Not sure I understand your question.
Here is where I am coming from…
Historically, I rarely would send a message using a web form, because my perception was that it was getting written into a database and would never get seen.
By contrast, if a website had a contact e-mail, I assumed that someone would get my e-mail and likely respond in a few hours.
In the modern world, there are obviously dangers of just posting a contact e-mail on your website.
And furthermore, I don’t think I am the only one who is leery of web forms.
So what should a website owner do??
A year or two ago when I was surfing online, I read a few articles that offered a compromise…
You create a web form on your website, that when sent actually sends you an e-mail.
I believe the benefits to this approach include:
- Protects your email from email harvesters
- Reduces SPAM since you can add things like CAPTCHA
- Still offers the convenience of e-mail - just protected via the initial web form
I guess it would help me out if others on SitePoint would tell me their perceptions of these differnt approaches and which ones they like best.
My goal is to make it so I don’t spend all of my time fighting SPAM and people just screwing with me sending bogus requests.
At the same time, I want to make myself very accessible to anyone who needs help or has questions - whether they are a registered user or just a visitor.
Does that make sense?
Well, option #4 in my OP would require that, yes.
Maybe a better way to state this additional question is this…
If you were a member of my website, and you had a question or needed help, which would be your preferred means of contacting me, the websmaster?
Would you want me to have User Profile and then you could send me a PM? (Like if you send “Hawk” a PM.)
Or would you e-mail me?
Or would you prefer a web form?
(Obviously if you are merely a visitor, then it would have to either be a web-to-email form or just a simple e-mail address listed.)
Am I making any sense?