Spam!

[steve@thaib]

I am plagued by crappy nonsense from all sorts of sites which have clearly harvested my e-mail address along with millions of others and decided that I need some help for various complaints (how do they know? )

I like to put my e-mail address on my websites because people do occasionally write and say hi. I've seen e-mail links where the person who wants to mail you has to type in a code that appears in a box, can you use this sort of thing to protect an e-mail address?

Any tips generally on avoiding all the garbage that comes my way would be appreciated.

[dogblower]

Had the same problem with the Phuket Hash website - within 24 hours of posting the site I was getting spam in volumes!

Try http://www.automaticlabs.com/products/enkoderform/ - they generate a javascript code which displays your address where you want it and will trigger a "mailto:" command while leaving your address impenetrable to bots.

[LivinLOS]

I just say my email is email 'at' provider 'dot' com and let people work it out.. Spambots can hunt for mailto: links also..

[steve@thaib]

Thanks guys, I'm plagued by this crap and normally delete it. Now I find myself responding with the odd **** you! e-mail, which is probably a bad idea.

[dizbuster]

I use Yahoo! and whilst they don't completely cut out the Spam, a huge amount does got shoved straight into a "Bulk" folder which you can set up to be deleted straight away. Then, when receiving this junk you can just click on a button called "Spam" and it will direct all mail from that address in to the Bulk folder in future.

It might be better Steve if you use a Yahoo! address for general messages and then if you wish to raise things with a regular corresponder to another level, you can then get them to use another address which is more relevant to your site. Yahoo! is now changing and currently running beta testing on some changes, which allow you to review all messages (including the Bulk folder) before opening the mail. This cuts down the chances of a malicious mail causing harm to your pc when opening it.

good luck
Diz

[steve@thaib]

A lot of it does get shoved into a spam folder by the server, so I only have to log on to delete it.

I'm really after a means of stopping these cretins harvesting my e-mail addresses in the first place. I can see why people set up 'contact us' forms instead of posting an w-mail address, but I want to be more accessible than that.

[Nicke]

I use SpamAssasin on this server and solve most of my spam problems. As for publishing on websites, maybe a feedback form is a better solution together with a code.

Another option is to have your email as a .gif, and people have to enter your address manually if they want to send email to you.

[steve@thaib]

That's my solution! An image of my e-mail address, that's ideal.

[LivinLOS]

If you use outlook and pop3 mail cloudmark spamnet is really good..

Everyone who uses it rates email they recieve.. Those ratings are used to define spam.. Works great.