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Hiding web contact e-mail addresses from the evil guys

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by wizardofx, Aug 14, 2006.

  1. #1
    What is the latest in hiding your contact information on
    your website?

    I put a link to a friend and now he is getting a thousand
    spams a day.

    Best regards
    mark
     
    wizardofx, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  2. Cheap SEO Services

    Cheap SEO Services <------DoFollow Backlinks

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    #2
    Edit the whole link into raw html. Just search in Google for email encoder...You'll find it. Works brilliantly.
     
    Cheap SEO Services, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  3. Sorror

    Sorror Active Member

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    #3
    Sorror, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  4. Skinny

    Skinny Peon

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    #4
    Yea Spam is a BIG pain.

    Um there are a couple of tricks. One is to just write out the address like:

    contact[at]yoursite.com

    or

    there is a JavaScript version where you can seperate each part of the e-mail and than have Javascript put it together.

    eg.

    
    <script language="JavaScript"><!--
    var name = "contact";
    var domain = "yoursite.com";
    document.write('<a href=\"mailto:' + name + '@' + domain + '\">');
    document.write(name + '@' + domain + '</a>');
    // --></script>
    Code (markup):
    This produces the same HTML link but you won't have any bots spam you.

    Of course there are spammers that spam by hand (i.e. find an e-mail address and add it to the list) and you really can't solve that problem.

    But the JavaScript approach should cut out all spam.

    Skinny
     
    Skinny, Aug 14, 2006 IP
    mazhi likes this.
  5. mdvaldosta

    mdvaldosta Peon

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    #5
    Use a (secure) contact form instead, that's the best way to avoid spam.
     
    mdvaldosta, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  6. GTech

    GTech Rob Jones for President!

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    #6
    I've used:

    http://www.kenric.com/AntiSpambotMailto.html

    for a number of years now. I mostly use it for clients anymore. For my own sites, I use a web mail form.

    A golden rule of thumb...don't ever use your good email address for directory submissions. I create forward email addys for submissions and usually within a week, they are getting spammed with replica watchs and penis power pills. After that, I delete the forward and create a new one.
     
    GTech, Aug 14, 2006 IP
    mazhi likes this.
  7. TommyD

    TommyD Peon

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    #7
    I was being spammed too much.

    I tired putting up my email address with the "REMOVEME" in it, but spammers just removed it. I think automatically.

    So now, I have a contact form, and that form emails me the user's communication.

    later,

    tom
     
    TommyD, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  8. Mystique

    Mystique Well-Known Member

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    #8
    Mystique, Aug 14, 2006 IP
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  9. JEET

    JEET Notable Member

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    #9
    Using a contact form with image verification would be the best way.
    Or you can display the email in an image instead of text or html...
    Bye :)
     
    JEET, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  10. lorien1973

    lorien1973 Notable Member

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    #10
    I use contact forms, but I still get spam. I don't even bother trying to fight it anymore. What's the use? Deleting it is easy enough.
     
    lorien1973, Aug 14, 2006 IP
  11. surefire

    surefire Guest

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    #11
    I wrote an article on an AJAX technique. Some liked the idea, others saw issues. But it's easy to use and I haven't seen evidence of spam yet.

    http://15daysofjquery.com/safer-mailto-links/8/
     
    surefire, Aug 15, 2006 IP
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  12. wizardofx

    wizardofx Well-Known Member

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    #12
    1000 spams a day is no joke, it completely screws up your
    morning, since hidden in the 1000 spams is 100 legitimate
    e-mails.

    And Monday mornings are a total loss.
     
    wizardofx, Aug 19, 2006 IP
  13. wizardofx

    wizardofx Well-Known Member

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    #13
    Thanks for all your help, friends. A lot of great
    ideas.
     
    wizardofx, Aug 19, 2006 IP
  14. [*-AnOnYmOuS-*]

    [*-AnOnYmOuS-*] Active Member

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    #14
    IMO just use a PHP, or any dynamic language, to get the information from a form, then make some server side checking, if alright then go ahead and use a mail(), if not then just don't send it, better off just tell the spammer ypu sent it when you actually didn't. :D. That should give him something to chew on :p .
     
    [*-AnOnYmOuS-*], Aug 19, 2006 IP
  15. mike323

    mike323 Well-Known Member

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    #15
    i use the good ol' method. i post my contact info (email address) as a pic.
     
    mike323, Aug 20, 2006 IP
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  16. e_hippie

    e_hippie Guest

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    #16
    I'd have to suggest using sneakemail.com. You create a free account there, and then you generate a completely random email address for wherever you need to use one.

    They have an example of how to use it here.
     
    e_hippie, Aug 20, 2006 IP
  17. kk5st

    kk5st Prominent Member

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    #17
    I suspect that as long as there are plenty of unprotected email addys out there, this method should work well. My two issues are
    1. It does not degrade gracefully. Without javascript, it doesn't allow a link. This is a serious accessibility issue that I have no idea how to circumvent given the requirements.
    2. A DOM inspector, such as Firefox's, clearly displays the value of href. I think it would be trivial to harvest the mailto: links should the cost of processing the page with javascript become less than the value of the addy.
    2&#162; worth.

    cheers,

    gary
     
    kk5st, Aug 20, 2006 IP
  18. surefire

    surefire Guest

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    #18
    Gary,
    You're correct... that method I wrote about does not degrade gracefully. I mention that in the article and it's just a choice that a web designer could make. Some value accessibility over all else. Some are willing to sacrifice some accessibility for the benefits a technique like this provides. There's no right answer for everyone... just a choice.

    As for the second point, in my experience, spammers are lazy just like everyone else. There are plenty of weak mailto links and insecure forms for them to attack without scouring the internet manually. For that matter, writing foo [AT] bar.com on a webpage with no link is just as susceptible.
     
    surefire, Aug 21, 2006 IP
  19. finqoo

    finqoo Well-Known Member

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    #19
    I use Javascript as well, it works a treat..
     
    finqoo, Aug 21, 2006 IP
  20. badger879

    badger879 Well-Known Member

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    #20
    yeah javascript is always good
    thats what i use
     
    badger879, Aug 22, 2006 IP