Email address on website question

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fenderltd

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - July 2007
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I would like to post my email address, but wondering if there is a way to mask it so spammers would not be able to pick it up. Thanks in advance
 
Or you can create a form that will send an email just have it submit to a server side script.
 
Images don't matter, as the bot can still see the
Code: 
<a href="mailto:[email protected]"><img src="someimage.img"></a>

What you really have to do:
1) Some how encrypt the link (not full proof but better than nothing)
2) Add in some REMOVE text to the email (same as above but changes the email address not the link to it)
3) Like someone else said above, use a server side script to send the email directly from your server to you, and likely a copy to them.

3 is the best bet because there is no way they can get your email from the page, it doesn't require them to be on their main computer / log in to their webmail, as "mailto:" links will try to open the default mail client.
 
The problem with things like that are, people can still get the email by reading your code, and people w/o javascript (or javascript turned off) won't be able to email you at all.
 
I use the GIF option... Just a simple image with NO link. Why? Because humans can READ the address and then type it in.

Besides... with a huge percentage of the population using web-based e-mail... mailto links are obsolete anyway.

Imagine if someone handed you a business card with their e-mail address written on it... what would you do then? You can't click on the card!

:)
 
Right-click-> Copy Address/Url, or select it, copy. Can't do either of those with images.

Also what if the person has images turned off? Nothing in ways of an email address for contacting.

Thats why don't use images.

Also the scripts are easy to do, just make sure they are secure as well and you don't allow bots/people to exploit them.
 
jmackay said:
Right-click-> Copy Address/Url, or select it, copy. Can't do either of those with images.

Also what if the person has images turned off? Nothing in ways of an email address for contacting.

Thats why don't use images.

Also the scripts are easy to do, just make sure they are secure as well and you don't allow bots/people to exploit them.
Click to expand...

You can't do those things with a script either. Also, WAY more users surf with JScript off than images off.
 
MadJuggla9 said:
He didn't say it was being linked. That is exactly how facebook works; they have the email as an image, and it's not linked.
Click to expand...

O.M.G... why does it seem like I'm repeating myself over and over...

Right-click-> Copy Address/Url, or select it, copy. Can't do either of those with images (as they aren't text).

Also what if the person has images turned off? Nothing in ways of an email address for contacting.

Thats why I don't use images.

Also the scripts (fillable forms) are easy to do, just make sure they are secure as well and you don't allow bots/people to exploit them.
Click to expand...
 
jmackay said:
O.M.G... why does it seem like I'm repeating myself over and over...
Click to expand...

Because not everybody wants a form submitter, ok? I never use them myself. I have my own email client and my own workflow for writing emails. I like to do it my way, not whatever inane way the developer of the website thinks I should do it. I imagine other people feel the same way as well, plus not everyone has access to the backend scripting required for a form submitter.
 
CEpeep said:
Because not everybody wants a form submitter, ok? I never use them myself. I have my own email client and my own workflow for writing emails. I like to do it my way, not whatever inane way the developer of the website thinks I should do it. I imagine other people feel the same way as well, plus not everyone has access to the backend scripting required for a form submitter.
Click to expand...

I agree there are more than one way to do things, but that is the only way to completely prevent spammers from getting your email address.

Bots can read images. Why do you think that places have to stick funky fonts and distort letters / numbers? To prevent programs from reading them.
 
emailaddress-obfuscated.gif


like that!
 
jmackay said:
I agree there are more than one way to do things, but that is the only way to completely prevent spammers from getting your email address.

Bots can read images. Why do you think that places have to stick funky fonts and distort letters / numbers? To prevent programs from reading them.
Click to expand...

Ok but who disables images? Maybe .0002% of people, none of which actually need your e-mail.
 
jmackay said:
Bots can read images. Why do you think that places have to stick funky fonts and distort letters / numbers? To prevent programs from reading them.
Click to expand...

That said, I make Flash address buttons instead. Not linked, of course... just to display the e-mail address. Can spambots read Flash images yet?

Next.. I'll embed a WMV file on the page showing my address. :)
 
If you do want to post it as a link, you can do stuff like this:
Code: 
<a href="mailto:&#x3Fthis&#x3D;that&amp;zam&#x3D;this&amp;tango&#x3D;alpha&#x26;to&#x3D;%22Your%20Name%22%20%3Cemail%40site.com%3E&amp;x&#x3D;5&amp;4ab&#x3D;2a">Contact</a>

so crappy bots won't get what they want.

For other bots etc. that can can pick the address from that, use a gmail address. It's has awesome spam blocking.

However, that will break right-click "copy email address" in both Opera and Firefox until updates to their mailto parsing are in.
 
Making this alot more than what it needs to be here....

Just do this
you [at] yourdomain [dot] com

or something like that. If they want to email you, they can deal with that.
 
Wingy said:
Making this alot more than what it needs to be here....

Just do this
you [at] yourdomain [dot] com

or something like that. If they want to email you, they can deal with that.
Click to expand...

Do you know how easy it is to alter a program to convert an "[at]" to a "@" and the "[dot]" to a "." ? People who think that doing that is making them any more secure is deluding themselves.

This isn't perfect either but I think it's better than using [at]s and [dot]s
http://javascript.about.com/library/blemail1.htm
 
If you can write "code" to hide it...they can write code to fight it.

You have two options to keep life simple:

1. Use a form
2. Give out an address to a system which is good at kiling spam.

Anything beyond that will start reducing your ability to work with who is emailing you.
 
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