CAPTCHA, which stands for
"Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans
Apart," requires people to enter a randomized code in order to submit an
online form. The randomized code is often in the form of distorted, wiggly, or
otherwise hard (but not impossible) to read lettering. Spam bots - the
automatic email generators favored by today's sophisticated spammers - can't
read the randomized code so they can't submit the form.
By itself, this will eliminate a lot of
spam. But the decision has to be weighed against with other concerns, such as
making it easy for site visitors to contact you. If, like most companies, you
decide to include email addresses on your website, install PrivateDaddy. This
free, open-source software hides your email address from spam bots while still
making it visible to humans. Some web platforms, such as WordPress, even come
with a plugin you can install.
Again, not an easy decision. But like leaving your email
address off your website, it can help to reduce spam in the right situations.
If you have a very active community of readers who post a lot of legitimate
responses, the value of that community will outweigh the inconvenience of any
spam that comes through. On the other hand, if you tend to get a small amount
of random comments, chances are that many of them will be spam. Turning off
comments will eliminate spammers' ability to get through using your blog.
When you subscribe to a newsletter, blog, or other
form of online communications, you give that business or organization
permission to contact you via email. You may not want to receive what they send
you, but technically it isn't spam. So they can - and will - send you stuff
until you tell them to stop.
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