Rule BotStop - Spam protection via API

What is a honey pot field?

A honeypot field is a simple but effective mechanism for stopping spambots. The idea is to add a field to an online form, which is only visible to bots, and not visible to people. If this field is filled in, we can quietly assume that the form was posted by a bot and therefore can be dismissed.

How is a honey pot field implemented?

The Honey pot field needs to be added to your HTML form. This field is called 'email_field' in Rule (it deliberately has a generic name in order not to arouse the spammers' attention). The name of this field is important and must not be changed. When you then post to Rule's API, you only pass along this field, i.e. do not delete or rename this field ' Email_field '.

Sample code:

<style>
 	<!-- This is the normal part of the form, that humans see -->
	.rulemailer-subscriber-widget {font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif;width: 500px;} 
	... 
 	<!-- This is the hidden part of the form, that only bots see -->
	.rulemailer-email-check {display: none !important;} 
</style>
<div class="rulemailer-subscriber-widget">
	 <form id="rule-optin-form" action="https://example.com/api/signup" method="POST">
	 	... 
	 	<!-- This is the normal input, that humans fill in -->
	 	<label>Email address</label>
	 	<input type="email" placeholder="Email address" name="email" required="required">
	 	<!-- This is the honey pot, that humans don't see, but bots see and fill in -->
	 	<label class="rulemailer-email-check">Are you machine?</label>
	 	<input type="checkbox" name="email_field" class="rulemailer-email-check" value="1" tabindex="-1" autocomplete="off">
	 	...
	</form>
</div>