Movable Type "better_spam_protect" Plug-In

Link: Software Archive: better_spam_protect

In the Movable Type weblog system, the names of entry and comment authors often are linked to their email address. Movable Type has a spam_protect feature to protect these addresses against harvesting by spam spiders. This feature, unfortunately, is not effective.

A new plug-in called better_spam_protect provides improved spam protection. Javascript is used to produce email addresses, thus making it less prone to harvesting. Users without Javascript (and—hopefully—spam harvesters) will see the name, but not the email address.

The plug-in is easy to install. Simply download the better_spam_protect.pl file and copy it to the Movable Type plugins subdirectory. Once done, improved spam protection is activated. Next, run a full site rebuild to apply the upgraded spam protection to older entries.

Here is what the plug-in does:

1. The primary function is to upgrade the <$MTEntryAuthorLink$>, <$MTCommentAuthorLink$>, and <$MTCommentPreviewAuthorLink$> template tags to provide stronger anti-spam protections on email addresses.

2. Email address spam protection becomes the default on these tags. Use spam_protect="0" to disable spam protection. (Without the plug-in, spam_protect="1" is required to enable spam protection.)

3. The semantics of <$MTEntryAuthorLink$> change slightly. If the author has defined a nickname in their profile it is displayed here. Otherwise their username is displayed. (Without the plugin, nickname is ignored and username always is displayed.)

4. A new template tag <$MTEmailLink [name="..."] address="..." $> is created. This tag inserts a spam-protected mailto: link into the document. The address= parameter is required; it specifies an email address. The name= parameter is optional. It specifies the text of the hyperlink. If omitted, the email address is used.

5. The following template tags are not changed by this plug-in: <$MTEntryAuthorEmail$>, <$MTCommentEmail$>, and <$MTCommentPreviewEmail$>. The addresses produced by these tags remain vulnerable to harvesting. You could, however, use the new <$MTEmailLink$> template tag to protect them.

The plug-in was tested on version 2.65. If you try it out, let me know how it works out for you.