[Express] php contact form

I use Freeway Express for my website and have a php contact form. Is there any way to blacklist an email address so they cannot use the contact form?

I realize I can set my email to discard their messages. I wonder if I can keep them from sending.


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If you have the Advanced option ’ Track IP addresses’ enabled then you can block their IP address.

David


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That would be great. Can you explain how to have that option, or tell me where to read more about it? Thank you.


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http://www.freewayactions.com/product.php?id=019

D


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OK, I see how to add that to the php contact form action. How do I know the ISP address numbers to block if I have an email address and domain name?
I noticed there are some numbers filled in for ISP addresses to block that I haven’t ever typed in. What are those sites?
Many thanks!


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How do I know the ISP address numbers to block if I have an email address and domain name?

Once you have enabled this feature you will receive the IP address with any form submission. You then can add the IP address you wish to block.

The other IPs in there are standard IPs of localhost etc - leave them as is - just add the one(s) you wish to block.

D


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A word of caution, if the person you are seeking to block is on a “normal” ISP Then the IP’s are allocated dynamically and can change on a fairly regular basis depending on the ISP and the configuration of the router etc.

Therefore blocking a single IP may not deliver the solution you are seeking…

John


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Thanks for the information and warning. I looked up the emailer’s domain’s ISP at Whois and entered that because I had deleted their previous messages. So, that should work, but maybe only for a short time? And from now on if I do receive anything from them, I’ll have the current ISP numbers supplied by Freeway. Thanks very much for the help!


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Let me know how you get on with the IP blocking as I can, if needed, extend this to ban specific email addresses, domains or keywords.
Regards,
Tim.

On 4 Dec 2012, at 11:43, KDE wrote:

Thanks for the information and warning. I looked up the emailer’s domain’s ISP at Whois and entered that because I had deleted their previous messages. So, that should work, but maybe only for a short time? And from now on if I do receive anything from them, I’ll have the current ISP numbers supplied by Freeway. Thanks very much for the help!


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Thanks. That does sound good to be able to block an email address if the ISP numbers frequently change. Keywords would be nice, too!


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extend this to ban specific email addresses

Whats to stop them making up email addresses and rendering that useless.

D


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Nothing at all. When a blocked IP address gets rejected by the PHP Feedback Form Action the spammer will see exactly the same success page as a regular user for exactly this reason. Without an error the spammer has no reason to change their email or IP address.
Blocking spammers is always going to be a cat and mouse game but (IMHO) it is always good to have the tools to actively block users wherever you can.
Regards,
Tim.

On 4 Dec 2012, at 20:41, DeltaDave wrote:

Whats to stop them making up email addresses and rendering that useless.


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So to clarify:

An IP address that is blocked will not redirect to the error page and will give the impression of a successful submission. - Didn’t know that. Great idea.

D


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I can see why it is a good idea to not let the blacklisted emailer know that they have been banned so that they cannot make changes to get through, but I would kind of like them to know that I never read their message.

The information you have given is working fine for me, but maybe for future developments there should be an option to give an error message?


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On 5 Dec 2012, 10:15 pm, DeltaDave wrote:

So to clarify:

An IP address that is blocked will not redirect to the error page and will give the impression of a successful submission. - Didn’t know that. Great idea.

D

Tim,

Agree with principle of directing a blocked IP to the Success page… as long as the Form “owner” has visibility to the transaction.

John


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there should be an option to give an error message?

But as pointed out then they have an opportunity to bypass the system by changing their email address or by using an IP blocker.

I am assuming that you have a ‘stalker’ that is doing this.

I think that I would put a message on my success page naming and shaming them and tell them that their submission is automatically trashed.

But really you are better to ignore.

D


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Hi John,
Thanks for the feedback on this. I’ll have a think about this and see how best the Action could report it. The easiest thing would be to just redirect the email to another email address or change the subject line so that they could be easily filtered by the recipient. At the moment the blocked user will see the success page even though the email was never sent.
Regards,
Tim.

On 5 Dec 2012, at 23:35, ejw wrote:

Agree with principle of directing a blocked IP to the Success page… as long as the Form “owner” has visibility to the transaction.


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If you give your contact page a PHP extension (I know I always tell people not to when using the Action but…) then you can echo the user’s IP address directly to the page in a friendly warning about spam. For example;
http://www.freewayactions.com/product.php?id=con

And here’s the PHP code I use on that page;

<?php
	$ip=@$REMOTE_ADDR;
	echo "<p><b>Please note</b>: your IP address has been recorded in an effort to stop spam ($ip)</p>";
?>

Incidentally I think I have a stalker as I saw this blacked out van parked outside my house yesterday;
Shared with Droplr
Gulp! :slight_smile:

Regards,
Tim.

On 5 Dec 2012, at 23:58, DeltaDave wrote:

I am assuming that you have a ‘stalker’ that is doing this.

I think that I would put a message on my success page naming and shaming them and tell them that their submission is automatically trashed.


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Incidentally I think I have a stalker as I saw this blacked out van parked outside my house yesterday

Are you sure that you dont just live close to a certain London Hospital.

D :wink:


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Now you mention it the neighbours do look familiar! :slight_smile:

On 6 Dec 2012, at 11:32, DeltaDave wrote:

Are you sure that you dont just live close to a certain London Hospital.


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