How To Avoid Spam Robots
Despite the fact that Federal legislation (the CANSPAM act) made
it illegal, harvesting email addresses from the web using
automated robots remains alive and well.
Spammers who need fresh email addresses release software spider
programs that comb the Internet and suck email addresses off Web
pages, guest books, and anywhere else you might post your email
address.
Once they get your email address, spammers will trade it around
like 5th graders with a new pack of Pokemon cards at recess and
you can expect the avalanche of email to begin flooding your
inbox.
In order to combat this still rampant practice of stealing email
addresses from websites and sending people email they don't
want, the following tips should help protect you.
** Break It Up **
Obviously the best way to avoid getting picked up by an email
harvester is not to post your email anywhere on anyone's website
(including your own).
If the only way someone can get your email is if you give it to
them, that creates a similar situation to operating with an
unlisted phone number.
If telemarketers can't get your phone number, they can't call.
If you must post your email address, post it in a way that a
robot won't recognize it as an email address. Instead of posting
YOURNAME@YOURDOMAIN.COM, you can put YOURNAME (AT)
YOURDOMAIN.COM and then, in parenthesis, put (replace AT with @
to email me).
Though it seems like an extra step for legitimate email, you'll
find it a very effective technique.
** Use An Image **
Currently, online spiders (ANY spider, including search engines)
cannot read text that appears in a graphic or picture. If you
must display an email address on a page, then do it by typing
your email address into your favorite graphics program and
saving the image as a .gif or .jpg. Then post the image onto
your web page so people can see the email, but spiders cannot.
This too creates an extra step for people because they must type
in your email address, but it's an effective solution if you
must display an email address on your own website.
** Use An Email Form **
Another way to cut down on spam originating from your own
website is simply not to display an email at all.
Instead, allow customers and prospects to contact you through a
form where they fill in fields, click a button, and your website
emails you their message.
A note of caution: make sure the form script you use does not
keep your email address visible in the form code.
If the form code contains the email address, spam robots can
find it even though you don't see it on the page.
** Make It Hard To Guess **
Sometimes you'll get unsolicited email because a spammer guessed
your email address.
It's not a far stretch to imagine that someone probably has the
email Jim@yourdomain.com, so spammers will do a "dictionary"
attack on common usernames.
One way to defeat this is to place a "dot" (.) in your email
address, such as Jim.Edwards@yourdomain.com. The dot makes it
virtually impossible for spammers to guess your email address.
-- Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
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