Website Caller ID...

[ace0]

Is there a service like this (http://www.webcallerid.com/) for free? I thought it wasn't possible to get their email addresses...

[Canuckkev]

That is the dumbest thing in the world. It basically auto opens the default mail program, and sends you a message, for every visitor. They charge money for that?

[ace0]

oh-so thats how it works...yeah-that is dumb...

[Chicken]

That is sad. First, it can be accomplished with simple javascript. Second, older browsers *used* to not notify you when email was being sent out, but (luckily) they do now and your email client will pop up. It worked better with IE3 borwsers, which let the email go without notification. Icky anyhow.

[LeX]

Originally posted by Chicken
Second, older browsers *used* to not notify you when email was being sent out, but (luckily) they do now and your email client will pop up.
I don't think so. The older Netscapes had an alert pop-up every time you tried to send someone email thru a form when the form code went like <FORM action="mailto:blah@yah.com" method="POST">

Not sure about IE, never used anything older than IE5.5

[Coolin]

From the Web Caller ID Website
It's important to note that this method won't get every visitor's email address. Plus understand that many people, depending on their internet security settings, might see a pop up informing them that they are sending an email message (nothing you can do about that). Most people however are fairly used to popups on the web and most just press OK as a matter of course. Again, it won't gather all visitors, but it will still gather quite a few... if not most.

Also keep in mind that this system is a rather aggressive business tactic. It's perfectly harmless and perfectly ethical, but in today's politically correct environment, there are those that may take offense at your efforts to gain contacts or sales leads. Use at your own discretion.
Geez, all of those warnings leads me to think that even they don't trust their own service. Why would anyone do such a thing to their visitors? The fact that they aren't using it on their own site leads me to believe that they are just using this thing to take money off of unsuspecting users.