CleanTalk added spam protection for Flamingo plugin using direct form integration. So in case, you prefer using Flamingo to store submitted messages be sure to use the most effective Anti-Spam plugin to protect it. Read the guide below and learn 4 steps to protect all your contact forms from spam.
Once the CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin is installed it starts to protect all of the existing forms on your WordPress website. It may not only be Contact Form 7 forms but also many others.
To install the Anti-Spam plugin, go to your WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Add New.
Then enter «CleanTalk» in the search box and click the Install button for «Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk».
After installing the plugin, click the «Activate» button.
After it is done go to the plugin settings and click the «Get Access Key Automatically» button. Then just click the «Save Settings» button.
That’s it! From now you How to completely protect your Flamingo from spam.
How to check Flamingo Spam Protection
You can test the work of Anti-Spam protection for Flamingo by using a test email s @ cleantalk.org (without spaces). First, open the form in an Incognito browser tab. Fill in all the required form fields and send a form. After submitting the form, you will see a block message about the block on the form submission.
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If you have any questions, add a comment and we will be happy to help you.
Create your CleanTalk account – Register now and protect your Flamingo messages from spam in 5 minutes
Update
The protection works only for website visitors, not for website admins. Be sure to test the form protection using Incognito mode.
Additional features
CleanTalk protects all forms at once: comments, registrations, feedbacks, contacts, reviews.
Installation takes about 1-2 minutes.
Smart 99% protection against spambots.
Always online – 24/7 technical support.
Logs, SpamFireWall, personal lists, country filters, stop-words, and many others.
Discover the complete list of CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin features here.
CleanTalk added spam protection for Contact Form by BestWebSoft using direct form integration. So in case, you prefer using this type of contact forms be sure to use the most effective Anti-Spam plugin. Read the guide below and learn 4 steps to protect all your contact forms from spam.
Once the CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin is installed it starts to protect all of the existing forms on your WordPress website. It may not only be Contact Forms by BestWebSoft but also many others.
To install the Anti-Spam plugin, go to your WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Add New.
Then enter «CleanTalk» in the search box and click the Install button for «Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk».
After installing the plugin, click the «Activate» button.
After it is done go to the plugin settings and click the «Get Access Key Automatically» button. Then just click the «Save Settings» button.
That’s it! From now you How to completely protect your Contact Forms from spam.
How to check Contact Form by BestWebSoft Spam Protection
You can test the work of Anti-Spam protection for your Contact Forms by using a test email s @ cleantalk.org (without spaces). First, open the form in an Incognito browser tab. Fill in all the required form fields and send a form. After submitting the form, you will see a block message about the block on the form submission.
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If you have any questions, add a comment and we will be happy to help you.
Create your CleanTalk account – Register now and protect your Contact Forms from spam in 5 minutes
Update
The protection works only for website visitors, not for website admins. Be sure to test the form protection using Incognito mode.
Additional features
CleanTalk protects all forms at once: comments, registrations, feedbacks, contacts, reviews.
Installation takes about 1-2 minutes.
Smart 99% protection against spambots.
Always online – 24/7 technical support.
Logs, SpamFireWall, personal lists, country filters, stop-words, and many others.
Discover the complete list of CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin features here.
We continue sharing our clients’ reviews and today’s great review is kindly brought to you by Richard from peacocksoftware.com on Trustpilot.
Reliable, great service
This is a very awesome service. I run several business websites (using Drupal), and as such I have “contact us” forms on each one. Dealing with spam was a constant battle, as there were very few captcha/recaptcha solutions available. I found cleantalk years ago, and have been hooked ever since.
CleanTalk added spam protection for Klaviyo web forms using direct form integration. So in case, you prefer using Klaviyo web forms be sure to use the most effective Anti-Spam plugin. Read the guide below and learn 4 steps to protect your Klaviyo web forms from spam.
Once the CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin is installed it starts to protect all of the existing forms on your WordPress website. It may not only be Klaviyo web forms but also many others.
To install the Anti-Spam plugin, go to your WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Add New.
Then enter «СleanTalk» in the search box and click the Install button for «Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk».
After installing the plugin, click the «Activate» button.
After it is done go to the plugin settings and click the «Get Access Key Automatically» button. Then just click the «Save Settings» button.
That’s it! From now you How to completely protect your Klaviyo web forms from spam.
How to check spam protection for Klaviyo web forms
You can test the work of Anti-Spam protection for your СonvertKit Forms by using a test email s @ cleantalk.org (without spaces). First, open the form in an Incognito browser tab. Fill in all the required form fields and send a form. After submitting the form, you will see a block message about the block on the form submission.
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If you have any questions, add a comment and we will be happy to help you.
Create your CleanTalk account – Register now and protect your СonvertKit Forms from spam in 5 minutes
Update
The protection works only for website visitors, not for website admins. Be sure to test the form protection using Incognito mode.
Additional features
CleanTalk protects all forms at once: comments, registrations, feedbacks, contacts, reviews.
Installation takes about 1-2 minutes.
Smart 99% protection against spambots.
Always online – 24/7 technical support.
Logs, SpamFireWall, personal lists, country filters, stop-words, and many others.
Discover the complete list of CleanTalk Anti-Spam plugin features here.
False positives happen. Don’t be scared if you happen to encounter one of them – any issue always has one or another solution.
In order to help you and save you time, we have prepared a list of guides for all existing CleanTalk cloud responses (also known as API responses, server answers, service responses). Use it to see the detailed instructions for every type of response and what to do with it if you suppose, you have encountered a false positive.
We continue sharing our clients’ reviews and today’s one is kindly brought to you by Matt Erney on Trustpilot.
The service works well to keep our form spam under control!
TWe have been using the CleanTalk plugin for 3 years to control form spam on any of our client websites (and our own site). CleanTalk does a fabulous job of preventing the vast majority of spam. We use the WordPress plugin as our primary integration.
As you know, we have direct integration with the most popular contact form plugin – Contact Form 7. Also, you are probably familiar with the Flamingo – a message storage plugin, which doesn’t store submitted messages. Earlier, when using these two plugins simultaneously with CleanTalk Anti-Spam, messages recognized as spam would end up in the “spam” folder instead of just being deleted.
After a couple of requests about this, we decided that it would be a great idea not to store messages recognized as spam in Flamingo. So now we’ve made the “Save Flamingo Spam entries” option in the Anti-Spam plugin settings. It is enabled by default, but you can turn it off, after which messages recognized as spam will stop being stored in this folder.
How to activate the option
1. Install both Contact Form 7 and Flamingo plugins. The option is displayed only if you have both plugins installed and activated.
2. Go to Anti-Spam plugin settings in your WordPress dashboard
3. Scroll down to “Forms to protect” directory, find the “Save Flamingo spam entries” option and switch it off. The option is switched on by default.
That’s it! Now your messages recognized as spam will not be stored in Flamingo. If you want to see these messages again, just turn this option back on.
In today’s digital landscape, protecting your WordPress website from spam and malicious activities is paramount. One of the most common tools used to achieve this is CAPTCHA. However, whether to use CAPTCHA or not can be a topic of debate among website owners. This article will explore the pros and cons of using CAPTCHA on your WordPress site, helping you make an informed decision.
What is CAPTCHA?
CAPTCHA, which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” is a security measure used to determine whether the user is a human or a bot. It typically requires users to solve puzzles, enter text from distorted images, or check a box to verify their humanity.
Types of CAPTCHA
Before diving into the pros and cons, it’s useful to understand the different types of CAPTCHA you might encounter:
Text-based CAPTCHA Users are asked to enter characters from a distorted image.
Image-based CAPTCHA Users select images that match a given description (e.g., select all images with traffic lights).
Checkbox CAPTCHA (CAPTCHA) Users simply check a box to confirm they are not a robot.
Invisible CAPTCHA This version works in the background and only challenges the user if it detects suspicious behavior.
Pros of Using CAPTCHA on WordPress
Spam Protection Benefit: CAPTCHA effectively prevents automated bots from submitting forms, which is crucial for reducing spam in comments, registration forms, and contact forms. Explanation: Bots often target forms to post spammy content or create fake accounts. CAPTCHA acts as a gatekeeper, allowing only genuine human interactions.
Enhanced Security Benefit: By blocking automated scripts and bots, CAPTCHA adds an extra layer of security to your WordPress site. Explanation: This can be particularly important for sites that process sensitive information or have user registration features, as it helps prevent brute-force attacks and data scraping.
Reduced Server Load Benefit: Limiting spam and bot traffic can reduce the load on your server, improving overall site performance. Explanation: Bots generating excessive requests can slow down your site or even crash it. CAPTCHA helps mitigate this risk by filtering out non-human interactions.
User Verification Benefit: CAPTCHA ensures that submissions (like comments or sign-ups) are made by real users, maintaining the quality and integrity of your site’s content. Explanation: This is especially useful for sites with user-generated content, where maintaining a community of genuine users is crucial.
Flexible Integration Benefit: Many WordPress plugins offer easy CAPTCHA integration for various forms and functionalities. Explanation: Popular plugins like Contact Form 7, WPForms, and others allow you to add CAPTCHA to protect your forms with minimal effort.
Cons of Using CAPTCHA on WordPress
User Experience Impact CAPTCHA can create friction in the user experience, potentially deterring visitors from completing forms or engaging with your site. Users may find solving CAPTCHA puzzles frustrating or time-consuming, leading to higher abandonment rates, especially on mobile devices.
Accessibility Issues CAPTCHA can pose significant challenges for users with disabilities, making it difficult or impossible for them to interact with your site. Visually impaired users, for example, may struggle with image-based CAPTCHAs, while others with cognitive disabilities may find the puzzles confusing. Even audio CAPTCHAs can be problematic for those with hearing impairments.
False Positives Sometimes, legitimate users can be incorrectly flagged as bots, preventing them from completing their intended actions. This can happen due to various reasons, such as users failing to solve the CAPTCHA correctly or using certain browser extensions that interfere with CAPTCHA detection.
Maintenance and Compatibility CAPTCHA implementations may require ongoing maintenance and updates to remain effective and compatible with your WordPress site. As bots evolve, CAPTCHAs must also be updated to stay ahead. Additionally, plugin conflicts or updates can sometimes cause compatibility issues, requiring troubleshooting and technical know-how.
Increased Load Time Adding CAPTCHA can slightly increase page load times, which might impact your site’s performance. Each CAPTCHA requires additional resources to render and validate, which can contribute to longer loading times, particularly if not optimized.
Alternatives to CAPTCHA
Given the potential drawbacks, you might wonder if there are alternatives to CAPTCHA that can provide security without compromising user experience. Here are a few options:
1. Anti-Spam Plugins
How it works: Plugins like CleanTalk analyze form submissions and user behavior to filter out spam without the need for CAPTCHA. Benefit: They offer seamless protection with minimal impact on user experience.
After the Anti-Spam is installed and activated, it protects your website and all forms from spam bots, keeping them from overloading your site. That’s how the website “looks” for spam bots:
Protection of your forms will also triggered even before a form is submitted, thus protecting your forms from getting spammed. That’s how it “looks”:
2. Honeypot Fields
How it works: Hidden form fields are added that human users can’t see but bots will fill out. If these fields are completed, the submission is flagged as spam. Benefit: This method is invisible to users and doesn’t affect their experience.
3. Time-Based Methods
How it works: Measures the time taken to complete a form. Bots typically submit forms almost instantly, whereas humans take longer. Benefit: This is a passive method that doesn’t require any action from the user.
4. JavaScript-Based Solutions
How it works: Uses JavaScript to detect bots based on behavior and patterns that are unusual for human users. Benefit: These solutions operate behind the scenes, making them less intrusive for users.
Conclusion
CAPTCHA is a simple and free tool that will help you eliminate most spam bots. It is very useful for users in the first stage of launching their WordPress website.
However, in the next step, you may need a more advanced solution. For example, one that will give much more protection against spam bots to increase the speed of your site, and also, will be completely invisible to save precious time of your site visitors. As such a solution, we recommend CleanTalk Anti-Spam, a service we have been improving for more than 10 years. The full list of features can be found here.
Consider your audience and the nature of your site when deciding. If your site handles sensitive information or has high spam vulnerability, CAPTCHA could be beneficial. However, for sites focused on user engagement and accessibility, exploring alternatives might be more appropriate.
Spam is an ongoing issue for website administrators, and Joomla sites are no exception. When spam bots target your registration forms, they can flood your database with fake accounts, consume resources, and make managing your user base a nightmare. Thankfully, tools like CleanTalk Anti-Spam can help protect your Joomla registration forms from spam effectively. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the steps to integrate CleanTalk Anti-Spam with your Joomla site and protect Your Joomla registration form from spam
Why Protect Your Joomla Registration Forms?
Before diving into the steps, it’s crucial to understand why protecting your registration forms from spam is essential. Here are some of the primary reasons:
Database Integrity Spam registrations can clutter your database with unnecessary data, making it harder to manage and slower to operate.
Resource Management Spam bots consume server resources, which can slow down your website and increase hosting costs.
User Experience A flood of spam registrations can impact the user experience by making it difficult for genuine users to register and interact with your site.
Security Risks Some spam accounts may be created with malicious intent, aiming to exploit vulnerabilities or distribute malware.
What is CleanTalk Anti-Spam?
CleanTalk is a cloud-based anti-spam solution designed to protect websites from spam bots without relying on traditional CAPTCHA methods. It offers real-time spam protection by checking form submissions against a comprehensive database of known spam activities. CleanTalk is known for its high accuracy, ease of use, and minimal impact on user experience.
Setting Up Registration form protection
To protect your Joomla registration form from spam, follow these steps to set up CleanTalk Anti-Spam:
Step 1. Make a backup of the site files and database!
Step 3. In the main Joomla menu open System → Install → Extensions.
Step 4. Click the “Browse for file” button to upload the archive.
Step 5. After installation, you will see the success message:
Step 6. Go to plugin settings: Extensions → Anti-Spam by CleanTalk, and enable the plugin.
Step 7. In plugin settings press the Get access key automatically button. Admin email address will be used for registration.
If you want to use another address click the button Get access key manually. Fill in the easy registration form and you will receive your key.
Step 8. Enter your Access key in its field, choose protection options, and save settings.
Test Your Registration Form
Test protection with this email address st********@ex*****.com. Write a comment, registration, or contact message with this email. Here you should see the plugin respond, like in the screenshot.
You are amazing!
You have successfully installed Anti-Spam and now your registration forms (and all the other forms) are protected from spam. If something went wrong, please let us know in the comments below or create a private ticket.
