So, let's begin.

=> How Webmasters Get S P A M In The First Place

There are many ways that webmasters, everyone really, can get sent spam. (See Further Reading below for a full discussion.) The easiest way, however, is to simply put your email address onto a website in the format: mailto:name@a.b

Then, so-called email-harvesting programs (spambots) visit this web page and collect each and every email address they find, and add it to a spammers database.

So, if you put an 'un-protected' e-mail address on a website, soon enough you'll receive all sorts of unwanted e-mails in your inbox.

This article discusses 3 ways to protect or encrypt your email address, and thus make it harder for spambots to add your email address to spammers databases.

Here are a few tips that WILL help reduce what I call 'webmaster s p a m':

== ASIDE ==
You may well get S P A M sent to the e-mail address you leave at a forum, or newsgroup too. In this case - when you are unable to encrypt your email address - you should use a freebie e-mail address instead, as mentioned at the end of this article.
== ASIDE ==

=> Tip 1 - Encrypt Your E-Mail Address Using ASCII-code.

Simply put, this means replacing letters and numbers in your e-mail address with its ASCII equivalent; e.g. a@b.c would be

a@b.c

It's best if you also encrypt the mailto: statement too, as I *have* received spam at an ASCII-encoded email address !

I use Mailto-Encrypter, a Windows-compatible program, but you might want to visit the following online resource. The "Advanced Email Link Generator with Anti-Spam Encoder" generates mailto: links you can copy and paste into your web pages and emails.
https://willmaster.com/possibilities/demo/aelgwase.html

(You can also find several mailto encrypters via Google https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=mailto+encrypter .)

=> Tip 2 - Encrypt Your E-Mail Using JavaScript.

Using a simple JavaScript program like this:

produces mailto:aaa@bbb.com on your web page; which acts as a valid e-mail address. Most e-mail spambots can not recognise the JavaScript as an email address (but it's only a matter of time!).

Want to see an example? Visit the link below - the e-mail address has been generated using JavaScript code as above https://www.anyonecansellonline.com/about-us.shtml

=> Tip 3 - Hide Your Email Address In An Anti- S P A M Feedback Form

Yes, your email address can be extracted from a standard Perl/CGI form too. (In some cases, your form can actually *send* spam - early versions of FormMail suffer from this security flaw, apparently!)

Enter the Master Feedback form from Willmaster.com - an anti-S P A M feedback form.

In the words of Willmaster.com: "Master Feedback helps you S P A M -proof your site by not requiring your email address anywhere on your page, not even embedded in hidden form fields or other HTML tags. Now you can stop feeding [those] email address harvesting robots!"

You can download the feedback form, for free, at https://willmaster.com/master/feedback/

Want to see an example of the feedback form? Visit https://www.free-legal-wills-guide.co.uk/contact-us.shtml

=> Further Reading About The 'Spam Wars'

This article provides a few solutions to the problems of receiving s-p-a-m; but they are not the only solutions.

For further reading on the ongoing battle against S P A M, and how that battle affects both the innocent and the guilty, take a look at these links...

https://www.sitepoint.com/article/543
https://website101.com/SpamFilter/spam_fighting.html
https://website101.com/SpamFilter/spamfilter.html
https://website101.com/SpamFilter/spamcop_vigilanties.html

=> Bonus Tip: Use The Very Latest Anti-Spam Email Address

(Bonus tip is only available in the online version of this article! Find the online version at the link below https://www.anyonecansellonline.com/stop-spam.shtml .)

So, there you have it: at least 3 ways you can reduce spam in your inbox, today.

As I said in the beginning, email spam is no joke, so do make sure you try at least one of the methods I've shown you.

Either use an anti-spam feedback form, or encrypt your email address! And if you want absolute certainty that your email address is safe, check out the Bonus Tip I mention above!

Above all, remove your mailto: link on your website, any way you can!

� Copyright 2002-2003 Steve Nash. All Rights Reserved.
Steve Nash saves time with website promotion tactics that work! Learn how via his free course https://www.free-website-promotion-course.net