# Board E-mail and Spam Bots **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 10, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112 "2003-08-10T00:36:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/1 "2003-08-10T00:36:15Z")
If I provide an e-mail address in my profile would it be accessable to any type of spam bots? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/2 "2003-08-10T00:41:29Z")
No, because you have Hide Email set to “Yes” in your profile options. This is why no Email button appears below your posts like mine. Second of all, users (including bots) have to be registered in order to view member profiles. If I’ve gotten any spam at all from having my email address visible it’s been a vanishingly small amount. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/3 "2003-08-10T00:45:05Z")
Yes, I was referring to what might happen if I unhide the e-mail. The acct which I registered with is one which I would like to keep spam free so I was a little hesitant to show it but of course, I would also like to allow other members to contact me about a post or whatnot. I guess it sounds like a risk worth taking, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/4 "2003-08-11T03:46:54Z")
As I understand it, you don’t really have to worry about spam bots, because email addresses aren’t listed on any main page. Some spammer could come through, click on every user’s profile link, and collect them by hand, but that’s a lot of work. FWIW, I’ve had my address available here for a couple of years now, and that address has a very low spam rate. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/5 "2003-08-11T04:22:19Z")
Ditto the low spam rate for my available-here email address. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/6 "2003-08-11T04:59:51Z")
Two points: a) Writing a bot to collect all the addresses here would be trivial. Trust me; I’ve built more complex collection engines in a couple of hours. b) The address on my profile is exclusive to this site, and in 4 years(more? less?), I haven’t gotten one spam. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/7 "2003-08-11T18:32:53Z")
For amusement, I wrote a Straight Dope email collection bot. It took under 40 minutes to design and write, and is composed of shell script less than 20 lines long. Obviously, I won’t post the code (nor will I actually run it except for a 5-user test I already did), but my point is that in fact someone could easily harvest the email address you post here. However, as several (including me) pointed out: in practical terms, no spammer actually has taken the time to harvest the emails here. So, it’s a question of risk tolerance. For me the risk is too high and I use a disposable email here. If it gets spammed, I can delete it without worry. I really really want to keep my “real” email address spam-free. On the other hand, the odds of actually getting spammed here is historically very low. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/8 "2003-08-12T17:34:21Z")
I gather I’m one of the five? ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/9 "2003-08-12T18:48:14Z")
Fuck. Yes, me too. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/10 "2003-08-12T18:51:41Z")
Wait, I misunderstood your question, **Ringo**. You did not receive that (or anything) from me. I was just spammed as well. Looks like they picked everyone in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/11 "2003-08-12T20:59:18Z")
Could both of you guys forward the e-mail you’ve received to me - with the headers if possible? I suspect you’ve been spammed by the guy who made the posts I’ve removed from this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/12 "2003-08-13T01:48:45Z")
Done, **Unc**. ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/13 "2003-08-14T08:06:48Z")
Did I miss something? ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/14 "2003-08-14T09:39:03Z")
Best to ask Uncle Beer via email in my opinion. No sense encouraging ne’er-do-wells. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-e-mail-and-spam-bots/194112/15 "2003-08-14T13:48:20Z")
**SkyBum** , some trollish posts were deleted. Makes for a wee bit of discontinuity in the thread.