Help with contact form

[Andy_Pugh]

Hi there,

I'm currently using a contact form to allow people to submit votes for contestants in our talent contest, however, despite stating they are only allowed one vote per day, they are still submitted several hundred each! It at one point had my inbox clogged up with about 12'000 emails..

Is it possible to edit the following contact form to disallow a vote from an ip if it has already voted that day?

Here is the contact form page

<? include "pageheader.php" ?>
<?
$db=mysql_connect("********","********","**********");
mysql_select_db("**********",$db);

?>
<style type="text/css">
<!--
.style1 {
	font-size: 18px;
	font-weight: bold;
}
-->
</style>
<? $starname = $_GET['starname'] ?>

<? $starname=$_POST['starname']; ?>

<BR><span class="style1">Vote For <?php print "$starname"; ?></span>



<form method="POST" action="bsvotesend2.php">
     <input type="hidden" name="vote" value="<?php print "$starname"; ?>" size="19"><br>
   <br>
   Your Name?<BR>
   <input type="text" name="name" size="19"><br>
   <br>
   Your Email?<BR>
      <input type="text" name="email" size="19"><br>
   <br>
   Your Telephone?<BR>
      <input type="text" name="telephone" size="19"><br>
   <br>
 <input type="hidden" name="ip" value="<?
echo "$REMOTE_ADDR";
?>
<?php echo $REMOTE_ADDR; ?>
<?
$hst = $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"];
$uri = $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
$rmt = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
$br = $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"];
echo "$rmt
";
?>" size="19">
   <br>
   <br>
   <input type="submit" value="Submit" name="submit">
</form><BR><BR><CenteR><?
echo "$REMOTE_ADDR";
?>
<?php echo $REMOTE_ADDR; ?>
<?
$hst = $_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"];
$uri = $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"];
$rmt = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
$br = $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"];
echo "Your IP address : $rmt has been logged, abuse will result in a ban :  \n
";
?><BR>PLEASE NOTE - YOU CAN ONLY VOTE ONCE PER DAY ONLINE</center>




<? include "bsfooter.php" ?>

And here is the page to process the data

<? include "pageheader.php" ?>
<? include "bangorstarheader.php" ?>
<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "Bangor Star Vote";
$vote = $_POST['vote'];
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$telephone = $_POST['telephone'];
$ip = $_POST['ip'];
$body = "Vote For: $vote\n From: $name\n Email: $email\n Telephone: $telephone\n Ip Address: $ip";

echo "<br>Thanks! Your vote has now been sent";
mail($to, $subject, $body);
} else {
echo "Sorry - Your Email Has Not Been Sent This Time - Please Try Again";
}
?>
<? include "bangorstarfooter.php" ?>
<? include "bsfooter.php" ?>

Any help would be appreciated!

Many thanks,
Regards
Andy Pugh

[aksival]

Just about anything is possible. The question is how do you want to do it? You could choose to store the IP address in a database table with a timestamp and set a cron job to purge old rows once a day. Or you could store the IP addresses in a text file and scan it each time somebody votes (not as efficient). Or you could set a cookie to try to reduce people to voting once per day (really not that good). True, this will reduce most visitors from being able to vote numerous times...

Ideally, your users should have to login to the site to vote, and you could track their activity that way. To prevent a completely anonymous person who is only distinguished by, possibly, their IP address is not going to be 100% successful. What if the person has dial-up and logs off/on over and over again to vote? The IP will be different everytime. The best way, IMO, would be to gain accountability via an established login -- but you may not be willing to go this far to do this.

As I said, it really depends upon how you want to do it.

Best,
aksival