Iam looking for the correct name/term for a type of form validator.
when i fill out a form on some sites ther is a place where i have to put a sequence of Letters/numbers that is shown in a box that looks KIND of jumbled in different fonts.
I would like to know this so i can learn about its use and weather or not its usefull.

Any ideas tryed to google it but its like a needle in a hatstack without knowing its correct name.

Thanks everyone!

It's a Security Code Confirmation

They are to keep robots from signing up and spamming the forums.

Thanks been bugging me like crazy.

If you are wanting to learn about them you can also google the word captcha

Do you know how much thay can slow the webserver down by and Why it would do this.

Not sure about that.

MMMM im not sure im convinced about this.
couldnt spamers just pick out email address from html code (please correct me if im wrong ive only been learning to develop webpages for the past 6 months) is there a better way to protect from spamers. My form already uses php to verify that all information is correct but it dosent help when it comes to spam.
Was thinking about putting the captcha before the form but that just seems like a waste of time for the user and possibly no goal conversion.

Thanks all!

They aren't going to stop human spammers. We can easily figure these out. Once someone or something is signed up to the forum it is up to you and your moderators (if any) to combat the spammers. This stops the robots/automated entities only. A computer can't see what letters or numbers to enter in order to sign up to a forum.

The captcha is not as effective as the Security Code Confirmation because a computer can figure out simple math. See this blog entry

Great example thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by MySlowQuietLife MMMM im not sure im convinced about this. couldnt spamers just pick out email address from html code (please correct me if im wrong ive only been learning to develop webpages for the past 6 months) is there a better way to protect from spamers. My form already uses php to verify that all information is correct but it dosent help when it comes to spam. Was thinking about putting the captcha before the form but that just seems like a waste of time for the user and possibly no goal conversion. Thanks all!

The email address wouldn't be on the form, it would be in the PHP program that processes the form. You can check for the presence of other charactres which would enable a spammer to add multiple email addresses and confuse your form into sending it to others instead of to you.

Or you could use an existing PHP form that has been tested by someone who knows what they are doing.

http://green-beast.com/gbcf-v3/ gets a lot of good things said about it

YEAH!
just added the captcha to my form and is validating the entry SO COOL! i feel like a kid in a candy shop.
Thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!

Hello again!
Ok so last night i may have got alittle bit over excited when i said i have a captcha (working).
Im having a little problem with the validation markup. im using php5 and i get a parse error telling me unexpected T_UNSET blah blah.....the usual for me.

this is my code:
session_start();
if(($_SESSION['security_code'] == $_POST['security_code'])
&& (!empty($_SESSION['security_code'])) )
{
$firstname = $_REQUEST['firstname'];
$lastname = $_REQUEST['lastname'];
$city = $_REQUEST['city'];
$pictue = $_REQUEST['picture'];
$email =$_REQUEST['email'];

mail( "some email","Feedback Form Results",
$message, "From: $email");

header("location:../artist_member/thank_you1.html")
unset ($_SESSION['security_code']);
}
else
{
header ("location:../artist_member/sorry_error.html")
}
?>

am i using the wrong php syntax?

really appreciate the help.

Ben