To many feedback spam. Captcha won't stop them.

Question

Im receiving a lot of spam emails via feedback. How can I stop them

Answer 1

I do not know from which version, but capture module seems to be disabled by default in V1.8.3. Basically, this is not a bug, it will be a specification change. But I think too that's a no good change that accepts spam by default.

How to use capture module again:

Admin > Plugins > reCAPTCHA <= Enabled
Admin > Spam > Use captcha on feedback form <= ON ※1

※1: These options are only shown if any capture module is enabled.

However, if the capture module does not prevent spam, other measures may be necessary.

Comments

Thanks for your reply. I did that but still the same. Captcha is unable to stop them. Is there another method?

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I want to confirm...
1. Did you set the recapture plugin options correctly?
2. Is recapture shown on the question form while logged off?
3. Are they feedback from not logged in users? Or from logged in users?
4. Is the feedback handwritten? Or is it mechanical?

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1. Use captcha on feedback form: turned on.
2. Yes
3. from not logged in users.
4. It looks mechanical

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If the capture is useless, the solution may be difficult.

Another solution is to change the URL of the feedback form in $QA_CONST_PATH_MAP in qa-config.php.
Example:
    $QA_CONST_PATH_MAP = array(
        'feedback' => 'contact',
    );

By the way, is feedback form absolutely necessary for you?
If it is not necessary, stopping the feedback form is the best solution.
If it is necessary,  it may be effective to stop Q2A feedback form and add other free contact form.

This is all I can advise.

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How to disable it

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Admin > Emails > Provide a page for users to send feedback = OFF

Answer 2

Once your q2a site get a fair amount of traffic then spammers will use captcha solving sites to enter with their spam bots to your site. An invisible captcha might do the work but unfortunately we don't have a plugin to implement invisible recaptcha.

So the only solution as of now is to use q2apro's stop spam plugin and use a custom question captcha in the options. Like 'what is the color of this site logo' etc. Whenever a captcha solver comes to the screen he will skip the page to the next as he don't want to spend more time on a particular site/captcha. Also use the option 'posts with links to moderation'. My sites are having zero spam.

The best plugin in q2a is stop spam. And the second place goes to notification plugin. Both from q2apro. Then I like comment counts from Noah with CSS edit options in it. Also better points from Arjun Suresh. Comment to answer, answer to comment and User management from Towhid is also very useful. I wish all these should be in the core. Waiting for 1.9 even with lot of core hacks I am having