Hiding email addresses

[Mike]

Until recently I had a bit of code that would display my email address on a webpage while obscuring it from robots etc. Now I want to use it I can't find it.

1. Can anyone recommend a method?

2. Are these methods any good or are spammers and their robots savvy enough to decode them anyway?

[iamback]

There are at least two threads already on this forum about this... try searching for "obfuscation".

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by Mike

Until recently I had a bit of code that would display my email address on a webpage while obscuring it from robots etc. Now I want to use it I can't find it.

1. Can anyone recommend a method?

2. Are these methods any good or are spammers and their robots savvy enough to decode them anyway?

See the discussion in these threads:

Obfuscating e-mail addresses

E-mail obfuscation again

[Mike]

Thanks. I did mean to search for those threads since that's where I got the idea from. Somehow it completely slipped my mind by the time I'd arrived at the forum.

Old age does have some disadvantages but they're not outweighed by the advantage of being able to watch repeats on TV as if they are new every time.

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by Mike

Old age does have some disadvantages but they're not outweighed by the advantage of being able to watch repeats on TV as if they are new every time.

I know exactly what you mean!

[curveto]

Not sure about the code you refer to but what you want to do would be easy if you just presented your email as a .png (image). Most bots aren't going decompose that.

How about this...

A .png that employs alpha to be transparent for all pixels of the image except the glyphs. Then make a CSS class that refers to this file as a background-image. Then, if you want to hide it behind some challenge (to limit exposure to "human decoders") use some JavaScript to change the background or display property (during hover or something more grandiose).

The only way to truly hide your address and yet converse is to employ client forms that users can use to compose an email and then post that form whereupon your server repackages things (and mails them from a well know smtp ... something you don't get when the client is doing the mailing)
or doesn't mail the material at all. Rather, pumps it into a databse or something.

[curveto]

...but use appropriate big system development for that last mechanism because its very existence opens new doors for far worse exploits of your web system (sql injection is the obvious thought).

If you wanted to be super cute, the original .png could be used to compose a bunch of "glyph sprites" (out of order in the .png itself) and then use some nifty bits to say, create a stack of blocks that animate / self-assemble (over time) into an address (visualizing a pyramid of kids blocks that rearrange themselves/fall into position). Pixar would be proud!

[donmcc]

> would be easy if you just presented your email as a .png (image). Most bots aren't going decompose that.

I guessing that some can. That is why when you create a Google account, or the like, you have to type in some letters that are all twisty and in different fonts. The spammers have figured out how to read legible graphics.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Originally Posted by donmcc

> would be easy if you just presented your email as a .png (image). Most bots aren't going decompose that.

I guessing that some can. That is why when you create a Google account, or the like, you have to type in some letters that are all twisty and in different fonts. The spammers have figured out how to read legible graphics.

That's why I especially like the idea of building the thing out of a series of images, presented out of order.

It might be even more fun to sprinkle a few legitimate urls and email addresses on the page. Like those provided here:

http://www.projecthoneypot.org/faq.php