What is a Honey Pot Form Field?
A honey pot form field is a hidden field added to web forms to detect and prevent spam submissions. Bots often fill out hidden fields while humans don’t, making it an effective anti-spam tool.
Why are Honey Pot Form Fields Important?
Honey pot fields help:
- Reduce Spam: Block automated bots from submitting forms.
- Improve Data Quality: Ensure that form submissions come from real users.
- Enhance User Experience: Unlike CAPTCHA, honey pot fields are invisible to humans, so they don’t disrupt user experience.
How Can I Use a Honey Pot Form Field?
- Add a Hidden Field: Include a field in your form that is hidden from human users using CSS.
- Monitor Submissions: Check if the hidden field is filled out. If it is, the submission is likely spam.
- Block Spam: Automatically reject submissions that trigger the honey pot field.
Brief History of Honey Pot Form Fields
Honey pot techniques have been used in cybersecurity for decades. They were adapted for web forms in the early 2000s as a simple yet effective way to combat spam without inconveniencing users.
Related Terms
CAPTCHA (reCAPTCHA)
CAN-SPAM
Website
GDPR
