Please remove email addresses in posts

[Adrian Rea]

Hi, I was recently asked by a non integraMOD user if I could remove their email address from posts as they had received spam from email address harvesters scanning IntegraMOD posts. The sad fact is he was not even an integraMOD user but a plain old phpbb modder and their mod text had been used here in a thread like [url=http]HERE[/url]for example. You do not need to remove a web address.

I too have received the same sort of spam and wondered where it comes from, so please be responsible and remove mail addresses from posts. I will remove those I see or refer users back here to enhance the message.

Please do this, you would not like your address harvested!

Thank you for your help

A

[Michaelo]

Every time I come across an email address I manually edit them adding or altering at least one character but I suggest we should write a code trap to remove or alter the message text to do this automatically...
Mike

[Adrian Rea]

You clever lad <img> It would be beyond me to code a trap. The problem is some members here may wish to display their address and large blocks of code may hold mail addresses or code that is needed for the pice to work. I feel it may need the manual action by diligent users.

A

[tekguru]

It could be enough to set a bbcode for @ to replace it with (at). Maybe?

[Adrian Rea]

the prblem is that php code uses the at symbol too. Even in the mailer <img>

A

[Michaelo]

True... Best just be vigilant <img>

[Simon N]

could add in a bbcode button that scrambles the email address when viewed by bots but allows it to stay usable by humans?

I can work on this if people want it

[tekguru]

Is it worth putting that much work in though?

[Adrian Rea]

interesting point Simon, I suspect that would be an idea, but trawlers are getting increasingly clever, and it may be that in future they see the on screen text instead of the sent markup language. I personally feel if you remove the address completely, it becomes futureproof.

I am glad that there is discussion on this though as it helps keep it in mind for future posters.

A

[Helter]

i think it would be a reasonably easy task to modify the "no shout" mod to at least make users aware that they are posting an email adress and require input to resume

[Adrian Rea]

Gee there are some clever bunnies here this Easter

Thanks

A

[evolver]

I've changed the @ to AT in my posts... <img>

[Adrian Rea]

nice one <img>

A

[Simon N]

Personally junk mail does not affect me too much. Sure I get my fair share but they only send it once and I block them.

Anyways yes simply changing the code view would not do as like you say they are becomming better at their job.

What would be nice is if all they managed to get was a note informing them that spamming is actually illegal <img>

Would it not be possible to have email addresses changed into images as per the visual code you get on registering?

[found it]

there is a mod somewhere that will change the @ to an at everytime an email addy is placed down i will see if i can find it again....

[IW4]

What would be really nice is to create a MOD that uses dynamic image taggingà¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬

[evolver]

Found this new Censor Block MOD...

http://www.phpbbsmith.com/mb/about233.html

[font=Courier New:26ouhtb1]Normally the word censors replace naughty words with other text - often just an asterisk. Two of the main problems with this approach are that the text has to be replaced on each and every view and that the naughty words are still there, even if they are obscured. If your moderation policies call for removing posts that have such words, you'll also have to spend some extra time doing that.

Censor Block solves these problems by preventing the words on your censor list from ever entering your forum's database. When someone tries to make a post, Censor Block will scan the post, reject the post if it triggers a word censor, and ask the poster to edit and resubmit. Censor Block also checks poll questions and options, private messages, and some text based profile fields like location and signature.[/font:26ouhtb1]

...might help

[obiku]

Like this MOD

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################################################################ MOD Title]http://www.truthsolo.net/#[/url]# MOD Description: To help fight spam, modifies all public e-mail addresses to display in the format: user AT domain DOT tld## MOD Version: 1.0.1#### Installation Level: Easy## Installation Time: 5 Minutes## Files To Edit: groupcp.php, memberlist.php, privmsg.php, viewtopic.php, includes/usercp_viewprofile.php## Included Files: N/A################################################################ For Security Purposes, Please Check: [url=http://www.phpbb.com/mods/]http://www.phpbb.com/mods/[/url] for the## latest version of this MOD. Downloading this MOD from other sites could cause malicious code## to enter into your phpBB Forum. As such, phpBB will not offer support for MOD's not offered## in our MOD-Database, located at: [url=http://www.phpbb.com/mods/#]http://www.phpbb.com/mods/#[/url]############################################################### Author Notes:## Spam sucks.################################################################ MOD History:####   2004-03-24 - Version 1.0.0##      - Initial release. @_@##      - Beta tested.  Passed.####   2004-06-29 - Version 1.0.1##      - Made 'AT' and 'DOT' localizable.##      - Added language file to edit.################################################################## Before Adding This MOD To Your Forum, You Should Back Up All Files Related To This MOD##############################################################  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  groupcp.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# Somewhere near line 57...  $email_uri = ( $board_config['board_email_form'] ) ? append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=email&" . POST_USERS_URL .'=' . $row['user_id']) : 'mailto:' . $row['user_email'];  ##-----[ IN-LINE FIND ]---------------------------------------------------------#  $row['user_email']  ##-----[ IN-LINE REPLACE WITH ]-------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam = str_replace( "@", $lang['e-mail_sbf_at'], $row['user_email']);$email_nospam = str_replace( ".", $lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'], $email_nospam);  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  memberlist.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# Somewhere near line 186...  $email_uri = ( $board_config['board_email_form'] ) ? append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=email&" . POST_USERS_URL .'=' . $user_id) : 'mailto:' . $row['user_email'];  ##-----[ IN-LINE FIND ]---------------------------------------------------------#  $row['user_email']  ##-----[ IN-LINE REPLACE WITH ]-------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam = str_replace( "@", $lang['e-mail_sbf_at'], $row['user_email']);$email_nospam = str_replace( ".", $lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'], $email_nospam);  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  privmsg.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# Somewhere near line 502...  $email_uri = ( $board_config['board_email_form'] ) ? append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=email&" . POST_USERS_URL .'=' . $user_id_from) : 'mailto:' . $privmsg['user_email'];  ##-----[ IN-LINE FIND ]---------------------------------------------------------#  $privmsg['user_email']  ##-----[ IN-LINE REPLACE WITH ]-------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam = str_replace( "@", $lang['e-mail_sbf_at'], $privmsg['user_email']);$email_nospam = str_replace( ".", $lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'], $email_nospam);  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  viewtopic.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# Somewhere near line 929...  $email_uri = ( $board_config['board_email_form'] ) ? append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=email&" . POST_USERS_URL .'=' . $poster_id) : 'mailto:' . $postrow[$i]['user_email'];  ##-----[ IN-LINE FIND ]---------------------------------------------------------#  $postrow[$i]['user_email']  ##-----[ IN-LINE REPLACE WITH ]-------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam = str_replace( "@", $lang['e-mail_sbf_at'], $postrow[$i]['user_email']);$email_nospam = str_replace( ".", $lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'], $email_nospam);  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  includes/usercp_viewprofile.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# Somewhere near line 125...  $email_uri = ( $board_config['board_email_form'] ) ? append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=email&" . POST_USERS_URL .'=' . $profiledata['user_id']) : 'mailto:' . $profiledata['user_email'];  ##-----[ IN-LINE FIND ]---------------------------------------------------------#  $profiledata['user_email']  ##-----[ IN-LINE REPLACE WITH ]-------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  $email_nospam = str_replace( "@", $lang['e-mail_sbf_at'], $profiledata['user_email']);$email_nospam = str_replace( ".", $lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'], $email_nospam);  ##-----[ OPEN ]-----------------------------------------------------------------#  language/lang_english/lang_main.php  ##-----[ FIND ]-----------------------------------------------------------------# At end of file by default...  // That's all, Folks!  ##-----[ BEFORE, ADD ]----------------------------------------------------------#  // E-Mail Spambot Fighter//$lang['e-mail_sbf_at'] = ' AT ';$lang['e-mail_sbf_dot'] = ' DOT ';   //  ##-----[ SAVE/CLOSE ALL FILES ]-------------------------------------------------## EoM

[sanji]

Keep in mind that some smart tools are scanning forums and recognize "hidden" email addresses even if they contain a chain like AT or NOSPAM or REMOVE, and automatically convert them and save them on their database...

The most efficient would be to put images instead of the letters, but this is obviously not possible in mod descriptions, when an author's email address is included...

The most extreme solution would be to hide all messages to non-registered users, but this might be a little too aggressive, perhaps.

I'm not sure there is a real solution against that. Except systematically using the kismod message system instead of emails...

sanji

[Adrian Rea]

I agree there are such bots about, but if they are doing that, then they may aso employ image character recognition. The only really safe way is to remove the mail address completely.

'Except systematically using the kismod message system instead of emails... ' Unfortunately most of the emails are from off site coders who are not IntegraMOD members.

A

[evolver]

How about ASCII?

It seems to work with BBCODE, QUOTES-BOX, and CODE-BOX !!!!
The only way to show you the original ASCII I'm using on the next test,
is in a PHP-BOX.

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fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

Result:
<a>fred.flintstone@bedrock.com</a>

fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

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fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

[evolver]

Strange...
When I try to re-edit previous message, even there all ASCII code has been changed to viewable characters...
I'm affraid that a repost would undo the ASCII-code,
and the same would happen with quotes... <img>

How about ASCII?

It seems to work with BBCODE, QUOTES-BOX, and CODE-BOX !!!!
The only way to show you the original ASCII I'm using on the next test,
is in a PHP-BOX.

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fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

Result:
<a>fred.flintstone@bedrock.com</a>

fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

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fred.flintstone@bedrock.com

[evolver]

Maybe?
http://www.pgregg.com/projects/encode/htmlemail.phps
http://www.pgregg.com/projects/encode/htmlemail.php

[Adrian Rea]

yes I do like such encoders, I do wonder if soon they will produce a reader that takes the final source code and intellegently pulls it apart to gain the link. But that is pure paranoia.

THank you eveyone for you input, at least this keeps it fresh in everyone's mind to be more aware of the risks,

A