Use of mailto: in this day and age...

[John Brandt]

Given the recent proliferation of viruses and worms which are
apparently mining websites for e-mail addresses found in mailto:
statements, what is the current thinking, etiquette and model for
providing e-mail addresses on websites?

I am aware of some discussion on various JS methods for hiding an
e-mail address, but does is simply make sense to remove them (e-mail
address) all and encourage people to use the old telephone?

Your thoughts...

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine

(e-mail address removed) (remove nospam)
www.jebswebs.com

 

[Very Joyful \(Victoria\)]

That all depends on the type of site and the business and customers
involved.

As a surfer, I enjoy being able to communicate somewhat anonymously without
using the phone. (My biggest peeve is businesses that block calls from
people who don't show their caller ID. I shouldn't have to expose myself
when I'm just calling to get directions or find out store hours.)

As a business person I like my customers being able to communicate any time
they want (granted, my response is not immediate when they email, but they
don't have to remember to call me during business hours if they can shoot
off a message).

From what I know, it's best to use a form instead of mailto. This hides the
emal address from the spamminers. They are always finding ways to get around
the javascript solutions, so I don't bother with those.

 

[FrontPageForms]

John,

I agree with Jack, that using a form as contact is
probably the best solution as well. I have taken recently
to using the method associated with the link below.

http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html


This makes things a little more difficult for the
harvester. If this method becomes antiquated, then I will
rely on telepathy (which I have yet to perfect) and form
replies as a backup.

Mike,
http://FrontPageForms.com
Visit my form tutorials

 

[John Brandt]

Thanks, folks. The idea of forms hadn't occurred to me.

My situation is as the Exec Director of a small non-profit
organization with a Board of Directors. As part of the service to
membership I had been including the contact information about each
Board member on the web site. With the concerns mentioned, I have
removed all contact info other than name and affiliation.

I guess I can easily create a form and have all messages routed to me
in the office and then forwarded to Board members. The other
alternative is to create a series of aliases that get routed to the
same mailbox and then route them to the correct person. Again, I
become a middle-person and this adds work.

I particularly like the E-mail Address Encoder - very clever.

jeb

Given the recent proliferation of viruses and worms which are
apparently mining websites for e-mail addresses found in mailto:
statements, what is the current thinking, etiquette and model for
providing e-mail addresses on websites?

I am aware of some discussion on various JS methods for hiding an
e-mail address, but does is simply make sense to remove them (e-mail
address) all and encourage people to use the old telephone?

Your thoughts...

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine

(e-mail address removed) (remove nospam)
www.jebswebs.com

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine

(e-mail address removed) (remove nospam)
www.jebswebs.com