COMPUTER CONSULTANT
for
HOME & SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTER SYSTEMS & NETWORKS
How To Hide Your E-Mail Address (Mail To) Links From Spammers
Spammers use e-mail address harvesting software to search web sites for e-mail addresses. You will eventually be deluged with junk e-mail soon after you create a personal web site with an e-mail link. There are several simple methods to stop spammers from "harvesting" your e-mail address from your personal web site:
- Use a simple JavaScript to hide your e-mail address from the harvesters. It's done like this:
<script language=javascript>
<!--
// By Bill Wiegert www.glitch-busters.com
var mailtext = "E-Mail Link Text";
var aemail = "YourName";
var bemail = "YourISP.com";
document.write("<a href=" + "mail" + "to:" + aemail + "@" + bemail + ">" + mailtext + "</a>")
//-->
</script>
You can use this script and freely distribute it as long as you leave the "By..." line intact. To use this script copy and paste to a new Notebook text file. Change "E-Mail Link Text" to whatever you want to display as the text in your e-mail link. Change "YourName" to the first part of your e-mail address (the part of your address before the @). Change "YourISP.com" to the last part of your e-mail address (the part after the @). Finally, copy and paste the entire script wherever you want the e-mail link to appear on your web page. It will appear like this:
- Another way to hide your e-mail address from the harvesters is to use ASCII codes for the address. The ASCII email address for Glitch Busters is sales@glitch-
busters.com in ASCII.The spammer e-mail address harvesters can't decipher that address! Yet, it appears like this in your browser: sales@glitch-busters.com
To use this method you merely replace your e-mail address in the MAILTO: link with the ASCII equivalent of each character, like this: "a" is . There's an ASCII chart below.
ASCII Equivalents 101 A 102 B 103 C 104 D 105 E 106 F 107 G 110 H 111 I 112 J 113 K 114 L 115 M 116 N 117 O 120 P 121 Q 122 R 123 S 124 T 125 U 126 V 127 W 130 X 131 Y 132 Z 64 @ 141 a 142 b 143 c 144 d 145 e 146 f 147 g 150 h 151 i 152 j 153 k 154 l 155 m 156 n 157 o 160 p 161 q 162 r 163 s 164 t 165 u 166 v 167 w 170 x 171 y 172 z 46 .