Email obfuscater (anti-spam)

[David Gillaspey]

Hi all,

Just came across this website that offers three options for obfuscating (disguising) email addresses to stop spambots.

http://www.spamspan.com/

I'm going to pick one option and use it on my own website. (Easy to do. I just have to update a couple of include files and my entire site is updated.)

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

[StubbyD]

http://www.spamspan.com/

Nice find David.

[MeanDean]

Ahem ...

the article: Mean Dean’s Anti-spam Obfuscator (http://healyourchurchwebsite.com/2002/10/12/mean-deans-anti-spam-obfuscator/)

the utility: Mean Dean’s Anti-Spam E-Mail Address Obfuscator (http://www.healyourchurchwebsite.com/obfuscator)

[Danny Carlton]

I just use something like this...


<script>
document.write('<a href="mai'+'lto:name@'+'mysi'+'te.com">name'+'@my'+'site.'+'com');
</script>


You simply break up the HTML into unrecognizable parts.

Or another option is to make an image of your email address and display that, making sure the name of the image or the "ALT" tag doesn't contain any part of the actual email address. That's not as usable as the first method, though.

[JackWolfgang]

Or another option is to make an image of your email address and display that, making sure the name of the image or the "ALT" tag doesn't contain any part of the actual email address. That's not as usable as the first method, though.

Or you just stop posting e-mail addresses all together and use forms only.

[anneeasterling]

I agree with Jack... After years of trying to beat the spammers, I've converted all contact links to forms with captcha fields. It's been the best method by far.

Happy day,
Anne

PS: Woo hoo! This is my first post. I need to get over to the introductions thread and post something there.

[Danny Carlton]

Or another option is to make an image of your email address and display that, making sure the name of the image or the "ALT" tag doesn't contain any part of the actual email address. That's not as usable as the first method, though.

Or you just stop posting e-mail addresses all together and use forms only.
There's a sensitive line, though, between being net savvy and appearing unfriendly.

Even forms are not spam proof, as the forms themsleves become targets for spammers.

Also email forms are beyond the capabilites of a lot of church webmasters, and the free forms available seem to always have ulterior motives. (Email harvesting). Using an obfuscation technique is a good transitional method until a church can find someone with the know-how to make a workable form for them.

[ckvkkeek]

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[sgt49]

I guess better late than never. I've been using E_Cloaker, a free email address obfuscator here:

http://www.codefoot.com/software/ecloaker/index.html

Steve Tahan
Redeemer Pres Ch.

[generalhavok]

There's one very good reason to NOT use email links, but to use contact forms instead: links rely on an email program. If you use Outlook, clicking an email link will open a new, blank Outlook email. That's useful...unless you're not on your own computer. Or if you use Yahoo Mail. Or GMail. Or LiveMail. Or, or, or.

Anybody can use a web form, but a lot of people can't use an email link.

[sgt49]

Tony,

That's useful if you just want a reply back to a specific person. I have a page that lists a number of folks in charge of various tasks. I added their email addresses to contact them. I used the obfuscater to keep them from being harvested.

Steve Tahan
Redeemer Pres Ch

[dnuttall]

I agree that forms are easier than keeping embedded addresses pristine.

At the risk of going off-topic, I began looking at a nifty add-on for Joomla sites that provides an easy means of black-listing/white-listing ranges of IP addresses, so that the small church that I'm working with for their first presence on the web can have some peace of mind by blocking China, North Korea, et al or maybe just white listing Texas and other countries in North America they want to collaborate with.

Dave Nuttall
San Antonio, Texas

PS...you must have seen the chamber of commerce commercial that "Texas is like a whole other country"....I wasn't born here, but I got here as soon as the draft for Vietnam could arrange it!

[JackWolfgang]

I agree that forms are easier than keeping embedded addresses pristine.

At the risk of going off-topic, I began looking at a nifty add-on for Joomla sites that provides an easy means of black-listing/white-listing ranges of IP addresses, so that the small church that I'm working with for their first presence on the web can have some peace of mind by blocking China, North Korea, et al or maybe just white listing Texas and other countries in North America they want to collaborate with.

Dave Nuttall
San Antonio, Texas

PS...you must have seen the chamber of commerce commercial that "Texas is like a whole other country"....I wasn't born here, but I got here as soon as the draft for Vietnam could arrange it!

Doesn't James 2 talk about playing favorites with people seeking the gospel?

Internet ministries are international ministries. If you block people in other countries from contacting you, how many opportunities would you lose to share the gospel with others? Yes, spam is a problem, and yes, a majority probably comes from overseas. However, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Note to David: I like the variant of the Scripturizer you are using on the board. I had forgotten about that until it auto-linked my James 2 reference.