New Roster Format to Avoid Spam

[Pavz]

Ok, I'm getting annoyed because NO ONE in the galaxy has my e-mail except you guys, and this website. Yet I am starting to get spam. SO, I propose the following change in displaying e-mails on the website.

I'm not sure if you're aware of what facebook.com does, but it is a fairly simple solution to the problem. They don't link e-mails in your profile, or have the text typed out. Instead, they have your e-mail in your account record, and generate a small picture that has the e-mail on it. Example:

http://dartmouth.facebook.com/emailgen. ... =0&state=0

In this way they avoid spammers from searching for all *@*.com e-mails online. Yes, it's a bit less convenient, but if you don't have the minute to type out a dozen characters to send an e-mail out to someone, you shouldn't be e-mailing.

What do you guys think? And programmers, that shouldn't be that hard, should it?

Oh, and nobody use that mailing address. I KEEL YOU!

[COL Longstreet]

To be true I´m against.

I know that spam is very annoying, get tons enough myself.

But I think this system is okay. Nobody has died on spam-mails to my knowledge (let me know if I´m wrong). Like it is it´s clear and simple, you have a clear view and don´t need to do anything.

Spam is not a catasrophe, it´s a disease, but not a sever one.

Well, my opinion.

[Pavz]

I think you misunderstand, Major. It's not the server's problem, per se. But spammers search for e-mails across the net that are put up as text/links. This would eliminate that problem. Should be a fairly facile solution to an avoidable problem, I think. And if you're too lazy to type out the e-mail address, then BAH TO YOU, I say!

Also, my uncle was killed by spam at Endor. Jerk.

[Vortagh]

Use thunderbird. Comes with a spam filter.

Other than that, spammers are already getting very clever and use robots that know OCR.

[Pavz]

Bah. My spam *gets* filtered. I just want to stop it.

[Munro Burton]

I'd be more in favour of doing what the EH and DJB does with their rosters - requiring logging-in to view emails. Unfortunately... since admin is separated from the rosters, that approach wouldn't be easy to implement.

[Jagged Fel]

It's spam, a constant of the internet. There's filters, use them. I doubt you're getting more than most of us, so stop your bellyaching

[COL Longstreet]

My words.

And i personally hate any login-requirements for any kind of rosters, makes things appear as if we´re secrete elite, which we are not.

Spam is normal, pain is normal. Spamfilters are normally bullshit enough to catch less then a half of the spam, but this doesn´t matter. They spam, I don´t care.

And Pavz: I really understood what you wanted to say! I´ve just another opinion.

[Pavz]

Spam is normal? Spam is a constant? It doesn't HAVE to be!!!

Bah, are you guys really that lazy that you can't type out an e-mail address? It'd still show up on the rosters.

Yeah, and Munro, I agree with them - I *hate* clubs that make you log in to see the rosters.

[LC La Forge]

We could always change the @ to [AT] or something like that, similiar to /.

[CPT Bane]

I think the whole picture idea could possibly be utile, but at the same time probably more of a pain than it's worth.

And to be nitpicky, Pavz, he didn't misspell "server," but rather "severe." 'Cause I'm sometimes a grammar nazi like that.

[Fel]

We could always change the @ to [AT] or something like that, similiar to /.

No, that's not really much help. Spambots are pretty clever, as Vortagh said, and OCR readers, scripts that fix up [AT] into @ are common, and so on. Heck, the CAPTCHA that we installed for these MBs _reduced_ the spam signups but not entirely...

(Speaking of which, I will mass delete the spambots sooner or later. )

Pavz, I suggest that you just stick to spam filters. Trust me that you do not have it as bad as the sc@empirereborn.net e-mail does.

[Vortagh]

To sum up a few things:

In the cold war it was always reaction & counterreaction when it came to the arms race. One step followed the next.

A few years ago, there were no spam filters, because there was no spam. Then we got spam. We got spam filters. Spam got clever and changed from "Viagra" to "V!aa gra". Spam filters started using algorythms instead of word filters to get that stuff, too. What's the next step?
Well, quite a while ago I had to do something with the IS.Net boards, because we got far too many spam users. I reacted and made the boards password-protected. Did work for a while, was a hassle, didn't work too well after said while had passed. So, I changed the messageboard system on IS.Net to a very secure one. I was always more concerned about hacks than spam, but it came with a cool bot filter, a good autoban, a CAPTCHA thing that's superb and so on. Reaction? Now spammers get bots to display the CAPTCHA numbers & letters to a guy in Russia or China, so he can answer the CAPTCHA. To be honest, the CAPTCHA system itself (not mine, but the whole idea of CAPTCHA) had to be changed over and over, because even bots got better programming and knew what was displayed on screen.

So, it's pointless to really fight against that system that way. Get something that makes it pointless to spam you.
I get roughly 200 spam mails a day and couldn't care less because it gets deleted right away. I have about four a day that my spam filter doesn't catch. Yet.
If they want to spend money trying to spam me or my forum - go ahead and let's see who will win. :P


P.S.: If your spam-filter gets less than half of what you get, it sucks or you simply don't know how to use it - which is pretty harsh, because the one that comes with Thunderbird requires....3 clicks? 4? and then works like a breeze. All you have to do is tell it for a day or three that the mail from your aunt wasn't spam, but that one that says "you won a trip to Tahiti" is.


P.P.S.: La Forge, Bots aren't dumb, as I have mentioned. :P

[Vortagh]

Oh, if you really want to get rid of most spam without doing anything on your end, I suggest:
1.) annoying Jansen to switch hosts to one that gives you a mail server that filters out spam and displays a "junk/most likely junk" folder (just so you have total control).
2.) Get the entire GE to switch to @empirereborn.net mail addresses.

[Munro Burton]

I get like 25 spam mails through my various er.net redirects and probably about as much on my regular email address. They all go into the spam box. Gmail's filtering is excellent, to the point that only about one per month sneaks through.