Template contact form and CAPTCHA problems

[Guest]

I just realized that there is a bug in the contact form on the templates.

If you accidentally type in the wrong CAPTCHA code, your message is erased and you have to type it in all over again. This is a big annoyance to all prospective customers or just anyone who uses the form. This needs to be fixed ASAP.

This is especially a big deal because many times one or 2 characters in the CAPTCHA code are very hard to decipher. Many times you cannot tell if a letter is supposed to be a K or an H or sometimes a 2 will look like a Z, etc. So there is probably a relatively high rate of "try agains" who then have to type in their message again as well. So given that, RSP should also consider having a button that will regenerate a new CAPTCHA code if the current one has an illegible character.

I do understand that you have to combat spam but you cannot do so at the total expense of the customer. CAPTCHA codes need to be legible even if it means you have to deal with a couple of spammers once in a while who have scripts that will crack a CAPTCHA code once in a while. It beats losing customers.

[Guest]

Actually, I am yet to come across such a form that would preserve the visitor input, when a wrong CAPTCHA code is entered.

No offense, Milen, but I think a lot of the time before making your replies you should think about what you are saying.

You just told me that you do not know of one form WITH CAPTCHA that saves the users inputted information in the form fields if the user gets the CAPTCHA code wrong. However, as a point of fact, the RSP template contact form already does save all of the user's inputted information, like name, phone #, email address, etc. It's just the message field and country selection that get erased and reset respectively.

So if you are sincere that you do not know of one form WITH CAPTCHA that saves the users inputted information if the user gets the CAPTCHA code wrong (which I sincerely doubt since they are all over the net, I even had a site up that uses a cheap $40 script that saves user input fields - email me, I'll give you the link), then head on over to any RSP free reseller's site and use the contact form.

Or better yet, I'll save you time. Just see my "before" and "after"screenshot uploads below.

I can't believe you can sit there with a straight face typing that you never ever say a form that saves user info is the cAPTCHA code is entered incorrectly. Any business who has a website with a ocntact form with CAPTCHA would never think of having it any other way. They know the importance of not inconveniencing a customer. If you really never saw a form with captcha saving field info upon wrong code input, then you have not used any of the major websites like ebay in the last few years.

This, what I proposed, is indeed a bug (if even jsuta marketing bug) and is indeed something that needs to be fixed and is indeed a simple fix because it is indeed an annoyance and inconvenience to the customer/prospect. Since the form is already able to save info on all on other fields, there is no reason it cannot do the same for the message/question field.

This is why I always type my messages in Notepad, before pasting them into such a form, to prevent message loss, in case that I miss entering the right CAPTCHA code, which happens pretty often on some complicated CAPTCHA systems. ...

...The Opera browser is the single browser that I know off, that would preserve your input, and you would be able to obtain it by pressing the back button in the browser interface

First, captcha systems are nothign complicated.

You cannot expect anyone to do that. It's not convenient. It may not seem so to you, but it is. your messages are very lengthy mos tof the time so you would be a fool not to first type in notepad. The average web surfer (my customer) can't be bothered with extra little steps like that which do him no good. The form needs to save the message contents. that's really all there is to it, man.

Nor can you ask anyone to switch browsers just because you hae a buggy form.

What am I supposed to do, put a message there that says...

WARNING! Our developers, the non-marketers that they are, refuse to see a problem with the contact form. Please type all messages in notepad first and then copy and paste your message into the form! (Alternatively you could change your browser over to Opera - a browser less than 20% of web surfers use.). Otherwise, if you type on the wrong code then you will have to type your message in again. Fortunately, you can just type your name, email address, phone #, etc in the form directly and not in notepad first because those fields will be saved should you type in the wrong code. For some reason, our developers found it important enough to allow all other fields to be saved but not the message field. Go figure. At any rate, sorry for the inconvenience . If after reading this warning you still have a question and you still feel like we are a company you want to trust us with your website, we commend you!

Anyway, I will forward this issue to a developer, although I doubt that it would be considered a high priority one.

No doubt.

[Guest]

I have to agree that I have seen many forms with CAPTCHA that save the data if you enter the incorrect CAPTCHA. In fact, I'd say the majority of forms I use with a CAPTCHA preserve the information.

Additionally, it should be fairly easy to have the form preserve the entered data (it may even be designed to save the message as well judging that the other fields are saved, but perhaps there was a small oversight when integrating this), although I understand that Milen may not have control or much say in matters such as this.

EDIT: In the firefox browser, when I click the back button or refresh a page, form data is often preserved (dependent on the cache settings of the page set in the headers, etc..) as well.

[Milen]

No offense, Milen, but I think a lot of the time before making your replies you should think about what you are saying.
You just told me that you do not know of one form WITH CAPTCHA that saves the users inputted information in the form fields if the user gets the CAPTCHA code wrong. However, as a point of fact, the RSP template contact form already does save all of the user's inputted information, like name, phone #, email address, etc. It's just the message field and country selection that get erased and reset respectively.

So if you are sincere that you do not know of one form WITH CAPTCHA that saves the users inputted information if the user gets the CAPTCHA code wrong (which I sincerely doubt since they are all over the net, I even had a site up that uses a cheap $40 script that saves user input fields - email me, I'll give you the link), then head on over to any RSP free reseller's site and use the contact form.

Or better yet, I'll save you time. Just see my "before" and "after"screenshot uploads below.

You may believe it or not, but I consider all my replies very carefully, before posting them on here. Unfortunately, being only a human, I do occasionally make mistakes. As Seneca once said: “Errare humanum est”, (by the way, this quote used to hang on the office door of our developers for quite a long time). By saying that I have never seen a form with CAPTCHA that saves user input when wrong CAPTCHA is entered, I was obviously mistaken. However, if you had read my post carefully, perhaps you might have noticed that I have said that the majority of (meaning not all) forms that require a CAPTCHA code input work this way and I have never claimed that preserving of user input was impossible to achieve.

If you really never saw a form with captcha saving field info upon wrong code input, then you have not used any of the major websites like ebay in the last few years.

It might appear strange to you, but I have never registered, bought, sold or posted anything on eBay, so I have never encountered the way CAPTCHA code on their site works. Yes, I have visited eBay, I do not like their site and despite the vast popularity of their services, I think that their site leaves a lot to be desired in terms of both aesthetics and simple usability, so it is a poor example, if anything, although this is just my personal opinion and I am not imposing it on anyone.

This, what I proposed, is indeed a bug (if even jsuta marketing bug) and is indeed something that needs to be fixed and is indeed a simple fix because it is indeed an annoyance and inconvenience to the customer/prospect.

If you show me where I have argued that this were not annoying and convenient for prospective customers, I would agree, but otherwise this is pointless. As I have already said, I have submitted this issue to the Development Department for a review, but in my personal opinion, I do not think that the issue would receive a priority status, considering the more pressing matters at hand like the VAT introduction and the launch of the new version of the reseller API.

First, captcha systems are nothign complicated.

Actually, by “some complicated CAPTCHA systems”, I was referring to the code produced by such systems that is often difficult for the user to interpret correctly (which, as far as I understand, is pretty much in line with what you were saying). Perhaps, I have formulated this poorly. Mea culpa.

You cannot expect anyone to do that. It's not convenient. It may not seem so to you, but it is. your messages are very lengthy mos tof the time so you would be a fool not to first type in notepad. The average web surfer (my customer) can't be bothered with extra little steps like that which do him no good. The form needs to save the message contents. that's really all there is to it, man.
Nor can you ask anyone to switch browsers just because you hae a buggy form.

Please, read carefully what I wrote. I have never suggested that was a convenient workaround, nor have I ever suggested that you offer this as a solution to your customers or prospective customers. I have simply offered my way of dealing with such forms, without claiming that it is the only or even the best one. I though that it might be useful for you or someone else, as you and I are not the only two visitors on the forum, but obviously I was wrong in supposing that this might be an useful workaround for you. Again, mea culpa.

What am I supposed to do, put a message there that says...

Does being sarcastic actually help you?

Opera - a browser less than 20% of web surfers use

Actually, less than one percent of all Internet surfers use Opera, but this by no means changes my personal opinion that it is the best browser available on the Internet.

[Programmer]

Persistent Form Data

I've been a lurker for over 5 years
Just had to sign up for this one, it's driving me crazy. Not trying to start a riot, but a programmer could take care of this in minutes. Hope it helps!
~ Aaron

<?php
$error = '';
$description = '';
if(isset($_POST['form_submit']))
{
if(verify_captcha($_POST['captcha']))
{
process_form($_POST['description']);
}
$error = 'Sorry, please try the captcha again!';
$description = $_POST['description'];
}
?>

<form action="form.php" method="post">
<textarea name="description"><?php print $description; ?></textarea>
<?php print $error; ?><input type="text" name="captcha" />
<input type="hidden" name="form_submit" value="1" />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

[Milen]

Just had to sign up for this one, it's driving me crazy. Not trying to start a riot, but a programmer could take care of this in minutes. Hope it helps!

Thanks for the code. You might as well be right that the solution to this issue is a matter of minutes, if there was an unoccupied developer available to assign it to – one of the developers has just quit, another is on a sick leave with a broken clavicle, one is working on the VAT introduction, another on the new reseller API, yet another on the new File Manager... Oops, it looks like we are out of developers at the moment .

I've been a lurker for over 5 years

Resellers Panel is just over a month short of its fifth anniversary .

[wjleong]

Thanks for the code. You might as well be right that the solution to this issue is a matter of minutes, if there was an unoccupied developer available to assign it to – one of the developers has just quit, another is on a sick leave with a broken clavicle, one is working on the VAT introduction, another on the new reseller API, yet another on the new File Manager... Oops, it looks like we are out of developers at the moment .

It seem rp should hire more and more developers since rp really is a big project and related to more than 22k resellers.

[J.L.H.C.]

It seem rp should hire more and more developers since rp really is a big project and related to more than 22k resellers.

Yeah.. I don't think 4 developers (present) can handle this project as it grows bigger and bigger..
Just my 0.02.

[Programmer]

Resellers Panel is just over a month short of its fifth anniversary .

Really, I've been here since the beginning and I love the service

[Milen]

Yeah.. I don't think 4 developers (present) can handle this project as it grows bigger and bigger..
Just my 0.02.

It seem rp should hire more and more developers since rp really is a big project and related to more than 22k resellers.

Guys, do you have any idea how much a year does it cost to hire a good developer?

wjleong, actually there are times as many resellers. However, only a small fraction of the resellers have ever made a sale. If all resellers sold at least one hosting account per year we could probably spare enough funds to hire at least a few additional developers, but unfortunately with the current revenues stream we simply cannot afford it.

[J.L.H.C.]

wjleong, actually there are times as many resellers. However, only a small fraction of the resellers have ever made a sale. If all resellers sold at least one hosting account per year we could probably spare enough funds to hire at least a few additional developers, but unfortunately with the current revenues stream we simply cannot afford it.

So that comes back to the sales performance of resellers.
Without functions like monthly billing, how can we produce good sales? (for certain market which we target)
Without giving something in, you won't get something back.

[Milen]

I have received a note from our Marketing Department that the reported issue with the contact forms on reseller templates has been fixed.

[Guest]

I have received a note from our Marketing Department that the reported issue with the contact forms on reseller templates has been fixed.

Thank you very much!