Thanks for posting all those useful links.

I agree with the sentiments, but not sure about the solution.

Basically the bots get fed lots of email addresses, yes? Problem there is that the bots’ll likely still send junk to those addresses (whether they exist or not), so you’re adding to the spam problem, which isn’t just about you and me having crap fed to us, but is also about clogging up the networks.

A better solution might be to use your pit idea to trap the bot. They follow links. Generate a web of internal links (to more intrenal links etc) - all of which obviously are not proper pages - so that is gets stuck looking for emails instead of with finding them.

Here are some tips to spam-proofing (obviously you’ll be aware of these, but perhaps your readers aren’t):
http://www.evolt.org/article/Spam_Proofing_Your_Website/20/41849/

Bear in mind that the bots are constantly updated. I’ve been using Hivelogic’s email enkoder for some sites
http://automaticlabs.com/products/enkoderform

But I’ve noticed that something about the code seems to get specifically targetted. This I imagine will be true with any well-known solutions.

There’s a good discussion about blocking bots here:
http://evolt.org/article/Using_Apache_to_stop_bad_robots/18/15126/

And followed up:
http://evolt.org/article/Stopping_Spambots_II_The_Admin_Strikes_Back/18/21392/

Personally, I think it’s all an arms race, and thus ultimately self-defeating. But there are others playing the game and forcing the evolution so it’s a good idea to take basic precautionary measures.

SpamPoison seems to generate a list of random usernames at domains that are hosted by known spammers. Slick! That way, they get spam directed back to them.

However, one disadvantage of that approach is that the number of domains is limited and addresses with those domains could be bypassed if the spambot was programmed to do so. My script generates random domains, which could not be known by the spambot in advance.

Another difference is that the SpamPoison addresses are hosted on the SpamPoison severs, which could be avoided entirely by a spambot programmed to do so. By putting your own code on your own site, no spambot could know which sites to avoid…