Dont Give the Spammers Your Address From Your Page

Spammers get email addresses from web pages using programs called spiders which tour the internet capturing letter strings with the "@" character in it.

Signing up for extra information at some sites and giving your email address can also get you a flood of unwanted mail, but although it feels like spam, it is, or started as, "Opt-in" email.

However, recent legislation in some countries can redefine this as spam if it fails to have certain features, like return address and physical address (of course, just what is required depends on country).

Overcoming that kind of spam is a challenge after you have signed up in a weak moment, although there are a number of programs that attempt to solve the problem. Just one is K9 from http://keir.net/k9.html

But consider this situation: you have a web page and you expect a flood of visitors, and need to put your email address there.

But how do you keep it clean?

Well remember the spiders look for an @ in the string.

We can put an alternate symbol in its place. So meandherATthere.com sits on my web page. With that particular one, we assume that the visitor has the nouse to preplace the AT with an @ and not think it is a new way to write email addresses, and the program would take care of it, and they needent do anything!

Rather than go through all the alternatives here, you will find a list of different methods and some comments about each one, on the site www.takeyoursiteup.com.

May your site not send you any more unwanted visitors!

David is a former Medial Scientist who got into programming and web development and lives in South Australia. His yahoo box gets a regular stream of spam, and doesn't want any more!

In The News:

pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Spammer in the Slammer: Jeremy Jaynes Sentenced to Nine Years

Will other spammers take heed? Don't count on it.Jeremy Jaynes... Read More

BUSTED: Anti Spam Forces Bankrupt Super-Spammer Scott Richter

Microsoft scores one for the good guysScott Richter, the self-proclaimed... Read More

Spam - Its Whats For Breakfast

The first thing I do every morning when I wake... Read More

Take Back Control of Your Inbox: Eliminate Annoying and Potentially Harmful E-mails

Are you tired of spam stealing your time, your money,... Read More

Blackhole or Fail - Which One Is Better For Your Mail Server?

Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on... Read More

Evict the Spammers from Your Inbox

Block Spam and Other Email Threats From Entering Your Gateway... Read More

Your Dolphin E-mail Caught In Spam Tuna Net?

Let me ask a couple of questions:If (potential) customers sends... Read More

Fight Spam and Fortify Your Web Site with RSS

RSS is the answer to the Spam epidemic of the... Read More

Wiki Reek-y Havoc

The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your... Read More

Edating Readers

One of our Australian clients sent out a campaign using... Read More

Spam - How to Report it

I'm sure you find spam just as frustrating and annoying... Read More

Spammer Stole My Email Address?

Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone... Read More

I Must Be The Luckiest Person Alive! Spam

I must be the luckiest person alive! My inbox is... Read More

Having a Bad e MALE Day? Email, Spam, Spam and More Spam

You just sat at your desk, opened your email account... Read More

How You Can Avoid The New Dangers Of Spam

Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More

Is Email Dying?

2004 was really a year when the whole subject of... Read More

Is Spam Affecting Your Business Email?

5 Ways Spam Is Affecting Your Business And what we... Read More

Block Spam with An Easy Behavioral Change

E-mails now have a connection back to their servers. I... Read More

I Love Spam!

What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More

Spasms & Spamocidal Mania

Below is a letter I wrote to the following organizations:S.H.U.... Read More

Internet Theft and Fraud

My friends in the web hosting business have recently informed... Read More

Eight Quick Tips For Stopping SPAM

If you are buried in SPAM then you're not alone.... Read More

Block Ads, Defeat Pop-Ups, and STOP Page Hijacking

You're not alone!Who hasn't surfed the web looking for information... Read More

Pst... Pass It On... I Found Out Its a Hoax

When you receive an email telling you about a virus,... Read More

The Definition of Spam

Spam can bring down your website faster than a speeding... Read More

The Fastest Delete Finger in the Midwest!

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More

CAN-SPAM Basics

I. BACKGROUNDThe CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of... Read More

Why Your ISP Takes Bribes From Spammers

The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to... Read More

Beware of the Newest Activity Online: Phishing

No. I'm not talking here about the outdoor activity enjoyed... Read More

Quickly Eliminate 100% of Your Junk Email

Why do so many people think I need to take... Read More

How to Write a Privacy Policy

A Privacy Policy can be defined as the policy under... Read More

The Vanishing Mail

Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out... Read More

The Business Of Sending Spam

You all tear your hair out in frustration every time... Read More