Protecting the members emailaddy's - Can it be done?

[Zora]

A lot of people uses hotmail and similar mail accounts to avoid getting a lot of spam in the mail when they register with their main emailadress.

If I want to disallow the use of hotmail and yahoo mailadresses then there might be a problem for the users who don't want a lot of spam.

The question is:
Is there any way to protect the users emailadress from this? So that registering at my forum isn't going to lead to a lot of spam?

 

[Bryan]

That happens when the places they register at are selling their info, as long as you aren't selling your members email addresses, their registration at your site shouldn't cause them to get any spam at all... Another thing that can happen (if your forums are visible to guests) is that if they post their email address it can be harvested and put on a list. I see quite a few people post there address with an [at] in it instead of a @ to avoid this....

 

[Kall]

I see quite a few people post there address with an [at] in it instead of a @ to avoid this....

Or, if you are using vBulletin, you can make a replacement variable that changes every instance of '@' to a little image of an @ that spiders can't see.

 

[Bryan]

good idea, I hadn't thought of that LOL

 

[James]

On my forums in IPB there is a mod. In the profile any @ is changed into an image has stated above.

 

[Mephisteus]

"Or, if you are using vBulletin, you can make a replacement variable that changes every instance of '@' to a little image of an @ that spiders can't see."

Good idea there, am going to do that

 

[Purple]

And, without the text '@', the bots don't know it is an email addy.

 

[Zora]

Great idea!

 

[Darkness Divine]

Or, if you are using vBulletin, you can make a replacement variable that changes every instance of '@' to a little image of an @ that spiders can't see.

how is that done?

 

[Kall]

how is that done?

Umm..

I said that off the top of my head, probably suffering from sleep deprivation.

Let me see if I can figure it out.

*edit*

Okay.

AdminCP - Styles and Templates - Replacement Variable Manager

Text to replace: @

Replace with: <img src=http://www.domain.com/at.gif border=0>

eg: http://forums.nzboards.com/showthread.php?t=4035

 

[The Sandman]

Thanks Kall! I've implemented this replacement variable here at TAZ for a trial run...

 

[Kall]

*bows*

No worries man, I'm quite chuffed you like the idea.

One thing...it will screw up all email addy clickability, but if you really want one to be displayed so it is clickable, you would add it as a replacement variable.

At the moment, it shows "kall<img src=http://www.nzboards.com/at.gif border=0>nzboards.com" as the to: address if I click on it, so if I wanted that to resolve back.. I think I would put "kall<img src=http://www.nzboards.com/at.gif border=0>nzboards.com" as the text to replace, and 'the actual address' as the output text.

That way, I think you would be able to have specific addies still be hyperlinkable.

*edit* Yup, that does indeed work.

 

[The Sandman]

Hmm - I wonder if someone very creative could come up with a modification to the vB code to do this automatically if the tags are used...

 

[Kall]

Hmm - I wonder if someone very creative could come up with a modification to the vB code to do this automatically if the tags are used... [/QUOTE]
*rubs brain*

I just had a look at /includes/functions_bbcodeparse.php ...

I worked out how to disable the hyperlinking of valid emails, but as for taking the text and splitting it into 'stuff before the @' and 'stuff after the @' is a bit out of my league at this stage.

 

[SaN-DeeP]

i turned of the member to member email for protection on my forums
there is a pm system which can be used ..

 

[Kall]

One thought is:

The fact that they register at your forums with their main email address won't mean any extra spam for them...unless you are selling their address.

As long as they choose not to receive email from other community members (in their profile) then theres no way anyone can email anything to them.