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this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Technology
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There are other options.
I'm just a hobbyist, but I have built a couple websites with a few hundred users.
A stupidly simple and effective option I've been using for several years now, is adding a dummy field to the application form. If you add an address field, and hide it with CSS, users won't see it and leave it blank. Bots on the other hand will see it and fill it in, because they always fill in everything. So any application that has an address can be automatically dropped. Or at least set aside for manual review.
I don't know how long such a simple trick will work on larger sites. But other options are possible.
Couldn't the bots just be programmed to not fill out that field? Or not fill out any field flagged as hidden?
Yes, but it would take more work specific to this problem, which if it's not a widespread technique would be viewed as impractical.