Re: echo text - anti-spam-spider measure

On Wed, February 28, 2007 1:20 am, Stut wrote: > Of all the possible methods, entities are the easiest for bots to > handle. They just need to decode the entities. > > More reliable methods involve using javascript to write out the > mailto: > tag. Do it in several statements. But even then, some of the smarter > spiders will execute simple javascript like that. You can make it > better > by using onload to execute the javascript which means the spider will > need to implement that, which I don't believe they do at the moment. > > Of course the best way is to use an image and don't link it. If it's > just a way for visitors to contact you, use a contact form. You don't > expose the email address and can control it a lot better. I'm no expert, but as far as I can tell from my readings on this subject, the reality is that spammers just don't bother to harvest them. Ongoing studies, older studies, newer studies. Everybody knows that the spammers *could* decode HEX or even the JS fairly trivially, but they don't. There are many theories [*] as to why that is, but the empirical evidence is that the obfuscation is very effective at reducing spam dramatically, no matter how silly that seems. * Maybe it's too much low hanging fruit. Maybe they don't want to risk hitting honey-pot emails. Maybe anybody smart enough to obfustcate is too smart to fall for the stupid spam anyway. ... -- Some people have a "gift" link here. Know what I want? I want you to buy a CD from some starving artist. http://cdbaby.com/browse/from/lynch Yeah, I get a buck. So?