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Section:: Web Articles < Archives > |
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...previous Obviously these scumbags think they are doing a great service to the world by providing the opportunity to scan thousands of sites per day for email addresses. Okay, so what can you do? Ask them politely - With most "good" spiders, this is very easy to do. You simply create a robots.txt file or use the robots metatag (if you don't know what those are, don't worry about it). Unfortunately, email harvesters are written by and used by scum, so they typically ignore polite requests. Block them - On some web servers this is possible using special commands in a file called htaccess (again, don't worry about it if you don't know what that is), but only with those robots that clearly identify themselves. For those that don't tell you who they are (and some of them do not), then you cannot block them. In addition, the web host has to be specially set up to allow you to do this - and most, in my experience, are not. Confuse them - Some webmasters create page after page of fake email addresses. These pages are not intended for people or good spiders (the robots metatag is used to keep the good one's out) but rather are made attractive to email harvesters. The theory is simple - the harvesters will not be able to resist the temptation (they are not very bright, as programs go) and will scan these pages. They will grab dozens, hundreds and then thousands of fake addresses, thus wasting the spammers time and possibly causing their programs to crash. Does this work? Sure - occasionally, but it also does not prevent the spammers from getting your other email addresses, and it still chews up resources (web servers and bandwidth) sending useless messages all over the internet. Cloak your email addresses - One thing you can do that is fairly effective is to make your email addresses look like something else. Some people create a graphic image with the email address in it (not a great solution as it means the email address must be retyped by your visitors). Others use JavaScript to make the email address look like code. These solutions work (usually), but they make it difficult to maintain your site and often make it more difficult for your visitors. In addition, presumably the spam harvesters will eventually catch on and make their programs smarter. Strip your site of email addresses - The only solution that works for the present time is to remove all email addresses from all of your web pages. If you need to get your visitors to send you information, then use a form (these cannot be harvested by spammers as long as the email address is not part of the form itself - Bravenet is a good service to use for this purpose). If you don't put your email addresses directly on your site, then the spammers cannot get it using their harvesters. So there you have it. I hope this is of use to you in fighting this internet evil known as email harvesting. About the Author Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips: mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com Claudia Arevalo-Lowe is the webmistress of Internet Tips And Secrets and Surviving Asthma. Visit her site at http://survivingasthma.com List of articles available for reprint: article-list@internet-tips.net All articles published on EthanCote.com are copyrighted by their respective author. They are not to be taken without the consent of the author. |
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