same module that the default contact us form uses which WILL resolve your spam issue.. Again a whole lotta work for a VERY small gain IMHO..

My advice.. remove it from the mega menu and replace it with a simple link to the contact us page and be done with it..

I have a client who is also asking me to add a CAPTCHA field to his contact us form. I can see that he has the version of the contact form that does have a hidden field called "should_be_empty." Since he has this field in his contact form, why does he still get SPAM? Is there a filter that has to be turned on somewhere to prevent the contact info from being sent if this field is completed?

earmsby:

I have a client who is also asking me to add a CAPTCHA field to his contact us form. I can see that he has the version of the contact form that does have a hidden field called "should_be_empty." Since he has this field in his contact form, why does he still get SPAM? Is there a filter that has to be turned on somewhere to prevent the contact info from being sent if this field is completed?

As identified through this thread, there is the possibility of having more than one contact us form to be filled in. Is there only one contact us form on the site in question? Is another "visible" when looking at the source code of the page (pressing F12 while viewing the page)? If there is and that form does not also have the honey-pot, then that would/could be the source of the spam...

As always, providing a link to the site helps to identify otherwise we all sit around and speculate...

Thanks for your reply. Here's a link to the contact form in question:

https://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=contact_us

As far as I am aware there isn't another contact form. When I look at the source code, I can see that there is a hidden field in the form:

<input type="text" name="should_be_empty" size="40" id="CUAS" style="visibility:hidden; display:none;" autocomplete="off">

I guess what I was trying to understand is where/how is the processing done that takes this field into account. I am going ahead and searching for the field name in Developers Tool Kit in the store admin but thought I would see if there was an easy solution (like a setting somewhere that I had simply neglected to turn on or off).

Thanks!

earmsby:

Thanks for your reply. Here's a link to the contact form in question:

https://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=contact_us

As far as I am aware there isn't another contact form. When I look at the source code, I can see that there is a hidden field in the form:

Primary "functionality" to handle that field is expected to be found in includes/modules/pages/contact_us/header_php.php

If there are other files in that directory ending with .php then they will also be processed which includes potentially be processed or possibly that merges in an upgrade were not complete. The functionality was first introduced in ZC 1.5.1. Didn't see above what version of ZC is being used on this site...

earmsby:

I have a client who is also asking me to add a CAPTCHA field to his contact us form. I can see that he has the version of the contact form that does have a hidden field called "should_be_empty." Since he has this field in his contact form, why does he still get SPAM? Is there a filter that has to be turned on somewhere to prevent the contact info from being sent if this field is completed?

He gets spam because of this page: http://www.billholabmusic.com/contact-us/ where he has his email address on this page making him a target for scrappers/spammers.. Why have that page at all..Why not point that link to the Zen Cart Contact Us form??