I’ve always been reluctant to use my actual e-mail address on a webpage because of all those stories about evil robots that scour the Inter-puters for the ‘@’ symbol and want to sign me up for a lifetime of male enhancement or low-interest mortgages.
On the other hand, I like it when sites include the actual e-mail address of the person I need to talk to, because
- sometimes, mailto: links don’t open the right e-mail client
- I don’t want to use the contact form, because it blows.
There are several solutions to the problem, (like converting the text into an image file), but I found something easier. AddressMunger.com has an online application that takes your address and converts it into ASCII code, so it will be hidden to the terrorist super-robots but completely readable to the humans.
For instance: You see jon@ancillaryfactory.com, but the code looks like this.
Here’s what they say:
Any useful site needs to have contact information posted, and this has to include an email address. Encoding your email address when you post it on the web is essential if you want to stop spam bots and spiders from continuing to find your email address information and sending it bulk email. A large research study by the Center for Democracy and Technology shows that munging your email address the way we do helps strongly, successfully, and efficiently to avoid junk mail.
They also have a more advanced java-based version, but that one makes you post code into the <head> and <body> of the page, which is kind of an extra hassle when working with Dreamweaver templates that have locked <head> sections.
UPDATE: Those bastards at A List Apart (great site, by the way) have also written about e-mail munging and presented a different solution. See what works best for you.
Jon that Spam costume makes you look fat.
I thought black was supposed to be slimming.
Not when the black has a huge chunk of pork ham shoulder nitrate nastiness on it.
I love spam. I eat a can or two a week.