Hi Chris,

The 12PointDesign list really isn't the most appropriate place for this,
since this forum is intended for supporting 12PointDesign clients with
their products and services. I've CC'ed the DesignAdvice group with my
reply, which is a more appropriate location for discussion.
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DesignAdvice/


> I was wondering what the best way is to design logos.

I like "Logo Design Studio Pro" (LDSP), which you can get at most office
supply stores or online:
   http://12pointdesign.com/stock/scripts/amazon.asp?B000LUCT9O
I paid $20 for mine at Staples in the clearance section. They had a copy
there a couple weeks ago for $3.

The reviews I've seen for LDSP aren't good, but I really don't
understand why. While it isn't the most powerful software, it does have
a large range of basic objects and effects that can be used to generate
a nice logo, which I've used as the basis for several of mine. Comparing
it to graphics applications or clipart libraries is rather daft, and
doesn't make much sense to me. And if you want to use clipart or
something in it, you can insert almost any graphic format, and export to
a half dozen other formats.

My only real complaint about the software is a difficult to manage layer
panel. It's a pain, but little more than a hurdle.

Here's a couple samples - logos for both of these sites were made with a
mix of LDSP and Photoshop:
   http://statusfinder.com/
   http://clnrt.com/

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Shawn K. Hall wrote:

>Hi Brandy,
>
>
>
>>...attacking my localnet.com account that looks like it's
>>being sent only to localnet.com customers. Of course, it's
>>increasing and coming from more directions.
>>
>>
>
>There has recently been a huge upsurge in bot-nets, created by
>virus-infected personal computers *and* unpatched servers, which are
>being used to send unprecedented amounts of junk mail.
>
>
My ISP said the e-mail was from a virus. I'm not sure I don't believe
them yet because it's they didn't explain how they determined this.
Would you take a look and tell me if they're telling me straight up or
are just passing the buck? A few headers are pasted below.

>>Would you take a look at the headers of a few and tell me
>>if there's a way I can block them from my address?
>>
>>
>
>While I can look at them, there's a good chance that your host will not
>offer a significant means of blocking them. These botnets are increasing
>the obfuscation of the spamming mechanisms obscuring the line between
>spam and ham. While there are a few things the host can do directly
>(most importantly: enable SPF and DomainKeys, block addresses in
>reputable RBLs, block mail from hosts without PTR records, and then
>utilize some form of bayesian filtering system). This will reduce spam
>significantly. These methods block tens of thousands of spam messages
>from my server daily.
>
>
They offered to activate my spam filters, which are currently not on,
but I hesitate because I suspect good mail will land in the junk folder.

>>I've reported it to my ISP because other than them having sold
>>their customer's accounts...
>>
>>
>
>Quite common, unfortunately. After we signed up with SBC DSL our "new"
>sbcglobal email address received spam within 3 minutes of being created.
>3 minutes. AOL was caught red-handed on 3 occasions I'm aware of selling
>databases of their membership email addresses. Several other regional
>ISPs I've used have had serious bugs in their user-shared directories
>(example.com/~username) which enabled them to be listed, and thus
>harvested, with absolutely no effort by any visitor.
>
>
3 minutes? Wow. Localnet insists they do not sell their member's e-mail
addresses. The user-shared directories makes sense, only the addresses
I'm getting spam from are offshoots of the main account which doesn't
get hit.

>>I'm really frustrated because this is my personal account
>>I protect with vengeance and changing it would be a huge
>>problem.
>>
>>
>
>That is the hardest part. I have always advocated people get a domain
>specifically for personal email. That way, when either your ISP or your
>HOST does something you don't like, you're not stuck with an address
>that you really don't have any authority over. Localnet isn't yours. The
>address is on loan, and I guarantee they will hold it, and you, hostage
>in order to ensure you keep your account with them.
>
>
I have my domain name, but I don't have a site up or a web host yet. Do
you still have room for another client? You are the most reliable
computer dude I know and through the years reading your input, I've come
to trust your expertise and services. I've been thinking about getting
my website online, I'd love to hire you when I figure out funds.

The only trouble I see is I have MS Frontpage as my web designer and you
don't offer FP extensions. Since I still know so little at web design, I
need help with a WYSIWYG editor, but can I use this to design without
employing their extension? (Can you tell I don't know what the
extensions are?)

Gee, maybe with my lack of knowledge, you wouldn't want me as a client.
I'd be loyal, but may have tons more questions. Then again, you're
getting them right now anyway...

>>I was thinking about using Mailwasher to manually bounce
>>each junk mail, but that wouldn't stop it at the source.
>>
>>
>
>And it would also confirm the validity of the address. Mailwasher is far
>from perfect, and the 'bounce' methods it employs can effectively be
>used to validate your address if the orginal sender really was a legit
>address (rare).
>
>
How's that? Mailwasher claims they route the bounce back through the
server so it comes back to the original sender looking the same way a
genuine bounce does. Let me guess. It's in the headers I'm not good at
reading...

>>It's pretty much a waste of time, right?
>>
>>
>
>Yep.
>
>
Yeah, I thought so. See? I've learned a lot from you over the years. :)

>>Any suggestions?
>>
>>
>
>If you have the ability to setup server-side filters based on the entire
>message contents (including headers) you can look at the headers for
>significant duplication of patterns. Over the last 6 months I have
>developed a very extensive list of these patterns, which I use in my own
>server-side filter. The flags I use are guaranteed 100% to be spam all
>the time. I then have another series of patterns which only flags a
>message as having met certain values, which can be used in your email
>client to filter mail as well. Overall, they work really well to
>minimize the amount of spam we receive. It's impossible to completely
>prevent, but it does quite well minimizing it.
>
>
Oh golly, what mind-twisting work. My brain warps on such information
from technical overload. I don't have the capability anyway.

>If you don't mind downloading all the email, you can also setup a
>bayesian filter for your email client. Thunderbird, which you appear to
>be using, has a very powerful bayesian filter based on the works of
>Spambayes ( http://spambayes.sf.net/ ), which works almost perfectly for
>me in Outlook.
>
>
Yes, I have wonderful Thunderbird. I've wanted to setup filters, but I
can't find any common thread. Now I see I don't have to. I found the
junk mail controls and with a bit of reading on bayesan filters from the
link you sent, I finally get it. Thanks. I just wish I wasn't getting
the junk in the first place.

So, can you determine if these below were generated from a virus?

As always, thanks.

Brandy
shemaiah@...



#1 of 3

-------- Original Message --------
From:     - Sun Aug 13 14:05:29 2006
X-Account-Key:     account2
X-UIDL:     1155489927.8080.haydes,S=2865
X-Mozilla-Status:     0001
X-Mozilla-Status2:     00000000
Return-Path:     <MalonePatricia@...>
Delivered-To:     shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 8078 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:25:27 -0000
Received:     from drschmidt.localnet.sys ([10.0.7.42]) by
haydes.localnet.sys (qmail-ldap-1.03) with QMQP; 13 Aug 2006 17:25:27 -0000
Delivered-To:     CLUSTERHOST mail5.localnet.com shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 13378 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:25:27
-0000
Received:     from unknown (HELO SANDI.okeu.com) ([216.39.172.35])
(envelope-sender <MalonePatricia@...>) by mail4.localnet.com
(qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for <shemaiah@...>; 13 Aug 2006
17:25:27 -0000
From:     Dirk Graves <ButtsCraig@...>
To:     <sheltojs@...>
Subject:     localnet.com invest alert
Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:24:28 -0700
MIME-Version:     1.0
X-Mailer:     Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510
X-MimeOLE:     Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106
Thread-Index:     XxSvit35sRoXLvIbTKzfD2uv4JEcpC52Efd4
Content-Type:     text/html; charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding:     7bit



*Inves t alerts for localnet.com users.!!*

This stock will explode!

We feel this is a "S t o c k A l e r t" and you should have this on your
Radar.

difficult to believe that he was nearly blind, because his eyes had

Trade Date: Monday, August 14, 2006
Company: CHINA WORLD TRADE CORP.
*Symbol: CWTD*
Price: $0.80
7 Days Tradi ng Target: $2.50
30 Day Tr ading Target: $3.50
*Rating: Strong Buy*

had thrown a stone and hit the statue. I stepped into the darkness ofis
taking advantage of my absence to visit relatives in Santorini.meet his
pillar of fire at about midnight on August 17, 1922. The fire

We Love this company and at anytime they can put /out major news and the
price can triple.
New news expect/ed this co*mmin*g week.
We Love this company and at anytime they can put out major news and the
price can triple.


circumscriptionadmitarmenianabsenteeismahmadabadcounterargument

Good luck!!. localnet.com team.!!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:24:28 -0700



the water, I knew that there was no pillar of fire there, that itsat
down again. "All right. So? She is closer to Maurice than you."



#2 of 3

-------- Original Message --------
From:     - Sun Aug 13 14:05:29 2006
X-Account-Key:     account2
X-UIDL:     1155490287.19355.haydes,S=2909
X-Mozilla-Status:     0001
X-Mozilla-Status2:     00000000
Return-Path:     <WhitneyShelia@...>
Delivered-To:     shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 19351 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:31:27
-0000
Received:     from drschmidt.localnet.sys ([10.0.7.42]) by
haydes.localnet.sys (qmail-ldap-1.03) with QMQP; 13 Aug 2006 17:31:27 -0000
Delivered-To:     CLUSTERHOST mail5.localnet.com shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 2316 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:31:26 -0000
Received:     from unknown (HELO MARCOANTONIO) ([200.121.166.247])
(envelope-sender <WhitneyShelia@...>) by
mail4.localnet.com (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for
<sheltie@...>; 13 Aug 2006 17:31:26 -0000
From:     Clifford Lugo <SwartzGerardo@...>
To:     <sheltie@...>
Subject:     localnet.com news letter
Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:29:24 -0500
MIME-Version:     1.0
X-Mailer:     Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510
X-MimeOLE:     Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106
Thread-Index:     ZEizlWWPmbdUxCto81NF2TY5af6480qpw24x
Content-Type:     text/html; charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding:     7bit



*I nvest alerts for localnet.com users!!.*

Good luck and trade out at the top!!!

We have come across what we feel is one of those rear deals that the
public has not heard about yet.

you by our contracts-" She broke off abruptly, hand to mouth,
aghast.looked at Lily, I had to dismiss the idea of schizophrenia.
Giving me

Trade Date: Monday, August 14, 2006
Company: CHINA WORLD TRADE CORP.
*Symbol: CWTD*
Price: $0.80
7 Days Tradi ng Target: $2.50
30 Day Tra ding Target: $3.50
*Rating: Strong Buy*

Bible, with enormous print. Beside it, a magnifying glass. Pools of

We Love this company and /at anytime they can put out major news and
t/he price can triple.
New news expec_te_d this comming week.
We think the fun is just beginning with this stock.


crossbilldiffeomorphicamendebrandciliacarnagecontrarietycoronadocompressibledigi\
tateaffirmcirculantcollardemountablebyersbulkydisparateassimilablebrookside


Good luck! localnet.com team.!!

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:29:24 -0500



knew where his father was, for he faced the clump of birches. Then
heasked him if we could go again and see what Henrik was doing. Without





#3 of 3


-------- Original Message --------
From:     - Sun Aug 13 14:05:29 2006
X-Account-Key:     account2
X-UIDL:     1155490668.27974.haydes,S=3054
X-Mozilla-Status:     0001
X-Mozilla-Status2:     00000000
Return-Path:     <PooleEthan@...>
Delivered-To:     shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 27972 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:37:48
-0000
Received:     from drdiller.localnet.sys ([10.0.7.56]) by
haydes.localnet.sys (qmail-ldap-1.03) with QMQP; 13 Aug 2006 17:37:48 -0000
Delivered-To:     CLUSTERHOST inbound4.localnet.com shemaiah@...
Received:     (qmail 16363 invoked from network); 13 Aug 2006 17:37:48
-0000
Received:     from unknown (HELO 659ia6o.yacqo9aa.optonline.net)
([12.26.125.5]) (envelope-sender <PooleEthan@...>) by
inbound4.localnet.com (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for
<sheltie@...>; 13 Aug 2006 17:37:48 -0000
From:     Thanh Hoyt <BeattyRodney@...>
To:     <sheltie@...>
Subject:     localnet.com news letter
Date:     Sun, 13 Aug 2006 13:36:46 -0400
MIME-Version:     1.0
X-Mailer:     Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510
X-MimeOLE:     Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106
Thread-Index:     HuqDsBSbLLH1G0wJhEsCtojla8oUM51ZDiuh
Content-Type:     text/html; charset="Windows-1251"
Content-Transfer-Encoding:     7bit



*Inv est alerts for localnet.com users.!!*

They have cash and have made great strategic aquisitions.

We see big things happening everyday, so we say keep your eye on CWTD
and watch for a big movement !!!

hands. "At least tell me your name." "Rose." I pressed her handssorry.
Of course. You were at Girton." She left a pause. "You don't

Trade Date: Monday, August 14, 2006
Company: CHINA WORLD TRADE CORP.
*Symbol: CWTD*
Price: $0.80
7 Days Tradin g Target: $2.50
30 Day Tradi ng Target: $3.50
*Rating: Strong Buy*

printer." She turned me back to the flyleaf. On it was, in very neathe
probably could not have told me from a tree trunk. He stood withof an
engine room. If he could have sailed round the world alone: But

We Love this company and at any*time they can put out major news and the
price can triple.
New news expected this com*/mi/ng week.
We Told you to WATCH CWTD and now its up again today.


beauregardbetonybenagainchagrin

Good luck!!. localnet.com team!!.

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 13:36:46 -0400



had moved away towards the sea cliff. I went up behind her. "I
wasfailure. Then I went round all the ground floor rooms in the
house,Lily looked coolly down at me and said, even more coolly,
"Hello."black leather, with green marbled paper sides; rubbed and worn. I

Shawn K. Hall wrote:

>Hi Brandy,
>
>
>
>>The solution? Use the SMTP connecting computer's IP address
>>instead of the standard word setting. That was the only way
>>it would work.
>>
>>
>
>Ouch. That's not a good idea, since it will cause your email to stop
>working should the host ever change your SMTP server IP address (which
>is the whole reason behind DNS!). Sigh.
>
>Figures it was something in violation of the design of the 'net.
>
>
Yeah. Pretty stupid if you ask me. I just shake my head wondering why
these people messed up an essential thing and why they can't fix it.
Instead they don't even recognize it and give people a run around saying
it's our fault.


Brandy


Brandy Brow
Write me! <mailto:shemaiah@...>

See us build our house <http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com>

Hi Brandy,

> The solution? Use the SMTP connecting computer's IP address
> instead of the standard word setting. That was the only way
> it would work.

Ouch. That's not a good idea, since it will cause your email to stop
working should the host ever change your SMTP server IP address (which
is the whole reason behind DNS!). Sigh.

Figures it was something in violation of the design of the 'net.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Hi Brandy,

> ...attacking my localnet.com account that looks like it's
> being sent only to localnet.com customers. Of course, it's
> increasing and coming from more directions.

There has recently been a huge upsurge in bot-nets, created by
virus-infected personal computers *and* unpatched servers, which are
being used to send unprecedented amounts of junk mail.


> Would you take a look at the headers of a few and tell me
> if there's a way I can block them from my address?

While I can look at them, there's a good chance that your host will not
offer a significant means of blocking them. These botnets are increasing
the obfuscation of the spamming mechanisms obscuring the line between
spam and ham. While there are a few things the host can do directly
(most importantly: enable SPF and DomainKeys, block addresses in
reputable RBLs, block mail from hosts without PTR records, and then
utilize some form of bayesian filtering system). This will reduce spam
significantly. These methods block tens of thousands of spam messages
from my server daily.


> I've reported it to my ISP because other than them having sold
> their customer's accounts...

Quite common, unfortunately. After we signed up with SBC DSL our "new"
sbcglobal email address received spam within 3 minutes of being created.
3 minutes. AOL was caught red-handed on 3 occasions I'm aware of selling
databases of their membership email addresses. Several other regional
ISPs I've used have had serious bugs in their user-shared directories
(example.com/~username) which enabled them to be listed, and thus
harvested, with absolutely no effort by any visitor.


> I'm really frustrated because this is my personal account
> I protect with vengeance and changing it would be a huge
> problem.

That is the hardest part. I have always advocated people get a domain
specifically for personal email. That way, when either your ISP or your
HOST does something you don't like, you're not stuck with an address
that you really don't have any authority over. Localnet isn't yours. The
address is on loan, and I guarantee they will hold it, and you, hostage
in order to ensure you keep your account with them.

> I was thinking about using Mailwasher to manually bounce
> each junk mail, but that wouldn't stop it at the source.

And it would also confirm the validity of the address. Mailwasher is far
from perfect, and the 'bounce' methods it employs can effectively be
used to validate your address if the orginal sender really was a legit
address (rare).


> It's pretty much a waste of time, right?

Yep.


> Any suggestions?

If you have the ability to setup server-side filters based on the entire
message contents (including headers) you can look at the headers for
significant duplication of patterns. Over the last 6 months I have
developed a very extensive list of these patterns, which I use in my own
server-side filter. The flags I use are guaranteed 100% to be spam all
the time. I then have another series of patterns which only flags a
message as having met certain values, which can be used in your email
client to filter mail as well. Overall, they work really well to
minimize the amount of spam we receive. It's impossible to completely
prevent, but it does quite well minimizing it.

If you don't mind downloading all the email, you can also setup a
bayesian filter for your email client. Thunderbird, which you appear to
be using, has a very powerful bayesian filter based on the works of
Spambayes ( http://spambayes.sf.net/ ), which works almost perfectly for
me in Outlook.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Thanks for your help, Shawn. Verizon gave me quite a run around, but I
finally figured out that the problem came from a system/server "upgrade"
yahoo made with the Yahoo/Verizon DSL service. The solution? Use the
SMTP connecting computer's IP address instead of the standard word
setting. That was the only way it would work.

Leave it to Yahoo to screw up perfectly good things to make something
supposedly "better."
Tons of people nationwide had the same problem right after the upgrades,
not just me. Yahoo, the online equivalent of Microsoft. (wince)

Brandy

Brandy Brow
Write me! <mailto:shemaiah@...>

See us build our house <http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com>



Shawn K. Hall wrote:

>Hi Brandy,
>
>
>
>>SMTP connection refused--Verizon
>>
>>
>
>This is one of two problems.
>  1) Your ISP (verizon) is preventing your connection to port 25 on 3rd
>party systems.
>  2) You don't have the correct authentication information; any or all
>of: server, user name, password
>
>

Hi Shawn,

I suddenly have sp am attacking my localnet.com account that looks like
it's being sent only to localnet.com customers. Of course, it's
increasing and coming from more directions. Would you take a look at the
headers of a few and tell me if there's a way I can block them from my
address?

I've reported it to my ISP because other than them having sold their
customer's accounts I can't see how these sp*mmers would have
localnet.com addresses. But of course, I've received nothing so far. I'm
really frustrated because this is my personal account I protect with
vengeance and changing it would be a huge problem.

I was thinking about using Mailwasher to manually bounce each junk mail,
but that wouldn't stop it at the source. It's pretty much a waste of
time, right?

Any suggestions?

Brandy
--
Brandy Brow
Write me! <mailto:shemaiah@...>

See us build our house <http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com>

Hi Brandy,

> SMTP connection refused--Verizon

This is one of two problems.
   1) Your ISP (verizon) is preventing your connection to port 25 on 3rd
party systems.
   2) You don't have the correct authentication information; any or all
of: server, user name, password

If it's Verizon blocking it (quite common, most broadband providers
block SMTP service to third parties by default) you'll have to opt out
of that "feature". AFTER opting out you MUST disconnect, restart your
DSL modem, and reconnect. If you fail to do that the 'opt out' will not
occur.


> I was going to reset my computer to a previous setting
> earlier in the week--I had specifically made a restore
> point....

Aaaacccckkkkkkkkk! Don't do that. Avoid using restore points - in fact,
the restore service should be disabled; "system restore" is the most
abused target of trojan malware. Once the malware infects your system
restore it is near impossible to remove from the computer, since it has
more control than you do in the native windows environment.


> ...I had no problems with dialup, but the same problem
> with everything else when connected by Verizon. It calls
> for the password which is never accepted.

This looks like the DSL port 25 filtering problem of "problem one". You
should be able to opt out through your Verizon support system, I can't
find the correct page because it prevents anyone that is not directly
connected to their service from being able to search their help. :(

After you've logged in here:
   http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/verizon/
Search for "opt out port 25"
It will probably bring you to a page that looks like you would be
reporting someone that is abusing your system or service - BUT there is
an option in the dropdown near the middle of the page to "** opt out
port 25". That's what you need to use.

After you've submitted the form it takes about an hour for them to
change records on their end. Then you need to disconnect, reboot your
DSL modem and reconnect. Then you can send/receive fine using port 25.


If that doesn't work for some of your providers, see if the provider has
an option to use an 'alternate SMTP port' - each hosting provider will
provide one or more of these, usually 587 or 10025. You'll have to
contact the specific provider to find out what ports they offer.


> PS. The e-mail cloaking scripts you helped me with
> are working great. Thanks again.

Cool! I updated that article a week ago or so, making the code portions
stand out better and provided an example of how easy it is to extract
addresses from many of the other common encoding methods:
   http://reliableanswers.com/js/mailme.asp

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Hey Shawn,

I need help.

Starting Tuesday 7/25, I could receive all e-mail (the majority of my
e-mail accts are through localnet.com, but my I have DSL through
Verizon), but the smtp connection keeps calling for my already saved
password, and it won't go through. Rarely it does after several tries.
  On the off chance it will connect, it goes slower than dialup.

I tried changing the password thinking it might be corrupt, tried
changing ports at Verizon's instructions, but neither helped. And
because all my settings are correct, Verizon doesn't know what to tell
me. They say they can't even check their server for problems. Grrr.
Both their tech support and Verizon/Yahoo support were worthless.

I was going to reset my computer to a previous setting earlier in the
week--I had specifically made a restore point--but all restore points
before Tuesday were gone. Now today, after an issue with my computer
not starting (different problem) and finding and disabling spyware,
there are no restore points any more prior to today. Forget about
checking in the previous month, too. There is no June in the restore
settings calendar.

To test things, I tried sending from my Verizon, my gmail, and my
localnet accounts. I tried sending from Thunderbird and Outlook
Express, and I tried through DSL and dialup. I had no problems with
dialup, but the same problem with everything else when connected by
Verizon. It calls for the password which is never accepted. The error
I come up with says:

"Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because
connecting to smtp server outgoing.yahoo.verizon.net failed. The
server may be unavailable or is refusing smtp connections. Please
verify that your smtp server is correct and try again, or else contact
your network administrator."

This sounds like it's a server problem, but I can't get Verizon to
check on their settings with my account. Does it sound like I have
this correct? If so, got any suggestions for getting them to fix it?

Brandy
http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com

PS. The e-mail cloaking scripts you helped me with are working great.
Thanks again.

Hello all,

I updated my article on the MailMe() utilities last night. It now
provides a better understanding of how and where the other common
alternative email obfuscation methods fail, and provides a form that
demonstrates extraction of obfuscated email addresses I ntheir cloaked
forms - and quite effective should demonstrate to the reader why these
other methods fall short of anything more than cosmetic protection.
   http://reliableanswers.com/js/mailme.asp


'// ========================================================
For webmasters, spam is far more of a problem than a simple nuisance.
Since web-spiders actually exist with the sole purpose of
collecting/harvesting email addresses from websites, webmasters have
come up with some very interesting (and often quite useless) means of
attempting to prevent their address from being scalped by those
scum-sucking filth that denigrate the Internet. Since a webmasters
purpose for having a website is generally to enable his customers to be
able to contact them, removing the email address altogether is hardly an
option.

The solutions offered up to now have been anything but useful...
'// ========================================================

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

Hi Shawn,

I'm surprised you remember me. Then again, maybe I'm not. I seem to
recall making a big blundering entrance onto the list by posting
something "illegal." I've not been active on it for a few years, so
don't feel bad.

I can't thank you enough for deciphering for me how to apply your codes.
I was close, but was just far enough away that I kept missing it. Now
I've even figured out how to swap out the text "Email Me" with a
clickable button I designed. If you have time, I hope you'll stop by my
blog sometime. If you do, please leave a comment or e-mail so I know you
dropped in: http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com

Thanks again! And happy Father's Day. :-)

Brandy

Brandy Brow
Write me! <mailto:shemaiah@...>

See us build our house <http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com>



Shawn K. Hall wrote:

>Hi Brandy,
>
>
>
>>It's been awhile since we've talked (not that you remember)
>>on the hswm list...
>>
>>
>
>I remember, and it /was/ quite a while ago. I think that was when I was
>first inspired to put up the article on my site. I really feel like I've
>been neglecting the HSWM group, I just don't have the time right now to
>participate. :(
>  http://reliableanswers.com/js/mailme.asp...
>

Hi Brandy,

> It's been awhile since we've talked (not that you remember)
> on the hswm list...

I remember, and it /was/ quite a while ago. I think that was when I was
first inspired to put up the article on my site. I really feel like I've
been neglecting the HSWM group, I just don't have the time right now to
participate. :(
   http://reliableanswers.com/js/mailme.asp


> ...my blog runs on blogger.com. I don't have a contact form
> to use and no matter how many times I go over your e-mail
> cloaking instructions, I find that I'm still shy of enough
> coding know-how to do anything with it--if I can at all.

There are a couple options you can use. The first and, perhaps, easiest
(in the long run), would be to move the blog off of blogger to it's own
domain. You can setup your blogger account to use third-party hosting
and weave server-side code into the template, providing the ability to
use the automatic formatting for the addresses directly from the code
generated by Blogger. It also gives you ability to add pages to the
site, like a contact page. And it gives you more options for later on
when you want to do more with your site than just a blog. With blogger
hosted at blogger, well, you're pretty much stuck with the blog.

Second, you could rewrite the links to use only the function for
generating the email address, but that leaves browsers that are not
capable of supporting javascript without the ability to contact you in
any way. Which is kinda the boat you're in now, and not working for you.
The client-side code for a rewritten link using the mailme script would
look like this:

<a href="javascript:void(null);"
  onMouseOver="javascript:this.href=mailMe('example%2Ecom','me');"
  onFocus="javascript:this.href=mailMe('example%2Ecom','me');"
  title="title here">Email me</a>

And then you have to add the same JS function to the <head> section of
the page - this would have to be included directly since blogger doesn't
let you save files on their server.

<script type="text/javascript">
function mailMe(sDom, sUser){
   return("mail"+"to:"+sUser+"@"+sDom.replace(/#/g,"."));
}
</script>

Good luck,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

Hi Shawn,

It's been awhile since we've talked (not that you remember) on the hswm
list. You've remained the number one guy, though, whom I've respected as
knowing his stuff. Had I known this list existed, I would have joined
long ago.

Since those couple of years have passed, I began a blog and now need to
add my e-mail address. (Let's just say I've had a big opportunity come
my way thanks to my blog and that no e-mail contact almost cost me.) But
my blog runs on blogger.com. I don't have a contact form to use and no
matter how many times I go over your e-mail cloaking instructions, I
find that I'm still shy of enough coding know-how to do anything with
it--if I can at all. My brain's fried and I need help.

Would you mind giving an old acquaintance some new advice? My blog's in
my signature.

Thanks, Shawn.

Brandy


Brandy Brow
Write me! <mailto:shemaiah@...>

See us build our house <http://thebuildingbrows.blogspot.com>

Hello All,

Updates are available for vulnerabilities in many Mozilla products,
released today.

Firefox 1.0 and 1.5 suffer from nearly a dozen "highly critical"
security flaws, with the worst issues potentially opening up remote
access to your computer from a site visited in a 'restricted' nature,
even if scripting is disabled globally or for the specific site. Update
now:
   http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
(the direct update for windows is about 750kb)

Some of these vulnerabilities also apply to other Mozilla suite
applications, including Mozilla and Thunderbird. I do not believe an
update is currently available for Thunderbird.
   http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
   http://www.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/

Most of these vulnerabilities are exploitable under each Windows, Linux
and Mac OSX distributions.

WARNING: This update disables Venkman! If you use the javascript
debugging tool, Venkman, this update will disable it until a new build
of Venkman is released (it is not labelled with 1.5.0.1 compatibility
within the current distribution). This is unlikely to take very long,
but you should be aware of the potential to effect your development.

If you ONLY use Firefox for design work on YOUR OWN sites, you may be
safe in postponing updates until a revision of Venkman is released.

If you use Firefox (or any other Mozilla product) for your primary
browser or email client, I highly recommend you update now.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/
http://SaferPC.info/

'// ========================================================
    "Truth is more of a stranger than fiction."
	 -- Mark Twain

Thanks Shawn, I checked, and the link is correct. I resubmitted the
sitemap, and deleted all the others so no conflicts would happen. I
have the sitemap in two places uploaded. The fist is in my public html
folder, and the second is in _mgxroot folder in in my public html. I
also am uploaded in my www. folder. I'm thinking maybe I was causing a
conflict. I'll see what happens. Thanks for correcting my spelling
(lol).
                                         Regards, Tim

Hi Tim,

> Hi, I have my site verified, and 3 sitemaps uploaded. Is
> there a basic email for instruction for Google sitemaps.
> www.trendyimageconcepts.com is my link.

I don't see anything wrong with your sitemap. It's important that when
you submit the sitemap to your sitemaps account that you include the
full path to the sitemap. For example,
   http://www.trendyimageconcepts.com/sitemap.xml

Some people have reported problems with Google failing to recognize the
file when the content-type isn't "text/xml", as well. First try
submitting the URL above as a sitemap, and if that doesn't work I'll
help you with changing the content-type header.

Most people don't include the links to images, stylesheets and other
'unimportant' files like those in their sitemaps, but for a jewelry site
I can conceive that putting images of your jewelry could be useful. I do
think you ought to consider spellchecking your site. The first word in
the right column is misspelled (Valintine's), and that type of thing can
really detract from the content.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Hi, I have my site verified, and 3 sitemaps uploaded. Is there a basic
email for instruction for Google sitemaps. www.trendyimageconcepts.com
is my link. I'm at a novice level, and I want to learn. Thanks, Tim.

I know how to upload ftp on my browser, perhaps I putting in the wrong
area in my public html folder.

timmyj0303@...

Wow, Shawn, you have some good suggestions!  It took
me awhile to understand most of it.  I'll probably
work on the easiest one for me first.  I got some free
website template on the internet to help me get
started.  I didn't know what to look for when choosing
one.  Can you give me an example or refer me to a site
that has the page width set to a %?  You also
mentioned not using tables.  How do I do that if I
want to make three columns on my page?

Thanks again for all your help,
Maria

>
> Lastly, try to avoid forcing the page to a specific
> width. Your home
> page is 1290 pixels wide, which is wider than the
> two most common screen
> resolutions, effectively forcing a horizontal
> scrollbar on more than 95%
> of your visitors. And the people that do use larger
> resolutions (like
> me) often have their browsers set to an area
> approximately 800x600, in
> order to get the best look from the other 9 million
> sites designed only
> to work with 800x600. If you still want to push the
> width to what would
> fill the screen on a 1280x1024 screen you should
> reduce the width to at
> a maximum of 1240px, since that accounts for the
> scrollbar and the
> window edges in most computers (also called
> "chrome").  I wouldn't
> recommend creating any fixed-width sites, though,
> especially if it can
>
=== message truncated ===




__________________________________________
Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about.
Just $16.99/mo. or less.
dsl.yahoo.com

Hi Maria,

> Thanks Shawn for the recommendations!  I'll have to
> tell my husband about Filezilla.

My pleasure. :)


> ...we have people submitting tournament information
> using our form.

Looks like it's using FormMail in one variation or another. Depending on
which one he's using (which I won't "test" without permission) it may
have some rather nasty security  holes providing the ability for anyone
in the world to either send spam from your server or execute commands on
your server. Neither of which are good.


> [form to] calendar format we have.

How is the calendar generated? Is it using a database to compose the
actual layout already? If it is then I would recommend having the form
accept the data and post it to the database and alert you via email that
a new record has been entered, requiring your approval (via a link that
toggles an "approved" field in the table) to enable the record. This way
you can minimize the work on your end for each new entry.

However, if it is not already using a database to display the calendar
then you may have quite a bit of work to do to generate it
automatically. Seriously consider switching to using a database-driven
calendar. Here's an example:
   http://www.motherlodek9.com/therapy/visits.asp
This calendar is generated directly by data within a database, and it
uses patterns to generate the results so it isn't tied to creating a new
record for each specific event. For example, "Avalon" occurs the first
Saturday and the second Wednesday of every month, while "WATCH" only
occurs on the fifth Friday - when a month has five Fridays (yes, I
thought that was absurd, too). Other patterns you can use are stuff like
"every x days", "every x weeks", "the next to last Tuesday", "the 23rd
of each month". It was a lot of fun putting that together. ;)

I need to setup an example/test db sometime so I can show people the
data-entry interface, too. If you think the output is cool - you'll LOVE
the data entry form. Anyway...


> In addition, we have people e-mail their flyers to us so
> we can add that to our calendar.  Can you recommend an
> easier way to do this?

These could be upoaded directly to your site, as well, and if it were
all bound to the same database table you could store the PDF in such a
way as to index them for content (free searchable content for your site)
and link directly from the calendar cell. Since this is what you're
after anyway, I think that would be the best way to go.

> Are there any security type problems with receiving their
> files off the website?

Oh yeah. Depending on the server architecture (you happen to be using
Linux) you might have major issues with double-file-extension parsing (a
common problem for default installs of the Apache web server), or just
stuff like uploading too much content for your site to support. Also,
file uploads are often prevented in "secure" systems where the page
being uploaded to is in a child frame from a non-originating server -
like when you frame wrestling.brookings.net with sdyw.com,  and frame
sdyw with ncyw.com (which can also severely affect your adsense revenue,
btw).

For the "too much data" issue you could minimize the effects by using
users/passwords, but you would not prevent the double-file-extension
issue in Apache. This is something you'd have to write a wrapping
routine to validate the form and structure of the content for validity
(and it's best to rename their file to prevent executeable extension
mapping).


> Any other comments/suggestions you may have on our
> website would be great, too.

Get rid of the frames. If you absolutely cannot include the content
directly on the site (without duplicating another domain!) then use a
301 redirect from your ncyw site to the site you really have the content
on. Otherwise some search engines, spiders and users will not be able to
see the content. The default installation of IE on locked down Windows
prevents frames from other domains  so they'd never see it. And probably
the worst part, is that people visiting your site for specific content
cannot bookmark it. They end up bookmarking the home page, effectively
forcing them to dig through your entire site again to find what they
wanted last time.

Minimize the use of tables. I know it's hard, the first time especially,
to create a site without tables, but over 80% of your home page is
tables, and that's going to make it load slower than it could on most
browsers (the entire table has to be downloaded before anything within
it will display), and you're duplicating the functionality of basic html
with the "lists" you've created as table cells in each side column.
Using an unordered list (UL) with a style-based list-marker would get
the same effect and save you a few kb right off the top.

Where you've provided click-maps for regions of an image, place
text-based equivalents close to the image. Not everyone uses a mouse, or
has the ability to use it effectively to select a specific visual
region.

Add index files to each folder on your site. It's really easy to find
out more about a server by stripping off the file name and digging
through directories that become exposed by the Apache automatic index
(directory browsing) feature.

Lastly, try to avoid forcing the page to a specific width. Your home
page is 1290 pixels wide, which is wider than the two most common screen
resolutions, effectively forcing a horizontal scrollbar on more than 95%
of your visitors. And the people that do use larger resolutions (like
me) often have their browsers set to an area approximately 800x600, in
order to get the best look from the other 9 million sites designed only
to work with 800x600. If you still want to push the width to what would
fill the screen on a 1280x1024 screen you should reduce the width to at
a maximum of 1240px, since that accounts for the scrollbar and the
window edges in most computers (also called "chrome").  I wouldn't
recommend creating any fixed-width sites, though, especially if it can
be avoided easily (where tables really shine).

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/

Thanks Shawn for the recommendations!  I'll have to
tell my husband about Filezilla.

Here's another question we have.  On our website
www.ncyw.com, we have people submitting tournament
information using our form.  My husband used some tool
he created to use that information and put it in a
calendar format we have.  In addition, we have people
e-mail their flyers to us so we can add that to our
calendar.  Can you recommend an easier way to do this?
  We want them to be able to submit their flyers along
with the form they submit.  Better yet, we want to
have their flyer automatically be put in a link on the
calendar.  Are there any security type problems with
receiving their files off the website?  Will we need
to eventually have to create logins/passwords?  Any
other comments/suggestions you may have on our website
would be great, too.  Right now, we are just getting
information out there but still need to make it look
pretty.    I just know basic html but not any advanced
stuff.

Thanks,
Maria



__________________________________________
Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about.
Just $16.99/mo. or less.
dsl.yahoo.com

Hi Maria,

> We are wondering what software is used when people
> upload their files to a website.  We want people to
> be able to upload a flyer (.doc or .pdf file) to our
> website.  Is this something fairly easy to do?

Quite. Most servers use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to copy files
(html, images, word and pdf files) to and from the server.

There are hundreds of programs out there that can perform FTP, but my
own favorites are FileZilla (Free: http://filezilla.sf.net/ ) and WS_FTP
Pro ($55: http://www.ipswitch.com/purchase/products/ws_ftp.asp ). The
only thing WS_FTP Pro has over FileZilla is an outstanding automation
and synchronization platform - but unless you do a TON of FTP, this
probably will not be useful to you. Internet Explorer can be used to
perform FTP, as well, but has some flaky methods that can cause
problems. And it doesn't really give you much as far as features.

FileZilla, however, is more than capable of doing anything you'll need.
And it supports some very capable compression providing the ability to
shrink the size of files you upload and download, significantly reducing
the amount of time you spend in your FTP program.

Anyway... After you've installed the FTP program you will usually setup
an "FTP account" within the program. Usually these will have the user
name, password, remote (server) path and local (your computer) path to
apply during login. That way you automatically have a "left and right"
view of the local computer and the remote server so it's simple enough
to copy fiels across from one place to the other by dragging the file or
by clicking the file and an upload/download button.

Then it's just a matter of dragging and dropping files where you want
them.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://12PointDesign.com/
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
"I don't have a keyboard site on my computer. We have to
  download it." --Zachary Hall (my son), after being asked if
  he wanted me to hook up my MIDI keyboard to his computer

Hi,

I hope it's ok to post here since there hasn't been
much activity.  I'm a homeschool mom and started doing
some web design with my husband.  We eventually want
to teach our kids but need to know what to do first.
We are wondering what software is used when people
upload their files to a website.  We want people to be
able to upload a flyer (.doc or .pdf file) to our
website.  Is this something fairly easy to do?

Thanks for any help,
Maria




__________________________________________
Yahoo! DSL – Something to write home about.
Just $16.99/mo. or less.
dsl.yahoo.com

Hi John,

> I am starting an advertising and  SEO campaign but I find that
> some of the links to me do not get registered in any of the
> search engines. For instance, while these pages each has  a
> google rank of 5 and are on a quality site, they still do not
> show up in any listing of links after 60 days. Is there
> something odd about them?
>
>
http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/emergentreaders.html
> http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/parentreading.html
> http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/believing.html

Yes. These each use JavaScript to actually create the link at the
client. They are not simply sent back to the client "as a link." For
search engines that do not parse script (like Google) they may as
well not even exist.

The actual file that is linked to in the source to create your ad
is:
   http://www.carolhurst.com/cgi-bin/rebotis/ads.pl?jscript;zone=E

This ad will simply never provide you with an increased PageRank,
because it's never "seen" by Google.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://SaferPC.info/
http://12PointDesign.com/
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "Anybody remotely interesting is mad,
     in some way or another."
	 -- Doctor Who

I am starting an advertising and  SEO campaign but I find that some
of the links to me do not get registered in any of the search
engines.
For instance, while these pages each has  a google rank of 5 and are
on a quality site, they still do not show up in any listing of links
after 60 days. Is there something odd about them?

http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/emergentreaders.html
http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/parentreading.html
http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/reading/believing.html

Obviously, my anchor text was not totally thought thru but I'm
refining that part of my strategy.

John Edelson
Learn Reading & Math Online - www.Time4Learning.com

Hi Jodi,

> Just so I have this pretty much straight - I upload
> library.js and add that into my header I'll be good.

Yep.


> Do I upload the whole file or just the mailMe portion
> along with your header portion?

For now you probably only need the mailMe() function. The rest
includes stuff like parsing cookies and breaking out of frames (be
VERY careful not to use it "as is" or every hit to your site will be
redirected to mine!).


> I already have on my site to get out of frames and no
> right click.

Be careful disabling right-click. It has many more uses than stealing
your pictures or text, and anyone really interested in getting your
content could do something as simple as using the 'context' key on
their windows keyboard (right next to the right CTRL key), or use a
PERL "get" or just disable javascript and reload the page. The
right-click menu also has options like "add to favorites" and
"print" - which I seriously doubt many people would want their
visitors to be unable to do.


> Thanks so much for your help - it's greatly appreciated.

My pleasure.


> P.S. OT: Do you have any recommendations for beginning
> to learn PHP?

You're welcome to ask any questions you have about PHP here.

I also highly suggest installing DQSD if you're on a Windows system
( www.dqsd.net ). It includes (by default) a PHP "search" that is
quite simple to use. Type "php something" and it will search the
php.net website and open either the most appropriate page, or a search
results index of pages most related to the terms you were after. The
www.php.net website is simply awesome. It's perhaps the best indexed
programming language site out there.

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     He who is ashamed of asking is ashamed of learning.
       -- Danish Proverb

Just so I have this pretty much straight - I upload library.js and add that into
my header I'll be good. Do I upload the whole file or just the mailMe portion
along with your header portion? I already have on my site to get out of frames
and no right click.
Thanks so much for your help - it's greatly appreciated.
Jodi

P.S. OT: Do you have any recommendations for beginning to learn PHP? I sat in
Border's computer book section yesterday, couldn't make heads nor tails, and my
eyes were glazed just looking.

Hi Jodi,

> No, I don't Shawn.  In the one that I originally had,
> I didn't need it. Is this something that should go in
> the header area?

Yes, something like this:

<script type="text/javascript" defer="defer"
src="/library.js"></script>

The contents of /library.js would be (three lines):

function mailMe(sDom, sUser){
   return("mail"+"to:"+sUser+"@"+sDom.replace(/%23/g,"."));
}


You may then use the same javascript file for any other global scripts
you want to have available for the rest of your site - like something
for clearing the default value of a textbox or spiffy style changes or
breaking out of remote frames... Look at my own scripting library for
ideas:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/Scripts/Library.js
(WARNING: This is a script file, and unless you have great patience
for errors you'll probably want to download the file directly, instead
of hitting it in your browser).

I probably ought to make that easier for people to get... try this
link instead:
   http://ReliableAnswers.com/Scripts/Library.asp?dl

Give me a couple minute to put that file up. :)

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
     Revisiting the Revolutionary War is a bracing reminder
     that the fate of a continent, and the shape of the
     modern world, turned on the free choices of remarkably
     few Americans defying an empire.
       -- George Will

Oops -
That would be where you say, "We change the function in our referenced
javascript file to decode it differently."
I have no referenced javascript file. Is that correct?

No, I don't Shawn.  In the one that I originally had, I didn't need it. Is this
something that should go in the header area?
Jodi

Hi Jodi,

> I'm getting an error "Object Expected" using this:
> <a href="/contact/" title="Email"
> onmouseover="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonash
> oestring%23com','webmaster');"
> onfocus="javascript:this.href=mailMe('homeschoolingonashoest
> ring%23com','webmaster');">Email</a>

Do you have the javascript file that includes the mailMe() function
referenced somewhere in your code?

Regards,

Shawn K. Hall
http://ReliableAnswers.com/

'// ========================================================
    "What right does Congress have to go around making laws
     just because they deem it necessary?"
       -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC
     (See U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17)