What's the Deal?

In an attempt to reduce the amount of spam we receive, we have implemented this obfuscation page. The idea is simple: We use an onMouseOver JavaScript event to call a function to unscramble the email address so that when you click on the link below, it will act as a normal "mailto:" link. That is, if you click on it, your computer should open up your default email client (or you could right-click and save the email address associated with the link). The reason this weeds out spambots is because bots don't have a mouse. They simply scan pages for the infamous symbol in between these 2 words: localhost@localdomain.

As there are so many diverse programs for viewing the web, and so many diverse people who use the many diverse programs, it is inevitable that some of you who view the obfuscation page will in some way or another not have JavaScript enabled. That is what led you to this page. Not to worry. Here is how you can figure out the email address: the institution for which WebDB was created is Earlham College. Earlham's domain name is:

'earlham'

Since Earlham is an educational institution, you will need to tack on the four characters of

'.edu'

Now all that you need to do is to put 'webdb' in the front of that string of characters, and include the infamous symbol shown above. What you will then have is the email address by which WebDB's administrators can be reached.

One last request, now that you have discovered this technique, if you decide to use it in your work (or even if you never use it), please keep it on the downlow. The idea behind this technique is subtlety. If you draw attention to it, it is much more likely that spammers will figure out a way around it.