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Contact Form SPAM Blocker

This is how we configure new server to block contact form SPAM like Eric Jones or other similar messages. We are using this article as our primary source: https://gridpane.com/kb/how-to-reduce-eric-jones-contact-form-spam/

1. Create a Custom NGINX Config​

On Nginx you can create a server-wide config that will apply to all sites or a site-specific config.

To create a server-wide config, run the following command:

cd ..;
nano /etc/nginx/extra.d/blockspam-main-context.conf

2. Add Your Block SPAM Configuration​

Paste the following, and edit as necessary to target the correct URI for your website:

if ($request_uri ~* "(/contact/|/contact-us/|/visit/|/connection/|/blog/|/jesus/|/sermon/|/event/|/story/|/prayer/|/music/|/news/|/give/)") {
    set $test A; 
}
if ($server_protocol ~* "(HTTP/1.0|HTTP/1.1|HTTP/1.2)") { 
    set $test "${test}B"; 
}
if ($http_user_agent !~* "(Googlebot|Bingbot|DuckDuckBot|Facebot|cloudflare)" ) { 
    set $test "${test}C"; 
}
if ($test = ABC) { 
    return 403;
}

Save the file with CTRL+O followed by Enter, and then CTRL+X to exit nano.

This states that if:

  1. the URI matches our contact form page/s
  2. and is requested over HTTP/1.0/1.1./1.2
  3. and is NOT one of the specified user agents
  4. then return a 403 forbidden response.

Here is a list of pages we are blocking on:

  • Contact
  • Plan a visit
  • Connect Cards
  • Blog Posts
  • Meet Jesus
  • Sermons
  • Events
  • Stories
  • Prayer Requests
  • Music Auditions
  • Giving Forms

3. Check and Reload NGINX​

Check the Nginx configuration file with:

nginx -t

If no errors are returned, reload Nginx with:

gp ngx reload

Nginx will now block Eric Jones spam, all other types of junk on your contact pages.

Site Specific Blocks​

The above configuration applies to the entire server, but we can also set up similar configurations for site-specific needs.