Is setting a hidden field efficient against bot? [closed]

Question

I am fighting against future bot spamers for my newsletter form subscription. I want to keep the form simple make the procedure fast so I do not use a captcha but an hidden form to trap bots.

Is it efficient or bots know how to recognize an hidden form and will bypass it?

Answer 1

An old question, but sharing my experience here, which I recently implemented.

• Create some input elements which use CSS class for hiding.
  

       //Element to detect spam
       <input
            type="text"
            name="email"
            class="hide_me"
            id="email"
  
          />
         //Real element
      <input
            type="text"
            name="customer_email"
            id="customer_email"
            placeholder="Your Email"
  
          />
    // CSS style to hide the element    
   .hide_me{
     opacity: 0;
     position: absolute;
     top: 0;
     left: 0;
     height: 0;
     width: 0;
     z-index: -1;
  }
  

• Use javascript to check if the email field is filled. If it is filled, it is not a real person and form submission should not be done.