Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve implemented a new smart captcha system to protect the data integrity of all forms powered by Wufoo. A captcha is a test used on a web site to make sure that the data being submitted to a form is actually coming from a human and not an automated bot or script. They’re used to prevent abuse and data contamination.
While a number of our users have requested this feature from us for awhile, we’ve been hesitant because a number of studies have shown that when a captcha is used on a form, it severely impacts the conversion rate. This is because it also slows down and turns away legitimate users, who often get frustrated by the extra test.
In an effort to balance the needs of our users who want to insure the integrity of their data with our desire to promote best practices for high converting forms, we implemented a smart captcha system in Wufoo that tries to automatically detect abusive behavior and only show a captcha test in those situations. Here’s a (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wufoo/3682271967/?processed=1&cb=1246574875589) we made to show off the feature in action.
We’re also very proud to be using [reCaptcha](http://recaptcha.net/) to help power our new anti-bot system. They’re used by web sites all over the world and we think it’s great that we’ll also be able to help digitize texts that are being scanned and stored in digital format for preservation and accessibility.
By default, all forms in Wufoo are set to automatic protection, but you can also set the captcha system to always show or never show the captcha on your form as well. You can find this feature’s options under the form settings tab when you edit your form.
Comments
Fantastic. Great work!
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Scott.Everyone needs a hug.
I really like the smart compromise achieved in not ‘forcing’ this on everyone yet providing security from bot attacks.
I like that you have given options to the users rather than ‘forcing’ captcha on every form.
Kudos and monkeys to you.
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Bailey.Everyone needs a hug.
I don’t know what this means yet but if it is going to increase security and integrity of our web forms then I applaud you!
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Marily Mondejar.Captcha & other abuse prevention technologies are good for their intended purpose but it requires an extra step from an otherwise straightforward process. Most times i find the extra step cumbersome – i make a mistake, i have to type several characters again.
In this regard, I appreciate the solution that wufoo is implementing in that it only appears if there is evidence the form is being abused. Thanks wufoo and more power!!!
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by ferdinand marte.Excellent solution. Well done wufoo team.
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Peter Wincott.As a great man once said, “Yeaaa!!!!”
Keep up the good work! =)
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Everett.What a wonderful bunch of guys (and gals) you are!
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Jon.I’m glad to see this feature and the non-mandatory feature set of the component.
Thanks for adding this feature!
Cheers,
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Melanie.Melanie
Sounds good. So, I don’t have to do anything to my forms, right? They will automatically be protected? Our company e-mail domain has recently been blacklisted by some of the big security programs…and it’s possible (though not yet confirmed) that the source was traced back to our forms. So, the sooner this is implemented, the better. Thanks again.
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Brent Driver.Yes, forms are automatically protected.
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Chris Campbell.Congratulation for your great solutions to protect robot spam’s…enhancing the security level of your website from online abuse and spam robots…
I think user must understand the needs of these Captcha test…ultimately from this you are getting quality access…
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Mark Turner.Good job guys.
Bring Conditional Logic…please!
Posted July 2nd, 2009 by Jorge.