Protecting Web Page E-mail Addresses From Spambots
Spammers have developed robot programs (called spambots) that harvest e-mail addresses from Web pages by looking for strings of text that follow a typical e-mail address pattern, e.g. joe.bronco@wmich.edu. If you do not use those strings in your Web pages, you may be able to help prevent some of the spam mail hitting your addressees. WMU students, faculty, and staff may use the safemail javascript to rewrite e-mail addresses on their Web pages.
- Insert
the below line of code between the <head> and </head> of your
page.
www.wmich.edu pages
<script src="/javascript/os/safemail.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
or, if on homepages.wmich.edu
<script src="http://www.wmich.edu/javascript/os/safemail.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
- Then,
replace your <a href="mailto:first.last@wmich.edu">first.last@wmich.edu</a>
text with: (replace items shown in blue with
your specific information)
<script>safemail("firstname.lastname","wmich.edu"," ")</script>
Safemail Options
- <script>safemail("firstname.lastname","wmich.edu"," subject")</script>
When someone clicks on the e-mail link, the subject will display as the subject of their message. If no subject is desired, use " " as shown in step 2 above.
- <script>safemail("firstname.lastname","wmich.edu"," ","First
Last")</script>
Instead of displaying a linked firstname.lastname@wmich.edu address on the page, a linked First Last will display. You may substitute anything you want to display as the e-mail link.
The javascript will use the information you provided to write the e-mail links to your viewed page, but the e-mail address will not be found within your page's source code, thus preventing spambots from finding it. If you have any questions about this procedure, you may .
Phone (269) 387-5430 | Contact OIT | Last Updated: February 29, 2008
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