Hiding email address from spam bots

[dorayme]

Yes, I recall that thread. Was it Spider Monkey however who did the tests?

I realised soon after that it was not, but it was: Nikita the
Spider! (I just searched Google for Nikita ... this should help
locate the actual thread. I won't do it unless you can't find it)

 

[dorayme]

Ahem, it was Nikita the Spider. =)

Sorry Spider! I was conflating the names of two characters on
different ngs! But the point remains, of course. That for
practical purposes it is not too bad an idea to mask email
addresses.

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

ok good advice so you reckon just do the whole break the email address
apart using javascript?

What advice? No quote...

 

[Colin Wilson]

There are a number of different ways to encode an email address to hide it
from a spider bot.

From: http://www.mways.co.uk/prog/hidemail.php as (e-mail address removed)
From: http://www.ohlone.cc.ca.us/org/webcenter/emailencoder.html
(e-mail address removed)
From http://www.unreelpro.com/resources/email_encode.php This site
simulaneously encodes into both hex and ASCII (e-mail address removed)
from : http://www.bravenet.com/reviews/archives/tips.php?view=140 Email Me!
From http://www.manastungare.com/asp/preventspam.asp Email
From http://www.hiveware.com/enkoder_form.php Hiveware deliver the most
terrifyingly complex script yet! You can also insert your "link text" "Email
me today" for example, and optionally insert the subject line. They also
have a facilty where you can have a hover text which shows up when your
mouse hovers over the link. Email me today
From : http://willmaster.com/possibilities/demo/aelgwase.html This one
enables you to encode not only the primary email address but a CC address
and BCC address as well as the subject line and even some text for the email
itself Mail Me
From : http://mypage.direct.ca/s/schinke/encode/ mixed format encoding
Email me


These details were collected some time back so expect some of the links not
to work

The mose complex is the one at hiveware. The site was down when I checked
it a few minutes ago. I hope this is only temporary.

 

[patrick j]

You might look at

http://www.addressmunger.com/

The non js method is preferable for oft cited reasons re js on
web pages

Hi

That's very handy indeed thank you.

 

[patrick j]

ok good advice so you reckon just do the whole break the email address
apart using javascript?

There's that or there is swapping ASCII codes for each letter in the email
address.

dorayme has supplied the excellent link where either method is automated
for you:

<http://www.addressmunger.com/>

 

[patrick j]

Nikita the Spider, Ivana the Monkey, Svetlana the Hairy-nosed Wombat.
What's the big difference? Don't be so picky. ;-)

I think I'm the only human being that is using this newsgroup

 

[Nikita the Spider]

ok good advice so you reckon just do the whole break the email address
apart using javascript?

As I said, getting away from HTML necessitates a contact form in case
the non-HTML method doesn't work. Here's a link to the article I posted
earlier in the thread that outlines (in excruciating detail) what I
think works best:
http://NikitaTheSpider.com/articles/IngenReklamTack.html

 

[Nikita the Spider]

I think I'm the only human being that is using this newsgroup

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

(<http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.html>)

 

[John Hosking]

I think I'm the only human being that is using this newsgroup

I don't know about that, Patrick (I'm often more like a vegetable
myself) but one thing has been bothering me about you for months. It
seems that I almost never see your posts on my usual newsserver. This
thread is an example: I missed your OP, but noticed the thread when
Adrienne replied. And this last post of yours to which I am replying
went completely unnoticed by myself until Nikita answered you (good
thing people quote your text).

For some reason, news.bluewin.ch thinks you are in some way evil (a
spammer, perhaps) and (almost always, but not always) refuses to serve
your posts. But I can go to another server like
allnews.readfreenews.net, and there you are.

Why are you doing this to me? >:-(

Seriously, have you heard such reports from other people? Or is it just
my ISP/NP that's so stupid?

 

[dorayme]

I don't know about that, Patrick (I'm often more like a vegetable
myself) but one thing has been bothering me about you for months. It
seems that I almost never see your posts on my usual newsserver. This
thread is an example: I missed your OP, but noticed the thread when
Adrienne replied. And this last post of yours to which I am replying
went completely unnoticed by myself until Nikita answered you (good
thing people quote your text).

For some reason, news.bluewin.ch thinks you are in some way evil (a
spammer, perhaps) and (almost always, but not always) refuses to serve
your posts. But I can go to another server like
allnews.readfreenews.net, and there you are.

Why are you doing this to me? >:-(

Seriously, have you heard such reports from other people? Or is it just
my ISP/NP that's so stupid?

Have you checked out your filters? There is a filter that is a
little hidden in most newsreaders and can be changed according to
complex procedures that depend very much on the newsreader
itself. By default, all newsreaders nowadays have this one super
filter. It has a special trigger. It is a sort of "kiss of death'
filter and becomes active by any public contact with dorayme.

 

[John Hosking]

Have you checked out your filters? There is a filter that is a
little hidden in most newsreaders and can be changed according to
complex procedures that depend very much on the newsreader
itself. By default, all newsreaders nowadays have this one super
filter. It has a special trigger. It is a sort of "kiss of death'
filter and becomes active by any public contact with dorayme.

Well, *that's* not the problem. I've set my filters to explicitly allow
posts from Martians, spiders, human beings, and David Bowie, even if
they've been mingling with each other.

I certainly don't have any filters set to block Patrick J's posts on one
server but not from the other. And I know it's server-side because I can
use OE rather than TB with the same results.

 

[Sally Thompson]

Hi

I'm just putting together a web-page onwhich I am going to include an email
address in a "mailto" link.

To hide it from the spam bots I'm going to use ASCII codes for each
character of the email address.

What I'm wondering is: will this work if I actually display the email
address in the web-page as well as put it in the href for the "mailto"
link?

The reason I ask is that a human being will be able to see and even copy
and paste the email address from the web-page. Will a spam bot be able to
"see" it as well?

Patrick, one thing you might consider is *not* using an obvious email address
such as (e-mail address removed). I get quite a bit of spam on a previous email
address (currently unused) set up in this form, but for the church web site
below, for example, where I act as postbox and the email is
(e-mail address removed), there has never yet been a spam email. So I would
suggest, apart from whatever masking technique you use, not using sales,
info, etc, which may help.

 

[patrick j]

Patrick, one thing you might consider is *not* using an obvious email address

such as (e-mail address removed). I get quite a bit of spam on a previous email
address (currently unused) set up in this form, but for the church web site
below, for example, where I act as postbox and the email is
(e-mail address removed), there has never yet been a spam email. So I would

suggest, apart from whatever masking technique you use, not using sales,
info, etc, which may help.

Thank you for that Sally. I suggest an email address which is not extremely
obvious.

 

[patrick j]

I certainly don't have any filters set to block Patrick J's posts on one
server but not from the other. And I know it's server-side because I can
use OE rather than TB with the same results.

Hello John

I don't know if you can read this, but what you are reporting is very
weird. There's nothing I can think of about my posts which would cause
news.bluewin.ch to refuse to serve them.

I'm jolly glad allnews.readfreenews.net hasn't the same problem

I use news.individual.net and I find it to be excellent. It is so cheap it
might as well be free, but it is extremely reliable.

There are a fair number of people using that newsserver on this newsgroup
so it can't be that news.bluewin.ch has a problem with posts from
news.individual.net.

So, it remains quite a mystery.

You might be interested in having a look at news.individual.net.

<http://news.individual.net/>

 

[John Hosking]

Hello John

I don't know if you can read this, but what you are reporting is very
weird. There's nothing I can think of about my posts which would cause
news.bluewin.ch to refuse to serve them.

Well, I suspect Bluewin just has an over-aggressive spam filter, and
your posts usually get caught up with the other suspects. I never see
the MI6 conspiracy posts, Heidi's posts with FAQ for, um, whatever group
she posts FAQs for, and some of the other spam never makes it to me.
However sometimes there is a delay (stretching as far as never) for some
individual posts at certain times (around Christmas was bad), I do see
*some* spam, and I do get to see some of your posts (mostly they're your
replies though, not your OPs). luewin deigned to show me your "Matching
colours between a .png and background" posts, for example.

I'm jolly glad allnews.readfreenews.net hasn't the same problem

Yes, me too. It's how I'm seeing this last post of yours.

I use news.individual.net and I find it to be excellent. It is so cheap it
might as well be free, but it is extremely reliable.

It just bugs me that I have a "free" newsserver already. I shouldn't
*need* to pay money. I shouldn't *need* to use a free newsserver either.
Today is "Grumpy and Whiny Day, isn't it?

You might be interested in having a look at news.individual.net.

Thanks, looking at it now.

Cheers

 

[liamo]

Hi

That's very handy indeed thank you.

--
Patrick
Brighton, UK
If you wish you can email me from web-site.
<http://www.patrickjames.me.uk>

i agree, its been implemented into my sites too - so far so good - no
spam

 

[patrick j]

patrick j wrote:
[...]

I use news.individual.net and I find it to be excellent. It is so cheap it
might as well be free, but it is extremely reliable.

It just bugs me that I have a "free" newsserver already. I shouldn't
*need* to pay money. I shouldn't *need* to use a free newsserver either.
Today is "Grumpy and Whiny Day, isn't it?

My experience of free newsservers tends to be that there are reliability
problems. However news.individual.net really is extremely cheap indeed and
the most reliable service I've ever had. "Sell" ends here

 

[John Hosking]

My experience of free newsservers tends to be that there are reliability
problems. However news.individual.net really is extremely cheap indeed and
the most reliable service I've ever had. "Sell" ends here

ACK. (Viewed on server of Bluewin [my ISP].) Thanks again.