Comments on: Dear Internet Patrol: What is Website “Email Address Harvesting”, and How Can I Prevent It?

By: codeman38

codeman38 — Thu, 06 May 2004 17:10:12 +0000

You could always use, as the alt tag, something that might not be picked up so easily by spammers but would still be easy to convert to an e-mail address — i.e., by writing it out as “cody at zone 38 dot net” or something like that.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 02 May 2004 07:32:23 +0000

If you’re interested in a PHP script to do this, go on over to http://www.stevedawson.com. There is no direct link to his script, but click on the Free Scripts link, then scroll down the page to where it says PHP Contact Me. Configuration instructions are easy, and no knowledge of PHP is required to set it up.

By: sPaz

sPaz — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 18:32:04 +0000

Doesn’t that defeat the object of obfuscating the email address ? Any harvester should pick up on the email address …

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 12:20:11 +0000

This is true, but you can include an alt to the img tag (ex: img scr=”emailgrfx.gif” width=”123″ height=”123″ alt=”mymail@emailaddress.org”>)

The reader should pick up in the alt text and read it aloud. You can also use it to make the comment “click here to send e-mail to ………..”.

By: Libertyall

Libertyall — Thu, 29 Apr 2004 05:15:52 +0000

Try the software at this address: http://www.adduco.nl/encodeuk.htm

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 23:54:40 +0000

Try this method - works just fine:

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~trw/spam/spam4.htm

By: codeman38

codeman38 — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 21:18:43 +0000

One problem with displaying the e-mail address as a graphic rather than as text: not so good for users who are blind or dyslexic or who can only access a text-based terminal…

By: Daveykins FoxFire

Daveykins FoxFire — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 20:40:30 +0000

I have a good suggestion for encoding your E-Mail address on your site, which I use on mine. It is called Hiveware Enkoder, which is located at http://www.hiveware.com/enkoder_form.php