Guides

Moderation and spam

Guestbook moderation and spam

UltraGuest works against spam in two layers: protection that every guestbook gets without doing anything (a human check on every post, no links in messages, rate limits, automatic content rules and AI moderation), and moderation tools you switch on yourself in the Control Panel (approval of new messages, a word filter and blocked addresses).

Guestbooks are a favourite target of spam bots: an open form, no login, and a page that search engines read. UltraGuest is text only (no uploads, no images), which already removes a lot of trouble.

What every guestbook gets automatically

  • A human check on every post. The sign form includes a Cloudflare Turnstile challenge, which stops the plain bots that used to flood guestbooks. For most visitors it needs no more than a click.
  • No links in messages. Almost all guestbook spam exists to spread links, so a message containing an http:// or https:// address or a link tag is refused with a short explanation, and a name cannot contain a link either. Visitors can still leave their e-mail address, which only you see.
  • Rate limits. One address may post at most 20 times per hour to a guestbook, the same message cannot be repeated within five minutes, and a guestbook that has already received 40 posts in a day takes no more until the next day (the busiest genuine guestbooks peak at around 25).
  • Campaign detection. The same text posted to eight or more guestbooks within a week is treated as a spam campaign, whatever it says: further copies are refused and the earlier ones are removed.
  • Content rules. Every post is checked against rules for illegal material and the usual junk: drug and pharmacy spam, fraud and scam testimonials, hate propaganda, piracy, adult advertising. Recent posts are re-checked every six hours and everything is scanned once a week, so a new campaign that slips through is gone within hours.
  • AI moderation. Every message is also read by AI models before it appears, in the context of its guestbook and the messages around it, and what they judge unacceptable is refused. If the check cannot be reached, a message is not published unchecked: it waits out of view until it has been read.

What you can switch on

  • Approve new messages (Settings › Guestbook Options). New posts are held as Pending and appear only after you approve them, on the Control Panel's home page, from the notification e-mail, or under Messages › Pending. This is the safest setting for a guestbook that gets a few messages a week.
  • Word filter (same page, recommended). Messages, names and e-mail addresses containing common obscene or pharmacy terms are refused.
  • Private messages. Visitors can tick "Private" and the message is shown only to you.
  • Block IP addresses (Settings › Security, or the "Block IP" link next to any message from the last twelve months, which blocks its writer without showing you the address). Useful against one persistent poster; keep in mind that addresses change and that other people may share one.
  • Edit, hide, delete. Any message can be edited, hidden or deleted under Messages. A deleted message waits in the Trash for 30 days, where you can restore it or delete it for good at once.
  • Notifications (Settings › Email Notification, switched on for a new guestbook). Be e-mailed about new public messages and, separately, about private messages and messages waiting for approval, with a button in each mail to approve or hide the message, so nothing sits unnoticed.

Reporting abuse

Every message carries a small "Report" link that our automatic review answers at once, and every guestbook page a "Report abuse" link that opens the support form with the guestbook's address filled in. Content that breaks the Terms of Service or the law is removed and the guestbook can be disabled; material that sexually exploits children, and advertising for it, is removed and reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as United States law requires.

When the moderation acts on your guestbook

When the automatic moderation acts on your own guestbook or its messages (holds a message back, removes one, hides the guestbook from search engines or suspends it), Moderation Decisions in the Control Panel says what was done, why and when, and you can contest the decision there: a second automated review reads it again with your explanation. The Terms of Service explain the other routes.

Privacy while fighting spam

None of this involves tracking. Guestbook pages set only the session cookie needed to post safely, and visitors who merely read are counted, not identified. When a post is refused or removed by a rule we keep the date, the guestbook, the rule's name and the posting IP address, never the text, for 400 days. A poster's IP address is shown to nobody, not even the guestbook owner, who sees the country it came from; it is deleted twelve months after posting. The full picture is in our privacy commitments and the Privacy Policy.

See also: how to add a guestbook to your website, the FAQ and the features. Not on UltraGuest yet? Sign up for free.