OddThinking

Short version

OddThinking occasionally gets some weird off-topic comments on the EmailShroud page. I have taken some action, and I am hoping it will stop now.

Longer, more interesting version

Problem

Regulars who subscribe to my comment feed may have noticed the occasional weird comments getting through the spam filter. They don’t look exactly like spam (especially to my spam filter), but they are certainly not on topic. They look more like private complaints to a company, and they often mention Dubai and other Arab nations. They appear exclusively on the main page for EmailShroud.

Why aren’t these dubious comments being marked as spam? The answer is because they are being hand-typed by real humans.

Cause

EmailShroud is a WordPress plugin that protects a web-site against spammers harvesting its email addresses. It has a two-pronged approach. It obfuscates the email addresses, and includes some JavaScript to decipher it again. If the reader’s browser runs Javascript, it will pop the email address back in place, and the user will never notice. For the small minority of readers who don’t run JavaScript, a link will remain in the HTML that points to my site.

My site has a landing page for this exact purpose. It explains that the page that they came from has used EmailShroud to protect itself. It displays the unobfuscated email address and asks the user to type it in.

Until today, when it mentioned EmailShroud, it included a link to the EmailShroud home page.

Some people who did not read the page carefully – or indeed at all – perhaps because English wasn’t their first language, clicked on the only link on the landing page, scrolled to the bottom of the EmailShroud page, came to the comment section and typed their personal email in right there.

How sad! In trying to protect against email spam, I open myself up to (unintentional) comment spam.

Solution

I have removed the link, hopefully forcing the poor users to read the text rather than click wildly.

Deeper Problem

So why are the people from United Arab Emirates particularly prone to having JavaScript turned off?

Deeper Cause

It turns out that a webmaster of a newspaper in the region has copied the output of an EmailShroud-protected page, rather than using the plugin. They haven’t understood it properly. They haven’t included the necessary JavaScript, so every reader who wants to email them (rather than a tiny minority) is sent to my page.

I find that a little rude, and a bit frustrating.

Deeper Solution?

I could get devious, and change the text of the landing page based on the referrer. I could tell their customers directly what I think of them.

However, those users of EmailShroud who stick to the default behaviour and take advantage of the free service I am offering are putting their trust in me. (EmailShroud offers an alternative solution for those who don’t.) I take that trust seriously. I don’t want to be seen as someone who might abuse that trust.

So, I am letting it go. If the problem gets worse, I will find a way to contact the webmaster and grumble a bit.