Form Mail vs Mailto Links

[Davmagic .Com]

I maintain that using Form Mail for user contact is better than using a
Mailto link... for a few important reasons:

1. Form Mail can be used by all users irregardless if they have an email
program available to them or not... whereas Mailto can only be used if a
user has an email program available, leaving many public internet users
with disabled email out of luck with Mailto...

2. Form Mail if properly configured can eliminate email harvesting
resulting in less spam mail... whereas Mailto cannot, unless JavaScript
is used to disguise the address, which leaves users with JS disabled,
out of luck...

Any Comments?

Web Design, Magic, Painting, Junking, More
http://www.davmagic.com
Paint A House
http://www.paintahouse.com
NOTE: This emailbox is CLOSED do NOT reply!!!

 

[Neal]

I maintain that using Form Mail for user contact is better than using a
Mailto link... for a few important reasons:

1. Form Mail can be used by all users irregardless if they have an email
program available to them or not... whereas Mailto can only be used if a
user has an email program available, leaving many public internet users
with disabled email out of luck with Mailto...

2. Form Mail if properly configured can eliminate email harvesting
resulting in less spam mail... whereas Mailto cannot, unless JavaScript
is used to disguise the address, which leaves users with JS disabled,
out of luck...

Consider, though, that users may want to use their client to email you, as
it saves a copy locally.

The best approach is to use a secure CGI mail form but also provide a real
address. The spam can be handled locally, it's a small price to pay for
accommodating user need.

 

[Davmagic .Com]

From: (e-mail address removed) (Neal)
The best approach is to use a secure CGI
mail form but also provide a real address.
The spam can be handled locally, it's a
small price to pay for accommodating
user need.

By "locally" do you mean with spam filters? If so... no this is not a
viable solution... for my (in particular) email client...

As far as "paying prices" goes, it seems that letting the user pay it,
with no Mailto links would be more prudent, not more accomodating but
more prudent...

Web Design, Magic, Painting, Junking, More
http://www.davmagic.com
Paint A House
http://www.paintahouse.com
NOTE: This emailbox is CLOSED do NOT reply!!!

 

[Dano]

By "locally" do you mean with spam filters? If so... no this is not a
viable solution... for my (in particular) email client...

As far as "paying prices" goes, it seems that letting the user pay it,
with no Mailto links would be more prudent, not more accomodating but
more prudent...

Sometimes you see on a site not the actual clickable mailto-link, but the
email in some textformat, like:
john.doe (at) hotmail (dot) com or (e-mail address removed) (but then without
the hyperlink)

 

[Jim Higson]

By "locally" do you mean with spam filters? If so... no this is not a
viable solution... for my (in particular) email client...

Yes, spam filters are good, but you don't need to rely on your client to
filter.

SpamAssassin is a **superb** filter - On some accounts I get a spam:ham
ratio of about 20:1 and I've had no false positives and only ONE false
negative in the last year or so.

It is free software and can run as a proxy between your client and the
mailserver, or on the mail server, or (with a decent email client) be
called by the client when it fetches the mail.

Getting back to the original question, I like my email client. A lot of
people don't apreciate how nice a good client is to use because they've
only ever seen Outlook, but I much prefer typing with a tool setup for
email with spellchecker, email-ish wrapping, text highlighting, and where I
can just hit a key to send - much, much nicer than a plain html textarea.