Google indexing

[jani]

I just noticed while searching Google for earlier occurences of the term "gigage" that one of the primary hits was in the same discussion that I was responding to, right here on the Luminous Landscape discussion board.

The earlier installation blocked Google searches, I think, while this one seems not to.

Now I don't mind being able to search with Google, on the contrary, but I think this is something that should be considered carefully.

If this is desirable, then Michael should probably reconsider his policy of publishing his email address as-is in the forums, since this increases the likelyhood of spam at that address. As should we all ...

Thoughts, comments?

[michael]

Huh?

Michael

[jani]

Spammers use, among other things, Google to search for valid email addresses they can send spam and viruses to. It's very cost efficient for them.

[michael]

Yes, everyone knows that.

But, if I didn't publish my email address, how would people get in touch with me?

In any event, between my ISPs smap filters and my own I only receive about 3-4 spams in my inbox each day.

Michael

[kbolin]

If the e-mail address is posted as text then it can easily be retrieved by various methods most notably being "web robots" that scan web pages for the @ sign and the web page.  Having this they believe they have an e-mail address.

Using an image with the address in it then the action is simply a mailto: function.  The contents of the image can not be read.

Kelly

[jani]

If the e-mail address is posted as text then it can easily be retrieved by various methods most notably being "web robots" that scan web pages for the @ sign and the web page.  Having this they believe they have an e-mail address.

Using an image with the address in it then the action is simply a mailto: function.  The contents of the image can not be read.

Also, the "contact us" feature in the LL webshop works extremely well.

I know it doesn't have quite the same convenience as a mailto link or a posted, non-obfuscated email address, but it certainly does the job.

I've had my email address posted on the web for over a decade (but not for the past year or two), and I receive so much spam that I simply cannot use my regular email address (@ifi.uio.no: jani, BTW), but instead have to supply per-contact email addresses (e.g. jani+usethis@ ...) so that people can easily reach me. I really don't want anybody else to have to resort to similar measures, it's pretty inconvenient.