diff --git a/signup/index.php b/signup/index.php
index d4d3273..8780cf4 100644
--- a/signup/index.php
+++ b/signup/index.php
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 <?php
 $filepath = __FILE__;
 include __DIR__.'/../header.php';
+
+function esc($v) {
+    return isset($_REQUEST[$v]) ? htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST[$v]) : "";
+}
 ?>
 
     <div class="container" id="app">
@@ -19,24 +23,24 @@ include __DIR__.'/../header.php';
         <form method="post">
             <?php include 'signup-handler.php'; ?>
 
-            <div class="form-group">
-                <label>your desired username (numbers and lowercase letters only, no spaces)</label>
-                <input class="form-control" name="username" value="<?=$_REQUEST["username"] ?? ""?>" type="text" required>
-            </div>
+			<div>
+					<p>your desired username (numbers and lowercase letters only, no spaces)</p>
+					<input class="form-control" name="username" value="<?=esc("username")?>" type="text" required>
+			</div>
 
-            <div class="form-group">
-                <label>email to contact you with account info</label>
-                <input class="form-control" name="email" value="<?=$_REQUEST["email"] ?? ""?>" type="text" required>
-            </div>
+			<div>
+				<p>email to contact you with account info</p>
+				<input class="form-control" name="email" value="<?=esc("email")?>" type="text" required>
+			</div>
 
-            <div class="form-group">
-                <label>what interests you about tilde.team?</label>
-                <textarea class="form-control" name="interest" id="" cols="30" rows="10"><?=$_REQUEST["interest"] ?? ""?></textarea>
-            </div>
+			<div>
+				<p>what interests you about tilde.team? we want to make sure you're a real human being :)</p>
+				<textarea required class="form-control" name="interest" id="" cols="40" rows="7"><?=esc("interest")?></textarea>
+			</div>
 
-            <div class="form-group">
-                <label>SSH public key</label>
-                <textarea required class="form-control" name="sshkey" id="" cols="30" rows="10"><?=$_REQUEST["sshkey"] ?? ""?></textarea>
+			<div>
+				<p>SSH public key</p>
+				<textarea required class="form-control" name="sshkey" id="" cols="30" rows="10"><?=esc("sshkey")?></textarea>
                 <p>if you don't have a key, don't worry! <a href="/wiki/ssh">check out our guide to ssh keys</a> and make sure that you only put your pubkey here</p>
             </div>