spam

[krabbyruth]

I am totally sick of Nigerian ripoffs , and porn . Some of these idiots send me 2 or 3 spams at a time. Any suggestions?

[josh]

Well, since you're asking here, sure:

Don't ever give your email address to anyone.

If you start with a fresh address, great. If you want to keep your exsting address, do a search for spam filtering - a bunch of stuff will come up that may help you deal with the spammers who already have your address and are sending spam to you.

In either case, sign up with spamgourmet, and don't give your address to anyone (you can make rare exceptions ) -- use disposable addresses instead. If you start with a fresh address, make sure it's a) with an obscure service provider and/or b) fairly long and not likely to be spammed directly by programs that use the dictionary and related techniques to send email to yahoo and hotmail accounts and the like. Using disposable addresses conscientiously with such a new address will pretty much *eliminate* spam. If you keep your existing address, start using disposable adddresses anyway, since it'll help keep the problem from getting worse.

[Guest]

I agree, but I would recommend the stronger approach: Never give your REAL [protected] email address to anyone, period. NO exceptions! Use ONLY spamgourmet disposables, a different one for each contact.

Obviously, you will have to issue each contact their new disposable, and make sure they use it. This is exactly the same procedure as any other time that you might change your ISP or email address, EXCEPT that you will only have to do this ONCE. When each contact has their unique disposable, that unique disposable will be PERMANENT UNLESS SPAMMED, AND IT WON'T MATTER ANYMORE WHAT YOUR REAL EMAIL IS, SINCE NO ONE WILL EVER USE IT. They will only see disposable addresses. You will only have to reissue a disposable if your contact gives/loses their disposable to a spammer, and you want to continue corresponding with that contact. If you don't want to continue corresponding with a corporate contact that spams you, then you just cut off that disposable or let its message count decline to zero.

This is much less work than the old way. Before spamgourmet, EVERY TIME YOU CHANGED YOUR ISP OR EMAIL ADDRESS, you had to issue the new address to everyone in your address book. If you changed a second time, then you had to reissue YET AGAIN. With spamgourmet, you can change ISP or email at will, and your emails will follow you wherever you go; you only need to make one tiny entry at spamgourmet.

With spamgourmet, you are free to heed Josh's warning about dictionary attacks: You can use any kind of gibberish you want as your real email address. Your contacts will see only the relatively neat and rational spamgourmet disposables that you create for them.

[SysKoll]

My recommandations exactly. Use only disposables. Aunt Minnie's Windows machine might be trojaned to death, so the addy you gave her might well end up in a spammer's database. Thus the "no exception" rule.

[Guest]

I am totally sick of Nigerian ripoffs , and porn . . .

There is another perspective to the spam controversey to consider: I NEED to know how to enlarge my penis and bust, the 10 best ways to invest, and how to get cheap Cialis, Viagra, and Vicodin from people who can't spell their own products.

And, you won't believe this coincidence: I ALSO got contacted by a guy in Nigeria, who needs to transfer some money into an American account so as to access it. It's all on the up-and-up: he WORKS for the bank. It's some kinda weird Nigerian law or something. Let me tell you, there are MILLIONS involved, and I'll be getting a healthy cut . . .

[mysticturner]

Krabbyruth, I'll bet the Nigerian you're working with just got your name off a spam list. The Nigerian I'm working with was personally referred to me by one of my closest friends. I just hope this friend doesn't come asking for a slice of MY cut when this deal closes.