Thread: "Join our Mailing List" form

So I have set up a join our mailing list form on our site. For a while we were adding legitimate clients, but after some time it started getting polluted with fake email addresses no doubt filled in by internet bots. How can I stop this from happening?

An automated email goes out to the interested person, but obviously all the emails sent to the fake addresses keep bouncing back to me, filling my inbox with an endless stream of "failed message send" style emails. Also it fills up my inbox with fake applicants, finding it difficult to locate genuine interest.

Can someone please help me with this issue?

Thanks.
Richard.

Try using the Captcha validation, or if you can build the form in flash.

A nice practice is using a two step opt in: visitor applies for your newsletter, data is stored in a DB table, and an automated email is sent to the registered email address, with a link (to a script on your site) to verify the email address and "activate" the subscription. A cron job deletes all unconfirmed subscriptions after 2 days, so you DB remains clean.

Thanks mate. I totally understand this concept. My next question is how can I go about doing this?

Thanks.

This is the hard point: it needs php / mysql scripting. If you are not code experienced, you should get someone to build this for you.