# Placeholder address

A placeholder address is what somebody types to get past a form rather than to give an address: a test word, a keyboard run, a refusal. Spaw answers looks_placeholder and scores it 60.

Date: 2026-09-17

A placeholder address is what a person types into an address field when they do not intend to give one: "asdf", "test", "n/a", "no address", "same as above", "123 Fake Street", "Anytown" — a word chosen to satisfy the form rather than to name a place, and one that no register, directory or operator list will ever confirm.

## What Spaw answers

`looks_placeholder` is true when the street or the town of a valid address is a whole placeholder name or a shape nobody would give a place — four or more letters with no vowel, one character repeated, digits alone, a run along a keyboard row — false when neither is, and null when there is no street and no town to judge. A true answer carries the `placeholder` signal, weight 60, citing the `address-placeholders` dataset in `sources`, which is enough for `risk_level: high` on its own, and the default shipping policy blocks it.

## What it does not mean

Only whole names count. "Test Valley Road" is a real road in Hampshire and "Sample Road" exists in several American towns; each folds to a different key from the words "test" and "sample" alone, so neither is flagged, and a short real name like Rye or Ely is never judged. A placeholder is also not a typo: a misspelt real street answers `street_suggestion` from the register, not this flag.

Reference: https://spaw.co/glossary/placeholder-address