Article: Protecting Your Inbox
Posted:
Once
upon a time, it was all the rage to post your personal email address on
your web page. However, in a world of malicious spammers, the times
have changed dramatically. Learn how to be able to post your email address
without getting your inbox attacked.
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Let's be frank: one of the stupidest things any person can do today is post their personal email on a public web site, especially on their home page. All this does is give out an open invitation to spammers to make the daily joy of opening your inbox as delightful as getting your legs waxed.
However,
so much of the web is about the ability to communicate. And of course,
if you publish a web site for any reason, it's just not desirable to not
have a way for your visitors to contact you. So how can you find a way
to have that happen?
Lucky, Webdesigner Freebies has some surefire tricks and tips that will ensure the protection of your inbox:
Use a contact form
One
way to avoid having email harvesters getting your email address is to use
a contact form. A contact form is a form that enables visitors to send
you a message without your email address being displayed. Many online webmaster
resource sites like Bravenet
provide this service.
Before you run out and sign up for one, however, read the fine print to make sure it will protect your email address. Otherwise, there will be no point in using it.
Add extra wording to your email
Another popular trick people use is to stuff an extra word in their email address that visitors can then take out when they write to you. For example, if your email address is: contactme@mail.com, you could write it as this: contactme_REMOVE THIS_@mail.com. People wanting to email you will get the hint and figure out your real address. Meanwhile, email harvesters scanning your web site will think "that" is your real email address.This should do a good enough job of protecting your inbox. However, make sure that you use this method in every instance where your email appears. Why? Because obviously, if you write out your email like this:
<a href="mailto: writeme_NOSPAM_@mail.com">writeme@mail.com</a>Harvesters will still be able to get your email address, because you still wrote it out in between the <a href></a> tag. So make sure you write it like this:
<a href="mailto: writeme_NOSPAM_@mail.com">writeme_NOSPAM_@
mail.com</a>
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