(I've tried sending this to Marlene off list several times).
Marlene, I think it's a big mistake for the PCworks archives to have that button "Reply via email to.....[email address here]" where anyone can send an email to the person that posted the message. Just in the short time this was added, I'm getting all sorts of emails from people I don't know asking me for all kinds of "support" and more information on my posts. This seems to be a VERY serious privacy violation, not to mention what it's going to do for SPAM! Is there anything that can be done about this? Thanks, -Clint
Clint, if you look at the source you can see that it is a server side CGI, notably Matt's nomailto file.
It is very popular and one of the most secure forms of preventing harvesters from retrieving addresses.
Harvesters typically cannot get through POST files, being that they have difficulty (it's almost impossible, almost) parsing out all the tags to get the correct information.
This is from the Mail-Archive FAQ <http://www.mail-archive.com/faq.html#spam>
<!snip>
The Mail Archive utilizes two levels of electronic countermeasures to prevent spam incidents. First, we explicitly block spam harvesting robots (spambots) from accessing our server. We deny access, at the server level, for any software that matches the browser ID of a known spambot. Our second line of defence is to make sure that the web pages themselves are spambot resistant. We do not use any unshielded mailto: hyperlinks, email addresses and we strip out, scramble, or obfuscate email addresses from message headers and bodies. Yet we still provide a way for people to reply to an archived message, using their regular email software. This feat is achieved with a special POST protected CGI gateway which returns a mailto: URL to the user agent. This technique is extremely effective in blocking generic spam harvesting robots; for more information, see Mullane's Spambot Beware guide. The effectiveness of our spam-blocking preventative measures are monitored by spambot trap addresses like [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Despite all these steps, recognize that any time an email address is exposed on the internet, obfuscated or otherwise, spammers could potentially abuse it. Open mailing lists are vulnerable to spam attacks. Thus there is some risk associated with using The Mail Archive, and we do not assume any legal liability for spammers. Suggestions or feedback regarding privacy or anti-spamming enhancements are appreciated.
<!end snip>
Peter Kaulback
-- -- I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.
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