I have been getting more and more unwanted crap, and I'm trying to counter it. I have read this piece of advice, and would like to know if it's kosher or not;

'You'll also get tons of spam if you have your email address on a website
anywhere. The trick to avoid this is to replace the "@" sign in the
source code of the web page with @ (that's ampersand, hash, 64, and
a semicolon) - it will work perfectly in all browsers, but defeats
spamware which looks for an actual @ sign.'

(Twila; If it does work, I suggest we do it on the WN site, too).



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I already have a SPAM bot defeater set up on WN

It's a Javascript deal that inserts it all for you that the bots can't read.



You use this code:
Put this in the header, before the body of the HTML document:
<!-- SPAM-BOT DEFEATER -->
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!-- This script and many more are available free online at -->
<!-- The JavaScript Source!! [javascript.internet.com] -->
<!-- Original: William Rozell Jr (elranzer@nospam.com ) -->
<!-- Web Site: [www.elranzer.com] -->
<!-- Begin
var user;
var domain;
var suffix;
function jemail(user, domain, suffix){
document.write('<a href="' + 'mailto:' + user + '@' + domain + '.' + suffix + '">' + user + '@' + domain + '.' + suffix + '</a>');
}
//-->
// End -->
</script>

Then where ever you need an email address, you put:

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!-- This script and many more are available free online at -->
<!-- The JavaScript Source!! [javascript.internet.com] -->
<!-- Begin
jemail("WN", "JasperFfordeFfanClub", "com");
// End -->
</script>

just exchange the WN JasperFfordeFfanClub and com with the components for the address you need.



Post Edited (05-31-03 22:31)

Forget it. It only works if the e-mail address is shown in plain on the webpage; it doesn't work in a mail-to link. Rats.



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

jon/AAC

You could what I do, which is have a link on your page which displays as "click here for e-mail", but open a mail message to the (real) address using a javavscript a bit like Twila's existing one (but rather more random encryption)

Ypu can see it in action at [www.forsterdesign.com]

-- I'd recommend it: I get loads of spam to my old address, which was displayed unencoded, but almost none to my new (encoded) address.

If you'd like the source code, just drop me a line.



Jesus saves; Buddha does incremental backup.

Trouble is, most spambots now-a-days are well programmed enough to pick up on things like writing AT and DOT, as well as @ # 64, and most common ways of obfuscating your adress. One good way might be, to turn the adresses into small images, people could read them with no trouble, but getting a machine to interpret them would be pretty difficult.
Other than that, try using a mail client which can weed out some of the spam before you have to read it (try Mozilla, www.mozilla.org), and whatever you do, never, ever click on the 'if you would like to unsubscribe click here' links, they just tell the spammer that your adress has someone at the other end, then it's worth more.

I'm sorry. Every time I see SPAM written down, or hear it, I instantly think of Monty Python.

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, SPAAAAA-AAAAAAM!

Where's the Vikings?

One way is to always write your email as, eg, 'poetscientistdrinker(delete this bit and delete the brackets)@'



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Kaz,

Did you know that Monty Python skit is the origin of using "spam" to mean junk email?

Back in the pre-html days of the internet, when news and ftp and mail was about all there was (ok, gopher too, but this may have been before archie even), and they all had command-line interfaces, somebody on some newsgroup (I once knew which one but have forgotten) started intentionally drowning out other posters by making post after post that said nothing but "spam spam spam", from the Monty Python skit, so that it was hard to find the real discussion buried in all the spam. Following the "monkey see monkey do" principle, others quickly followed suit, so that you soon saw it everywhere.
When the gag started, a "spam post" quite literally meant a post that said "spam spam spam". But it was shortly extended to mean any post that was intentionally meant to clog up a discussion (like a kid putting their hands on their ears and repeating loudly "I can't hear you"), and then any unwanted off-topic post, and finally any junk post or email.

That's something else Monty Python has to answer to! Thanks, Teri, I didn't know that. I love hearing these things.



No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

I just usually let myself get the spam, then play a bit of dectective work to find the origin of the site it's coming from and block the site... It's worked for me so far and I do enjoy feeling like I'm prying somewhere i shouldn't be...



--------------

There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

This sort of thing has worked very well for me. My real address hasn't been spammed in months. Nothing new, just a twist on the "well, don't give them your address."

My solution is just to set up a new web account just for spammers and let them have at it. I give it whenever a site asks me for confirmations, quiz results, download URL's, whatever excuse they have to get ahold of an e-mail address. Who cares if they spam it? I'll never check it, past the initial impulse (to get the password/url/quiz results, etc and that kind of mail is usually sent withing five minutes.) No need to scroll the inbox.

I DON'T give this address to co-workers, friends, or family -- that is, anyone who I might conceivably want to respond to at all punctually (who might be offended if I didn't read the letter until 2 months later) or who I know won't sell my address or stick me on their mailing list. These people are the only people who get my "real" address, no exceptions. (Note: it's nice to start with a new "real" address if your current one is already being spammed.)

To handle mailing lists and temporary contacts, I set up a filter on the spam account to forward the installments and only the installments (ex: WHERE "to" = list@thomashardyaddicts.com, FORWARD to me@my_realbox.com). This sends me mail from the listserv, but not mail from whoever the listserv sold my address to. Can't figure out how to get off the list? Just delete the filter. There are a million uses for filters but this is one of my favorites.

And so on and so forth.

-f

Neat use of mail filters, feadog. I shall off and set up myself up a new account immediately.

For those occasion where you really do need to put your e-mail address on your web site, you can use the e-mail address encoder from Hiveware to make a javascript-encoded version of your address that not even the cleverest spambot seems able to crack:

[www.hiveware.com]



Jesus saves; Buddha does incremental backup.