Ryan

@neroavorio, I did actually address that in my response. I am not suggesting using an old version of WordPress with a new version of CF7 (and this plugin). My confusion is why the need to stick with an old version of WordPress (and also CF7). Regardless of that though, my suggestion was to use an older version of the CF7 Honeypot plugin with the specified versions of both WordPress and CF7 (4.6.13, CF7 4.1), not update CF7 but leave the WP install the same.

Hi Mike, the only reason I can think that would happen is if the plugin isn’t enabled. Can you double-check that the CF7 Honeypot plugin is installed and enabled.

That’s a more than 3-year-old version for CF7. Is there some reason you’re stuck on it? If you must use it, you might try switching to an older version of this plugin. I would try version 1.9 or below (https://plugins.svn.www.ads-software.com/contact-form-7-honeypot/tags/)

Hi Mike, do you have any other CF7 plugins in place that could be causing an issue. Also, do you happen to have “Use W3C Valid Autocomplete (optional)” enabled? The only thing I can think is happening is that your browser is auto-filling the honeypot field for some reason. This is the only report of the plugin not working on the latest version that I’ve received, so it seems like it must be something local to your install/setup, but I’m not entirely sure what.

Hi @grac_grac, full transparency, I forgot completely that there was an issue with it (very early on in the plugin’s life), and despite the number of multisite installs out there, no one has brought it up again in 4 years.

Off-hand, I can’t think of what could be causing the issue, as the plugin mirrors other CF7 plugins — I’m assuming CF7 overall works fine in a multi-site environment?

Can you provide some specifics in regards to how you have it installed?

Not with so little information. Have you tried looking through the support form and trying the many configuration tweaks suggested?

Yep, that looks good to me.

Yep, you definitely want bots to be attracted to the honeypot field. But you shouldn’t call it “honeypot-email”, as “honeypot” could be a flag to spam bots. Just “email” (or if that might conflict with something, maybe use something like “email-32423”. Naming the other fields with names that aren’t really readable is also smart.

Your website isn’t working at the moment.

Unfortunately it appears the type of spam you’re receiving may not be stoppable by the honeypot method. The honeypot relies on stupid bots that try to fill out as many fields as they can. If you have human spammers, or bots that are designed to get around this, the honeypot may not be a suitable solution.

The only thing you might want to consider is making sure all your fields are renamed in the CF7 form editor. Don’t name your “name” field “your-name” or your email field “your-email” (I believe these are the defaults). Instead rename them to something not directly targetable (i.e. “nm854” or “em553”) and then rename the honeypot something that is very targetable by bots (i.e. “your-email”) — that might trap them.

Outside of that, you’ll need to use more aggressive methods to stop spam — ReCaptcha, Akismet, bot blockers, etc.

Hi @helenalynn, can you provide more details on how it’s not working? It appears to be rendering properly. If it isn’t stopping spam, try renaming the field something that would be more appealing to spam bots.

Ultimately, all honeypots work in this way. But you’re right, if a bot is specifically programmed to look for hidden fields and ignore them (remember, there are reasons that fields could be hidden that are not related to being a honeypot), they won’t be caught by a honeypot. That said, the plugin has features that help mask this as much as possible — such as moving the style off the element (into <style> tags) and the ability to re-write the HTML in any way you feel would improve the honeypot’s disguise.

Awe shucks, you’re making me blush! ?? Thanks for the review!

Cheers for the review! Glad it’s been useful.

I use PHP 7+ and have never had any problems.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Ryan.

Very much appreciated!