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Obfuscate E-mail

Author:Scott Reilly
Version:2.0
Last update:03 April 2008
Compatibility:WP 2.2+, 2.3+, and 2.5+
Comments:go here
Download:[ zip ]
Description:

Obfuscate e-mail addresses that appear as text in your blog in an effort to deter e-mail harvesting spammers while retaining the appearance and functionality of hyperlinks.

Extended Description

Any textual occurrence of an e-mail address in a post body, excerpt, or comment (and when admin and user emails are retrieved for display) will be obfuscated.

By default, the entire e-mail address will be obfuscated using hexadecimal HTML entity substitutions.

For example:

<a href="mailto:person@example.com">person@example.com</a>

Would be translated into something like this:

<a href="mailto:&#x70;&#x65;&#x72;&#x73;&#x6f;&#x6e;&#x40;&#x65;&#x78;&#x61;&#x6d;&#x70;&#x6c;&#x65;&#x2e;&#x63;om" title="mailto:&#x70;&#x65;&#x72;&#x73;&#x6f;&#x6e;&#x40;&#x65;&#x78;&#x61;&#x6d;&#x70;&#x6c;&#x65;&#x2e;&#x63;om">&#x70;&#x65;&#x72;&#x73;&#x6f;&#x6e;&#x40;&#x65;&#x78;&#x61;&#x6d;&#x70;&#x6c;&#x65;&#x2e;&#x63;om</a>

However, in your browser it would appear to you as it does prior to obfuscation, and the link for the e-mail would still work. Theoretically, however, spammers would have a somewhat more difficult time harvesting the e-mails you display or link to in your posts.

Via the plugin’s admin options page located at Options → Obfuscate E-mail (or in WP 2.5: Settings → Obfuscate E-mail) you can opt to only partially obfuscate an e-mail address. By defining custom replacements for the “@” and “.” characters, you can have e-mails display like:

<a href="mailto:person[at]example[dot]com">person[at]example[dot]com</a>

or

<a href="mailto:person@DELETETHIS.com">person@DELETETHISexample.com</a>

(Only when using the custom replacement feature will visitors need to modify the e-mail address for use in their e-mail program.)

Known Issues

Bear in mind that no means of obfuscation, short of simply refraining from displaying an e-mail at all, can guarantee that e-mails can’t get harvested.

Screenshot

A screenshot of the plugin’s admin options page.

screenshot 1

Installation

  1. Download the file obfuscate-email.zip and unzip it into your wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ admin menu in WordPress.
  3. (optional) Modify any configuration options for the plugin by going to its admin configuration page at Options → Obfuscate E-mail (or in WP 2.5: Settings → Obfuscate E-mail)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q: So it’ll be impossible for spammers to harvest my site for e-mail addresses?

    A: Nothing is fool-proof and nothing is guaranteed. By its very definition, “obfuscate” means “to make obscure or unclear”, and that’s all it’s really doing. It’s some degree of basic protection, which is better than nothing. Much as how locks in real-life at best provide some measure of deterrent for a would-be criminal rather than absolute security from a determined and capable individual.

  • Q: Aren’t there better methods of e-mail obfuscation?

    A: Some would argue yes. But nothing short of not actually displaying e-mail addresses can guarantee that e-mail addresses can’t get harvested. Some methods are more aggressive and therefore have compatibility and/or usability issues. This plugin should be very compatible and usable by all visitors to your site.

  • Q: Does this plugin make use of JavaScript as other e-mail obfuscators do?

    A: No. This makes this plugin’s implementation of obfuscation more compatible and usable by more visitors, at the expense of perhaps not being as aggressively protective.

Release Log

  • 03 Apr 2008 : v2.0 – Release notes
  • NOTE: Versions prior to v2.0 were documented and discussed here
  • 24 Mar 2005 : v0.9 — Released to the public

Copyright & Disclaimer

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Scott Reilly (aka coffee2code)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the “Software”), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all those who have contributed feedback and support!

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