Gas Mark 8

06/15/2026

Spam form submissions can go from mildly annoying to a real pain fast.

A few junk entries in Gravity Forms might not seem like a big deal at first. But once those entries start flowing into your CRM, email platform, spreadsheets, notifications, or someone’s inbox, the cleanup gets old pretty quickly.

We put together a practical guide on cutting down Gravity Forms spam without making your forms annoying for real people.

The basic idea: start with the lightest protections first. Turn on the built-in Gravity Forms honeypot. Clean up the form structure. Use conditional logic where it makes sense. Add reasonable validation. Then, only if you need more protection, layer in tools like Cloudflare Turnstile, Akismet, email validation, link limits, or server-level blocking.

You’re not trying to build the most locked-down form on the internet. You’re trying to stop the junk while keeping the form easy for the people you actually want to hear from.

Read the full guide here:

Block Gravity Forms spam with honeypots, Turnstile, Akismet, email validation, and practical WordPress form protections.

02/25/2026

I'm excited to be speaking at the Greater Manchester Cancer Conference in May.

I'll be talking about the fundamentals healthcare education and nonprofit websites need to get right before they dive into the world of AI.

If you're attending (I'm guessing not a ton of you here are), come see us at our booth or my session. More info below:

THE GREATER MANCHESTER CANCER CONFERENCE AND AWARDS The Greater Manchester Cancer Conference will return in 2026, bringing together professionals and partners from across the cancer system to share learning, celebrate success and drive

02/03/2026

We've seen a big jump in form spam the last week or so. It's coming from all over the world, including the Tor network, so its hard to stop. Now's a great time to review your anti-spam form tools if it's been a minute.

Good news: we use both honeypots and captchas (where needed) on all our sites. Is it 100% perfect, no, but it's better than nothing.

Compare honeypot and CAPTCHA options to secure your nonprofit WordPress form from spam while ensuring a seamless experience for your donors and volunteers.

01/05/2026

I met Jeff Pugel from Ignition, LLC a few years ago at a tech talk I gave here in Cleveland.

Early last year, we reconnected and Ignition did some signaling work for us at Gas Mark 8. The work was genuinely useful. His frameworks and research tools are well built and gave us data we could actually use heading into the second half of the year.

So, who is Ignition?

Ignition is a strategic consultancy focused on helping service-based agencies get out of the founder-led sales trap and build toward predictable, scalable growth. Their work is thoughtful, grounded, and built for the long haul. That approach resonated with me.

As the commercial from the 80s said: I liked it so much, I bought the company.

Short version: We’ve acquired Ignition, LLC, and Jeff is joining Gas Mark 8 as our CEO.

Longer version: The more we worked together last year, and the more conversations we had, the more it became clear that we have distinct strengths that complement each other—and a shared perspective on how to build. We weren’t running parallel businesses. We were building two halves of the same system.

I’ve always been the technology, creative, and development guy. That’s my lane, and it’s where I do my best work. Jeff brings the business side to the table. His focus is upstream—strategy, clarity, direction. Mine is in the day-to-day—delivery, infrastructure, and making sure the work holds up over time. We’ve carved out clear roles, shared vision, and real alignment as we kick off 2026.

Over the holiday break, I had time to reflect on how far this business has come—from side hustle, to solo shop, to a team of four. It’s been a journey. I’ve learned a lot along the way.

What excites me most is what this partnership makes possible. Jeff brings experience and leadership that will help us grow with intention and continue to serve even more nonprofits and healthcare education clients across the US and UK.

We’re building something special here, and I’m excited for what’s next.

More info from Jeff is below:

As of January 1, Gas Mark 8, Ltd. has acquired Ignition.

11/21/2025

I wish you could see the faces people made when I told the SEO was on the way out and they need to start thinking about AEO.

This was from the Keycon conference held a few weeks ago in Erie, PA. I talked about using AI tools to automate day to day tasks for nonprofits.

11/06/2025

We've been working with the Greater Manchester Cancer Academy for a few years now, and last year we started supporting and hosting their ePortfolio tool. It's been great to watch it grow and add new features - this new user profile functionality is a big addition to the platform.

This is the type of project I love. It's a big web app with lots of interesting technical challenges. It's also making a difference in the professional development of GPs and other cancer care providers, allowing them to record their educational development, reflections, case study reviews, accreditations, and certificates as they progress in their careers. It checks (or ticks for our UK friends) a lot of the boxes we look for in a project.

Our team has crushed this project - and its been awesome to watch them work on this large project. 😊