Why eat SPAM in the first place?
Todd Kellner wrote:
>Out of 2207 UCEs sent 7/25-7/31, 2074 were sent to multiple
>aliases, a (relatively) sure sign of harvested or extracted
>email addresses from our Web sites. A closer look at the
>remaining emails showed a handful of recognizable "opt-in
>emailer" names, but most were straight-up obscured header
>spams or email newsletters.
One of the ways to prevent mechanical harvesting is to
use a Perl script like FORMMAIL or some equivalent to
get email addresses off of your web site and hide them
in the protective custody of the server.
If you do have to post your email address on your web
site, do it by using a linked GIF file that displays the
address and connects to a form mailer script.
Granted, these options require more work to set up than
using a MAILTO link, but you can spend a little more time
now and know that all incoming emails to certain addresses
are valid requests, or spend a lot more time later building filters
and scrounging through spam.
Using server side scripts is a far more effective way to
prevent address harvesting, though it won't stop the
occasional ADBUMB or Business Lyceum from signing
you up without your consent.
My $ 0.02
John Gaskill
jg_at_Info-Central-USA.com
http://Info-Central-USA.com
Received on Fri Aug 02 2002 - 17:46:13 CDT
