Why you shouldn't state your E-mail addy in posts

[DarkLight]

Guys and girls,

I just realised something... If you want someone to e-mail you, inform them of the 'e-mail' icon/button just above your post (next to the time and date they posted). The button looks like a letter in motion. You shouldn't really state your e-mail address within the post.

Why? Well because some annoying people on the planet who want to advertise their product and/or want to send junk mail will unleash one of their 'e-mail address sniffing' programs onto various popular web-sites and extract e-mails mentioned anywhere in that web-site. They will then paste the e-mail addresses they have extracted and send everyone junk/spam mail. I think it's best to remind people about that e-mail button feature in this forum rather than typing your e-mail address. That is, unless you like junk mail /ubb/smile.gif

DL

[Mr. Meat]

That is helpful info DL and I will never do that. You learn something everyday... /ubb/smile.gif

[Crynot]

Yeah but all they have to do is click on that button anyway and they can still grab your Email and do whatever they want to with it.

Crynot

[DarkLight]

I don't think I made myself completely clear...

There aren't actually people (who have intention to send out junk mail) visiting this forum and clicking on each Schmoe's post and then clicking their e-mail address icon and then copying the e-mail address. This would take too long! What they actually do is use a program that uses a word file containing a list of many webpage URLs they've obtained or added. They then start this program and it enters the web page domain of every URL on the word list and finds every e-mail address published on each of those pages. The extracted e-mails are saved to another word list file and they simply paste this into their mass e-mail sending program.

The e-mail icon button prevents this sniffer program from extracted e-mail addresses. The spammer would then have to resort to manually clicking and copying the e-mail addresses down. They don't have time or they cannot be bothered to do this for every person on this board, so they leave it and just spam with the other e-mail addresses they obtain.

DL

[Crynot]

Ahhhh.... Now that makes much more sense.


Crynot