Smart anti-spam steps to take on your page

Alistapart just published one of their entertaining step-by-step tutorials on how to mask your email away from nasty spambots, whilst allowing other visitors to see it. It is a "must read" for anyone who is working on their portfolio page. You want to put your email clearly visible, but you don't want the spam!

MOST SEASONED WEB DEVELOPERS have learned the hard way that posting an email address on a website is a sure-fire way to guarantee a steaming pile of spam delivered to that address for years to come.

Indeed, posting a naked email link anywhere on the web (or in a newsgroup, in a chatroom, on a weblog comments page ...) is generally the kiss of death for your once-healthy address.

INVASION OF THE SPAMBOTS

It begins innocently enough: the neophyte web developer codes his address into a fresh, new web page to solicit the feedback of his adoring fans. “Email me!” it beckons. A short time passes. Then the barrage of email begins.

From: 		john@48_93839aac6673030.com
Subject:	Make 80k working from home ...

The first few spam emails seem entertaining. Then frustrating. Following the so-called “unsubscribe” links in each mail only results is MORE mail. Eventually, the task of separating valid email from junk becomes so time consuming and problematic that the developer is forced to abandon the email address entirely.

I know this because the developer was me — and to this day, years later, that email address still receives dozens of unwanted email messages every day.

Have you ever wondered how, almost instantly, your email address is discovered, recorded, handed down, and passed around? This happens due to hordes of Email Harvesting Robots (aka spambots). These autonomous bots spider the web day and night in waves, crawling pages and following links until they discover an unsuspecting MAILTO tag. Then they pounce, devouring the address and sending it deep into the bowels of the web where the ugly, festering spam companies dwell.