FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin

[Tom Pepper Willett]

Good news, Jim!

Tom
| Tina Clarke wrote:
| > Test either addin by using The willmaster test...
| >
| > http://willmaster.com/possibilities/demo/RetrieveEmails.cgi
| >
|
| Good tip, Tina! Anyone care to test Spam Spoiler with this? I did, and
it
| finds no e-mail addresses. Just check out this URL:
|
| http://www.jimcoaddins.com/contactus.aspx
|
| If you look, you'll see that I do have a link on that page to e-mail me.
| However, enter it into this Willmaster tool, and it finds nothing.
|
| --
| Jim Cheshire
| JIMCO
| http://www.jimcoaddins.com
|
| Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
| Add e-mail links to your Web site again
| without fear of spammers!
|
|
|

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Good news, Jim!

I guess my advice would be this; when choosing a tool to prevent spammers
from getting your e-mail address, check to see if the developer of the tool
is confident enough in his or her own tool to use it on their site.

I use Spam Spoiler on my site because I am 100% confident in its ability to
prevent spammers from harvesting my e-mail address.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

I checked a site of a developer of an email anti-spam program, and it
appears that company doesn't even use the one they sell. In fact, the email
address is actually embeded on the page!

Tom

| Tom Pepper Willett wrote:
| > Good news, Jim!
| >
|
| I guess my advice would be this; when choosing a tool to prevent spammers
| from getting your e-mail address, check to see if the developer of the
tool
| is confident enough in his or her own tool to use it on their site.
|
| I use Spam Spoiler on my site because I am 100% confident in its ability
to
| prevent spammers from harvesting my e-mail address.
|
| --
| Jim Cheshire
| JIMCO
| http://www.jimcoaddins.com
|
| Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
| Add e-mail links to your Web site again
| without fear of spammers!
|
|
|

 

[Jens Peter Karlsen[FP MVP]]

I would only say 99% Jim and only for the time being. After all it is
quite easy for an email harvester to target your script and return the
actual email address. Heck even I could write a Lexer/Parser that would
do the job in a few hours. But then that is true for all of the schemes
used to mask the email address. For now they work because the harvesters
gets all they need by going thru plain text. However in the future it is
likely that they will start targeting the masked emails too, probably
starting with those that are simply encoded as html entities as it will
be the easiest and then the more popular javascript solutions.
Only 100% safe solution is a serverside solution.

Regards Jens Peter Karlsen. Microsoft MVP - Frontpage.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Cheshire (JIMCO) [mailto:[email protected]]
Posted At: 1. marts 2005 18:12
Posted To: microsoft.public.frontpage.client
Conversation: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin
Subject: Re: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin

Good news, Jim!

I guess my advice would be this; when choosing a tool to
prevent spammers from getting your e-mail address, check to
see if the developer of the tool is confident enough in his
or her own tool to use it on their site.

I use Spam Spoiler on my site because I am 100% confident in
its ability to prevent spammers from harvesting my e-mail address.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Re: FrontPage Spam Spoiler AddinRead my post! I said that *I* am 100% confident in my solution. I didn't say that my solution will stop 100% of all spam, but I certainly won't say that it won't either! My site gets hit by spam bots many times a day. Since I have added my e-mail address to my site using Spam Spoiler, the number of spam e-mails that I receive has not changed one bit.

In the technology world, one only concerns themself with what works now. You can't address what spam harvesters will do in the future because none of us can see the future. I do know that in the here and now, my solution works. If you use it and it doesn't, I'll give you your money back.

I do know that alternative methods used by other products don't work. I have received many e-mails just today from people who have told me that they used a competitive product and immediately started getting a ton of spam.

I can also tell you that a server-side solution is not 100%! I have gotten several spam messages from my server-side form. In fact, I got one today from a married housewife looking for some adventure.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!


I would only say 99% Jim and only for the time being. After all it is quite easy for an email harvester to target your script and return the actual email address. Heck even I could write a Lexer/Parser that would do the job in a few hours. But then that is true for all of the schemes used to mask the email address. For now they work because the harvesters gets all they need by going thru plain text. However in the future it is likely that they will start targeting the masked emails too, probably starting with those that are simply encoded as html entities as it will be the easiest and then the more popular javascript solutions.

Only 100% safe solution is a serverside solution.

Regards Jens Peter Karlsen. Microsoft MVP - Frontpage.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Cheshire (JIMCO) [mailto:[email protected]]
Posted At: 1. marts 2005 18:12
Posted To: microsoft.public.frontpage.client
Conversation: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin
Subject: Re: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin

Good news, Jim!

I guess my advice would be this; when choosing a tool to
prevent spammers from getting your e-mail address, check to
see if the developer of the tool is confident enough in his
or her own tool to use it on their site.

I use Spam Spoiler on my site because I am 100% confident in
its ability to prevent spammers from harvesting my e-mail address.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

A server-side process will stop email addresses from being harvested from the site, but it will not
stop a spammer the manually use the form on the site to send their spam message to whoever get the
email from the form, but it does eliminate them ever seeing the email address that the message is
being sent to, as long as no auto-responders are set up.

I have a client where a spammer composed their message in notepad, etc., and then went to each
listing to send it. The solution was to replace the memo field with a text box, limited to 255
characters and strip all html code.
--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================


Re: FrontPage Spam Spoiler AddinRead my post! I said that *I* am 100% confident in my solution. I
didn't say that my solution will stop 100% of all spam, but I certainly won't say that it won't
either! My site gets hit by spam bots many times a day. Since I have added my e-mail address to my
site using Spam Spoiler, the number of spam e-mails that I receive has not changed one bit.

In the technology world, one only concerns themself with what works now. You can't address what
spam harvesters will do in the future because none of us can see the future. I do know that in
the here and now, my solution works. If you use it and it doesn't, I'll give you your money back.


I do know that alternative methods used by other products don't work. I have received many e-mails
just today from people who have told me that they used a competitive product and immediately started
getting a ton of spam.

I can also tell you that a server-side solution is not 100%! I have gotten several spam messages
from my server-side form. In fact, I got one today from a married housewife looking for some
adventure.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!


I would only say 99% Jim and only for the time being. After all it is quite easy for an email
harvester to target your script and return the actual email address. Heck even I could write a
Lexer/Parser that would do the job in a few hours. But then that is true for all of the schemes used
to mask the email address. For now they work because the harvesters gets all they need by going thru
plain text. However in the future it is likely that they will start targeting the masked emails too,
probably starting with those that are simply encoded as html entities as it will be the easiest and
then the more popular javascript solutions.

Only 100% safe solution is a serverside solution.

Regards Jens Peter Karlsen. Microsoft MVP - Frontpage.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Cheshire (JIMCO) [mailto:[email protected]]
Posted At: 1. marts 2005 18:12
Posted To: microsoft.public.frontpage.client
Conversation: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin
Subject: Re: FrontPage Spam Spoiler Addin

Good news, Jim!

I guess my advice would be this; when choosing a tool to
prevent spammers from getting your e-mail address, check to
see if the developer of the tool is confident enough in his
or her own tool to use it on their site.

I use Spam Spoiler on my site because I am 100% confident in
its ability to prevent spammers from harvesting my e-mail address.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

A server-side process will stop email addresses from being harvested
from the site, but it will not stop a spammer the manually use the
form on the site to send their spam message to whoever get the email
from the form, but it does eliminate them ever seeing the email
address that the message is being sent to, as long as no
auto-responders are set up.
I have a client where a spammer composed their message in notepad,
etc., and then went to each listing to send it. The solution was to
replace the memo field with a text box, limited to 255 characters and
strip all html code. --

They sure do go to extraordinary lengths! When you submit a message to me
from my form, I send a copy to you as well. I should probably change it so
that my support e-mail is a bcc address, but then again, I get a ton of
e-mail that just goes to a non-existent e-mail on my domain. Catch alls
come to me anyway.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

I have delete my catch all accounts, since spammers will just email to any name at a domain.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

I thought I would try swish as an option. I dont see any mailto: in the html
code but not sure if it will be good enough. I set it up on my construction
page for now.

http://www.unitedfiberglass.com

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

Since I don't allow active x controls, and many computers by default now
don't, especially with WinXP SP2, I can't get the link to your email.
Sorry.

Tom

|I thought I would try swish as an option. I dont see any mailto: in the
html
| code but not sure if it will be good enough. I set it up on my
construction
| page for now.
|
| http://www.unitedfiberglass.com
|
|
| "Tom Pepper Willett" wrote:
|
| > We see a lot of questions in the FP newsgroups asking how to mask email
| > addresses on web pages so the spam harvesters can't find them.
| >
| > I want to share with you that my friend Jim Chesire of JIMCO Addins has
put
| > together another free FrontPage addin called "Spam Spoiler" which uses
| > JavaScript to insert e-mail links designed to foil the spam harvesters.
| >
| > Jimco has got it available for download at www.jimcoaddins.com
| >
| >
| > --
| > ===
| > Tom "Pepper" Willett
| > Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
| > ---
| > About FrontPage 2003:
| > http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX01085802
| > FrontPage 2003 Product Information:
| > http://www.microsoft.com/office/frontpage/prodinfo/default.mspx
| > Understanding FrontPage:
| > http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/frontpage/
| > FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions Support Center:
| > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;fp10se
| > ===
| >
| >
| >

 

[Guest]

hmm, have SP2 on a few systems and none prompt for active x download. Even in
different locations.

 

[Jack Brewster]

It's the flash component that's probably giving Tom the message. If I
recall, Tom, don't you avoid installing Flash?

If I can offer a suggestion... If you choose to continue with this
solution, include the "Email Sales Department" text in the link. That tiny
little dot isn't easy to click on, or discover that it's clickable. Most
web surfers are used to clicking on "Email us" text and may get discouraged
when that doesn't work.

#1 rule of web design for business sites - NEVER let your design get in the
way of people giving you money.

I seriously recommend a server-side form processor instead of a regular
email link. You can ask targeted questions, make fields required, etc. to
make sure that you reduce the time and effort necessary to address the
customer's inquiry. It also removes the problem of having your address
embedded (and discoverable by spam harvesters) in the page.

Any _good_ host will have some type of form processing (not FP form
processing - blech) available and should provide documentation, examples and
support for using it.

 

[Trevor L.]

Hi all,

Although a beginner, I thought I would throw in my $0.02 (AUS) worth

I used Spam Spoiler and it works great in that the address is not coded in
full in the HTML. However, it is still there in parts which are put together
to form the address.

So I did this.

I copied the generated JS code into a function named sendEMail() and put the
function in an external JS file. I then call the function from the HTML code
like this <script type="text/javascript">sendEMail()</script>. In my header,
I have a reference to the JS file <script type="text/javascript"
src="external.js"></script>.

This is a bit indirect, but it means that the code in external.js cannot be
accessed by browsing the web. When I try, I get a message saying "IE cannot
download the file. IE was not able to open the file. The requested site was
either unavailable or cannot be found." This message of course is fine by me

This seems to add security to the code

Am I right or wrong?
--
Cheers,
Trevor L.


I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Jack Brewster]

Give us a URL and someone will show you the contents of that external JS
file. Just because IE is blocking you from opening the file directly,
doesn't mean it can't be accessed.

Just because it's external to the webpage doesn't mean the visitor (or a
spam harvesting bot) can't see it's contents. The way the web works
actually requires the files to be downloaded to your computer before the
browser can display it. This is the same reason why it's impossible to
prevent people from saving images from websites. Yes, it requires a little
net savvy to know where the files can be found, but anyone who's interested
in harvesting addresses _knows_ this information and will code to do it.

 

[Guest]

a server-side form processor sounds like the application I need, will look
into it.

Thank you.

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

Jack: When I allow the Active X, I do see the email link ;-)

I also agree with the rest of your comments...

--
===
Tom "Pepper" Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
---
About FrontPage 2003:
http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX01085802
FrontPage 2003 Product Information:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/frontpage/prodinfo/default.mspx
Understanding FrontPage:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/frontpage/
===
| It's the flash component that's probably giving Tom the message. If I
| recall, Tom, don't you avoid installing Flash?
|
| If I can offer a suggestion... If you choose to continue with this
| solution, include the "Email Sales Department" text in the link. That
tiny
| little dot isn't easy to click on, or discover that it's clickable. Most
| web surfers are used to clicking on "Email us" text and may get
discouraged
| when that doesn't work.
|
| #1 rule of web design for business sites - NEVER let your design get in
the
| way of people giving you money.
|
| I seriously recommend a server-side form processor instead of a regular
| email link. You can ask targeted questions, make fields required, etc. to
| make sure that you reduce the time and effort necessary to address the
| customer's inquiry. It also removes the problem of having your address
| embedded (and discoverable by spam harvesters) in the page.
|
| Any _good_ host will have some type of form processing (not FP form
| processing - blech) available and should provide documentation, examples
and
| support for using it.
|
| --
| Jack Brewster
| FrontPage MVP
| www.maxgeek.com
|
| | > hmm, have SP2 on a few systems and none prompt for active x download.
Even
| > in
| > different locations.
| >
| > "Tom Pepper Willett" wrote:
| >
| >> Since I don't allow active x controls, and many computers by default
now
| >> don't, especially with WinXP SP2, I can't get the link to your email.
| >> Sorry.
| >>
| >> Tom
| >>
| >> | >> |I thought I would try swish as an option. I dont see any mailto: in
the
| >> html
| >> | code but not sure if it will be good enough. I set it up on my
| >> construction
| >> | page for now.
| >> |
| >> | http://www.unitedfiberglass.com
| >> |
| >> |
| >> | "Tom Pepper Willett" wrote:
| >> |
| >> | > We see a lot of questions in the FP newsgroups asking how to mask
| >> email
| >> | > addresses on web pages so the spam harvesters can't find them.
| >> | >
| >> | > I want to share with you that my friend Jim Chesire of JIMCO Addins
| >> has
| >> put
| >> | > together another free FrontPage addin called "Spam Spoiler" which
| >> uses
| >> | > JavaScript to insert e-mail links designed to foil the spam
| >> harvesters.
| >> | >
| >> | > Jimco has got it available for download at www.jimcoaddins.com
| >> | >
| >> | >
| >> | > --
| >> | > ===
| >> | > Tom "Pepper" Willett
| >> | > Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
| >> | > ---
| >> | > About FrontPage 2003:
| >> | > http://office.microsoft.com/home/office.aspx?assetid=FX01085802
| >> | > FrontPage 2003 Product Information:
| >> | > http://www.microsoft.com/office/frontpage/prodinfo/default.mspx
| >> | > Understanding FrontPage:
| >> | > http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/understanding/frontpage/
| >> | > FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions Support Center:
| >> | > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;fp10se
| >> | > ===
| >> | >
| >> | >
| >> | >
| >>
| >>
| >>
|
|

 

[Guest]

I guess we took swish out of the loop, just for everyones info. Nice to have
the input.

 

[Trevor L.]

Thanks, Jack

I thought it was too good to be true.

--
Cheers,
Trevor L.


I choose Polesoft Lockspam to fight spam, and you?
http://www.polesoft.com/refer.html

 

[Jim Cheshire \(JIMCO\)]

Thanks, Jack

I thought it was too good to be true.

But keep in mind that my site is getting hit hard daily and my e-mail
address is right there for all to see in a Spam Spoiler link. I'm getting
nada in additional spam.

--
Jim Cheshire
JIMCO
http://www.jimcoaddins.com

Check out Spam Spoiler, our new add-in!
Add e-mail links to your Web site again
without fear of spammers!