Email

[Silverthorn]

To stop spam by bots and you still want to make yr email public so other ppl can email you, i have a solution:-
Why not add a captcha when we click the email button, so to prevent bots from spamming; before sending the email, you need to complete the captcha!!

There is a captcha during registration-process. Yet still, some manage to bypass it. I don't see how an extra-captcha should stop them.



As with the buddy-list, as @LutiChris suggested, I see some issues as well. Now, I haven't actually used the whole buddy system for several years but according to my understanding, there are two possibilities:
- Person that wants to email you adds you to his buddy list. Now he can email you, whether you want it or not.
- After adding to the buddy-list, you will have to confirm the request until emailing becomes available. This doesn't seem viable for me either, as this does not give one the opportunity to email somebody who hasn't been to LFE for a long time.



However, as said, the email itself is never public (i.e. others cannot see your email address at any point in time). Upon sending an email to somebody, you're merely presented with a subject- and text-box, nothing else.

[Som1Lse]

There is a captcha during registration-process. Yet still, some manage to bypass it. I don't see how an extra-captcha should stop them.

How about a more modern Captcha? http://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html

[Silverthorn]

There is a captcha during registration-process. Yet still, some manage to bypass it. I don't see how an extra-captcha should stop them.

How about a more modern Captcha? http://www.google.com/recaptcha/intro/index.html

I had used recaptcha for a while. Interestingly, it did not reduce the amount of bots. On the contrary, there were more of such registrations during that phase. That's why it's a different, more anciently looking captcha. It does its job, though

[Som1Lse]

I had used recaptcha for a while. Interestingly, it did not reduce the amount of bots. On the contrary, there were more of such registrations during that phase. That's why it's a different, more anciently looking captcha. It does its job, though

Was that the new recaptcha or the old one?

@below: It would.

[Silverthorn]

I had used recaptcha for a while. Interestingly, it did not reduce the amount of bots. On the contrary, there were more of such registrations during that phase. That's why it's a different, more anciently looking captcha. It does its job, though

Was that the new recaptcha or the old one?

Old one.

If it puts your soul at rest, I can dig a little more into the newer one, though

[Hellblazer]

how about a list, in which you add some specific people who can email u etc.

aand i was gonna tell u about that captcha but sm1lse said that but, mehh..

[Silverthorn]

how about a list, in which you add some specific people who can email u etc.

For the love of my life, I just can't find the post which illustrates the flaw in this idea. Essentially, @Memento was asking somebody who hasn't been online at LFE for quite some time. That guy certainly wouldn't have added him to the "may email me"-list if it was in place several years ago (because why would somebody do exactly that?).

Hence, I don't really think that adding such limitations is viable. As of now, the options there are are "anybody may email me" and "nobody may email me". Which I personally think is fine...