hiding email to prevent spam

[feemish]

Hello All,

I want to hide my email so i dont get loads of spam.

I will use the contact form as i'm under the impression that that doesnt allow the harvesting robots to see my address, is that right?

My problem is that i want to use the 'terms ' page, but my email appears on that from 'Business Settings' and its written into the html so is perfect for harvesting. Also I cant erase it from business settings, as the dialogue asks for a valid email address.... i donyt want to enter a bogus address as this will look awful.

I went to Act_Infobody.html to see that Netquotevar:infolines pulls in all the details from the business section as one lump.

How can i use the terms page but not have my email appear.

I want to put my email in a gif or jpeg as i'm not sure the javascript hiding tool even works anymore.

Any Clues?

Cheers
Feemish

[I-CC]

Check through the View | Business Settings | Terms & Conditions tab and locate the entries [EMAIL] within it, which is replaced by the email address you place within the business settings.

You can show email addresses on your site made up from java script which the harvesters find more difficult to use, but it escapes me right now, but a search of the forum for email address and java script should bring something up of use on that front.

[I-CC]

ah haa - found one in the forum...

http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=9726

that link provides an example of the java script way :)

[feemish]

AhHAH!

Thats it thankyou.

Yeah the javascript email address hiding thingy. Does it still work? I've heard that the robots can now harvest emails hidden in Javascript...
Has anyone else heard this?

I've resorted to only displaying my email address as graphics in a gif or jpeg, brutal and not convienient, but it works.

[feemish]

and what about the 'contact' page? is that safe to use?

[I-CC]

The contact us form does not reveal the email address that it will be sending the form onto, so that can not be harvested in a bot manner, but whether the harvesters can overcome the java script method, I do not know to be perfectly honest with you - anyone else have any info on this?

[pinbrook]

personally I wouldn't rely on the Js method. if harvesters can't get to it today ,they probably will be able to tomorrow.

Using a secure version of formmail.pl is the best way to go, or the actinic form, as these hide the email address inside the cgi script.

[NormanRouxel]

Here's http://willmaster.com/possibilities/demo/RetrieveEmails.cgi a page that tests an URL for robot readable email addresses.

There's no indication as to how sophisticated the tester is, however.

[feemish]

I just got my first spam for an address that i had hidden with the javascript method..... so i guess it doesnt always work.

[feemish]

oh, and the above url at willmaster.com didnt see the address.

[NormanRouxel]

Hiding your address doesn't stop other people putting it into their address books (often done automatically if they email you), from where it can be harvested by spyware.

As Jo said, only by posting the data to a form script, can you make sure that your address remains hidden on the server.

Of course, as soon as you use the address in correspondence with anyone it's out there for the world to snoop for.

[feemish]

Hi Norman,

Yes i understand.

However this was a brand new email address that i only just posted on a site i use to test scripts etc,
Not an actinic site.
I havent used the address in any correspondence and i only linked to the site a couple of days ago.

The spam was from china of a type that i've seen lots of on other sites i run.

So i can only presume that it was harvested directly from the site by a robot that wasnt put off by it being hidden in javascript.

So yes, it seems the only way to hide your address now is by using a form to email cgi script..... or to create a graphic with your email in.

All the Best,

[dscontroller]

Hi,

I have an email address written using Flash and php, but being fairly new don't know whether it can be harvested yet. Have just tried the checker given by Norman and this says there is no email address at that url.

For details of this see - http://www.gotoandlearn.com/ where the tutorial is available.

The page I have used it on is - www.asenby.net/Pages/contact.html

Hope this helps.

David

[feemish]

Hi David,

I would say that is definately safe.
Thats a good link for flash tutorials too.

One of the problems with Flash is that Flash sites dont get trawled by the robots, this is a pain if you want to be searched. So its clever to use that fact in a constructive way.

Cheers