E-mail links on web pages
It's natural to use the web to provide contact details. Unfortunately, if you
put your e-mail address on a web page it may be automatically harvested, making you
more likely to receive unwanted commercial e-mail (also known as 'spam'),
porn, chain letters and messages infected with viruses.
There are, however, techniques you can use to minimise these risks and still
make contact details available.
E-mail on web pages: what not to do
The conventional 'mailto' link has been seen as the standard way to provide
an easy e-mail contact point on a web page:
<a href="mailto:kbrooke
essex.ac.uk">send
me junk mail</a>
Web authoring programs like SharePoint Designer and FrontPage will automatically convert an e-mail
address into a mailto link as soon as you type the address onto a web page.
Address-harvesting programs search web pages for mailto links and copy the
addresses into mailing lists used for unsolicited mass mailings; some
viruses also look for mailto links in an infected user's recently visited web
pages.
A partial solution to this problem is to include the e-mail address on a page
without making it into a clickable link. Unfortunately, addresses in this form
are still harvestable, so this is not recommended.
E-mail on web pages: what to do
The best option is to provide e-mail contact details in a format that is not
harvestable. Essex e-mail addresses consist of two components: username and
'@essex.ac.uk'.
So, a typical way of providing a web page author's contact details would be:
This page was last modified by Keith
Brooke on 03 May 2012.
E-mail: kbrooke; non-Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk to create full e-mail
address.
Remember: unsolicited e-mail is widespread and is best deleted and forgotten,
but the above advice can help reduce your exposure.
Footnote: what the University does
E-mail details are available on a number of central University web pages, in
formats chosen to minimise the risk of harvesting. The main
online telephone and e-mail
directory, for example, provides contact details in the following ways:
- directory-style listings, with contact details for all staff in any
department or section, include mailto links - access is restricted to
campus-only, minimising the risk of harvesting;
- the searchable version of the directory is available worldwide, but
results are only available after a user has performed a specific search, which
blocks the majority of address-harvesting robots.
Information elsewhere