Email Addresses

[LonnieS]

The $hit's hitting the fan for some of us. My intent with the "Roster" (http://www.northwestlegends.com/roster.php) page on this site was to make it easy on everyone to email eachother. Some of our members are reporting unusual amounts of spam sent to their northwestlegends.com address. I never meant for that kind of crap to happen - sorry for the trouble.

In a nut shell - there are internet marketing companies (many not reputable) who can scan internet web pages like ours and millions of others, and record the email addresses that are listed on them. They use those addresses to flood with worthless spam.

I ask you - would you all prefer that I remove everyone's email address from public listing? - It wouldn't stop your northwestlegends.com email from functioning - but the general public would no longer be able to view the addresses.

What damage has been done thus far won't likely be fixed by this, but it would reduce future spam to "some" degree.

[Rick]

Lonnie,

Maybe I've been lucky....either that or I don't know which address which spam is coming in on. But I have not been getting any more or less spam than usual.

Thanks for all the efforts....you've built us (the club) a first rate site.

Rick

[LonnieS]

Thanks Rick - much appreciated. I have not received any spam either - nor has pops, I just checked with him.

One of the reason's I use the "mail forwarders" that you see listed on our roster page is to protect your real email account. All I have to do is change the forwarder - and your real email account stays perfectly intact. rickr@northwestlegends.com is just a forwarder that directs email to your main account. This prevents jerks from knowing your real email address - but still allows spam to pass - unfortunately.

This also makes it more difficult for you to determine which email address was receiving the spam. The way to tell is by viewing the mail "header". Different email programs allow you to do this in different ways. Outlook Express, for example, will show you the mail header by viewing the "properties" of any email message. Open the emai message, click "File" and select "Properties". Then the "Details" tab will display some header info - the "Message Source" button will give a more detailed outline. Towards the top of the email header is the "handshakes" between email servers, and the intended email addresses. What you see listed there is the actual target address of the spam.

[Rick]

Thanks Lonnie,

I'll check out some headers....

[THOR]

As a Judge, I hereby rule against spammers: Nuke 'em >:(

Anything we can do to "hide" our email addresses from those blasted email address harvesting programs and those blasted spammers is great.

Thanks for taking care of us Lonnie !!

[Brandon]

Hey Lonnie,

First off, nice job with the recent changes!! :D The "Automotive Help" section, with its subdivisions, is great.

I have an idea that will make it easy for people to find each others email addr, but hard for "spambots" to get them:

1. go back to listing our northwestlegends email addr (the member@northwestlegends.com addr)

2. but instead of listing the whole addr (e.g. member@northwestlegends.com), just list the first part (e.g. member).

3. Put a note at the top of the page to explain that "@northwestlegends.com" is added to the end.

-Brandon

[LonnieS]

Hey Lonnie,

First off, nice job with the recent changes!! *:D The "Automotive Help" section, with its subdivisions, is great.

I have an idea that will make it easy for people to find each others email addr, but hard for "spambots" to get them:

1. go back to listing our northwestlegends email addr (the member@northwestlegends.com addr)

2. but instead of listing the whole addr (e.g. member@northwestlegends.com), just list the first part (e.g. member).

3. Put a note at the top of the page to explain that "@northwestlegends.com" is added to the end.

-Brandon

Thanks Brandon - if you're referring to the ROSTER page, when you suggest "going back to listing the northwestlegends email address" - it always was that way. As far as the email addresses on this board, each member of the board filled out their own email address, which is why there is a distinction between the two emai lists. I can turn off the ability to view these addresses from the public - which is where I'll start. Registered members will still be able to see the email addresses, which should ward off many of the spam bots.

The removal of the " @northwestlegends " from the addresses on the roster page could work, but it I think I found a decent javascript that will scramble those links and make it impossible for a mail bot to extract the email addresses - while leaving the hyperlink in tact for those who honestly want to send mail to an individual.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[LonnieS]

By the way, check out the new memberlist. Has some cool new stats. Just click on the "Members" link at the top of this page. Note that only registered users can even view this - more protection against spammers.

Brandon - fyi - the email info is contained in a secure, unreadable file, so spam bots can't access it. Only the .pl scripts can, which are only executed by a registered member.

Wow, look at those stats on DaCosta!! ;D All rise for theJUDGE !!!!!

[canonbkr]

Lonnie,
Great work to date!!! Just an idea, you could list the addresses like you do now but make them non-functional as links and put either spaces or unusual characters in them. This will prevent the bots from garnering a true email address. If someone wants to contact one of us through our account, they simple have to type it in. A mere inconvenience to minimize spammers... My two bits... :)
8)

[Brandon]

Brandon - fyi - the email info is contained in a secure, unreadable file, so spam bots can't access it. Only the .pl scripts can, which are only executed by a registered member.


That's a great idea Lonnie. Between that and your javascript idea the spambots will be kept at bay! By the way, I don't think I've ever received spam as a result of the NWL site.
Thanks dude!
-Brandon :)

[triple66]

A lot of this I don't fully understand. Big Big thanks to Lonnie for lookin' out for the rest of us!!!!!