[WEB4LIB] RE: re webmaster address on web site

[Roy Tennant]

Not to point the finger at any one technique, but I just want to point 
out that no amount of spam sent to my email account (and I'll compare 
spam message totals with anyone) will get me to do something that harms 
my ability to serve my users. I think users should be able to contact 
the person responsible for a web server by whatever means they wish. 
That's why my feedback page 
(http://escholarship.cdlib.org/feedback.html) lists all the possible 
ways they can contact us: by web form, by email, by phone, by mail, and 
in person. Contrast this with other sites where you would be lucky to 
find *one* method of contacting someone, and therefore it's the one 
*they* find most convenient. I'm sorry, but getting more than the usual 
quota of spam comes with the job. Get used to using the delete key (or, 
better yet, carefully configured filters). Compromising public service 
in pursuit of your personal comfort is a strange public service stance 
indeed.
Roy

On Friday, August 9, 2002, at 06:51 AM, Chris Gray wrote:

> You can also prevent email address harvesting with a JavaScript.  The
> email link appears as normal in a browser, but the page source can't
> easily be parsed to harvest an email address automatically.
>
> We use the following script in the head of a document:
>
> <script>
> function writeEmail(username,domain,displayText) {
> document.write( '<a href=\"mailto:' + username + '@' + domain + '\">' + 
> displayText + '</a>' );
> }
> </script>
>
> And then replace anything like
>
>     <a href="mailto:nobody at www.bogus.com">the Webmaster</a>
>
> with
>
>     <script>writeEmail('nobody','www.bogus.com','the 
> Webmaster');</script>
>
> You can then put other people's contact info on your page without
> subjecting them to increased spam.
>
> Chris Gray
> Systems Analyst
> University of Waterloo
>
>
>