What is Spambot Protection?

Spambots are internet programs that visit web sites, automatically extract email addresses and compile emailing lists of those addresses.

In April, 2006, Ridertown.com, in the St. Marys, Ohio email directory and The Spring Street Journal Classifieds, began encoding all new or updated listings in such a way that spambots cannot recognize the email addresses.

Email addresses have two parts: the User ID (the part before "@") and the Domain ID (the part after "@"). What Spambot Protection does is to separate the User and the Domain halves of the email address in the listing's source code, while connecting the two halves together as a link with the listing name when the page is displayed.

To people viewing the page on their computer screens, the spambot-protected email link looks and works just like any other email link. But to machines attempting to read the source code, the email address is hidden.

We hope this added service will enhance your use of the email directory, and thank you for visiting Ridertown.com.