In today's underground culture of SPAM, the most used technique to harvest emails is by looking at websites. Spiders run through the web collecting any code that has a name, an "@" sign, and a domain at the end. Thus, the SPAM lists are created from your own attempts to do business on the web.
So, by having your email address in a readable format you will eventually be hit by an email spam bot. Their function in life is to trawl every website looking for email addresses it can add to its database, with the sole purpose of spamming you at a later date. So what do these bots look for? Well firstly it might look for mailto: links. Alternatively it may look for email syntax xxx@xxxx.xx.xx for example.
Is there a simple solution to post your contact email address on the webpage, but still avoid the address capturing by unfriendly harvesters? Yes, it is. You can use a script encrypting email link on the webpage to hide them from spammers.
No, you do not have to be a software engineer to generate the code for each of your email addresses. You can find the appropriate generators online to be used for free. Here are selected links for you:
To use this email scrambler, simply enter your email address in the box below and type the link you would like to display to your visitors (eg: "Email Me"). When you click the "Scramble Email" button, you will be presented with javascript code which you can copy and paste into your blog template where you would like the email link to be displayed (eg: in an HTML/Javascript widget in your sidebar).
The uPromote Email Address Scrambler turns ordinary text email addresses into ASCII code, causing email address harvesters to bypass real email addresses. To the human eye, an email addresses remains intelligible, while automated harvesters are duped into avoiding the code.
Enter your email address into the appropriate field. The generator compiles a new string based on your email address, replacing the @ and . characters. A script is then created for you to cut and paste on your site which generates a mailto: link with javascript. Both your real email address and mailto: link will be invisible to the bots - protecting you from spam.
To encrypt an email address, simply modify your existing "mailto:" link on the page with a specifically crafted email address instead, and the script modifies it to become valid for humans. Compatibility wise, the script works in all JavaScript enabled browsers, and even for those with JavaScript disabled, the resulting email link still works to a degree that allows the visitor to email you.
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