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Lloyd Erlick - 28 Apr 2004 23:43 GMT

apr2804 from Lloyd Erlick,

In the last few weeks I've been keeping my
newsreader adjusted differently from my past
settings. I have finally gotten around to the most
basic spoofing of my address where the newsreader
wants it entered in its options screen. Instead of
my real email address, I put in lloyd AT the-wire
DOT com, and the like.

I wondered how much of the spam I was receiving
was due to my usenet activities, which are not all
that extensive, but still seemed to cause an
avalanche of unwanted email. Of course I can't tie
the two together definitively, but the increase in
such email for me coincided with my entry to
usenet, so I naturally assumed....

Well, I am happy to report that today my desired
email outnumbered my spam by a factor of five or
more. The proportion has been steadily changing,
to the good, over a few weeks. The one and only
thing I've done is the basic, easy change to the
settings in my newsreader. I think it's just
wonderful that such a little move can have a
noticeable, beneficial effect. (I've been using
anti-adware software since day one, so that factor
has stayed constant.)

I wonder how far it will go? If I reach a spam
level of zero will there be health consequences?

regards,
--le

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Jorge Omar - 29 Apr 2004 03:24 GMT

Lucky guy!
My two levels filtering (a coarse one at the ISP, a fine one at the PC)
tells me I still have 53.28% spam at my real email address...
Would there be a way besides changing email out of it?

Jorge

> I wonder how far it will go? If I reach a spam
> level of zero will there be health consequences?
>
> regards,
> --le

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Lloyd Erlick - 29 Apr 2004 15:16 GMT

apr2904 from Lloyd Erlick,

I think the real question is the source of one's
spam. My sources most likely get my address from
usenet, since that is pretty much the only place
my address would be out there for harvesting. My
online activity is not that great. Some spam seems
to find me via my website. It's hard to pinpoint.

I was just happy to see a reduction in spammation
at all from such an easy adjustment.

regards,
--le

>Lucky guy!
>My two levels filtering (a coarse one at the ISP, a fine one at the PC)
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>> regards,
>> --le

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John - 10 May 2004 05:03 GMT

>Lucky guy!
>My two levels filtering (a coarse one at the ISP, a fine one at the PC)
>tells me I still have 53.28% spam at my real email address...
>Would there be a way besides changing email out of it?
>
>Jorge

    I had to setup separate email accounts for each list I
subscribe to and for each usage. For instance I setup

    phoenix for my domain
    ps for the Pure Silver list.
    ap for the alt.processes group

and 7 others. The funny thing is that I use only an "_" in my usenet
address and yet it seems to work pretty well. I have only received a
couple spams on that address in the year that I've been using it.

Regards,

John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
Please remove the "_" when replying via email

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Jorge Omar - 10 May 2004 21:35 GMT

Thanks, John
I will try that.

Jorge

>>Lucky guy!
>>My two levels filtering (a coarse one at the ISP, a fine one at the PC)
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
> John S. Douglas, Photographer - http://www.darkroompro.com
> Please remove the "_" when replying via email

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Andrew Price - 29 Apr 2004 22:17 GMT

>I wondered how much of the spam I was receiving
>was due to my usenet activities, which are not all
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>such email for me coincided with my entry to
>usenet, so I naturally assumed....

I think you assume correctly - nearly all of it comes from spammers
who harvest addresses on Usenet. After ten years' posting to Usenet,
I started following a German-language news group about three months
ago. Within days of my first posting there, I started getting spam in
German.

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Donald Qualls - 30 Apr 2004 03:48 GMT

>>I wondered how much of the spam I was receiving
>>was due to my usenet activities, which are not all
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> ago. Within days of my first posting there, I started getting spam in
> German.

I can further confirm that; I accidentally (in process of testing a
newsreader setup after changing connection ISPs) posted a single message
to a popular newsgroup with an address I don't otherwise use -- three
years ago. Now I get an average of five to ten spam a day at that
address (and nothing else, since I don't use that address for anything),
after only a single posting. My primary address (this one), from which
I posted actively on Usenet for several years before a couple years'
hiatus (ending last week), gets an average of about 50-60 spam a day,
between those caught by my ISP's filter and those my own message rules
catch, and the few that wind up in my main inbox.

There are lots of other sources, of course; many web sites that ask for
an e-mail address (including some that may do it without you realizing
it -- many browsers still send e-mail address as password for anonymous
ftp) sell the resulting harvest to spammers. Some ISPs sell their own
customer lists (AOL at least used to, allowing users to opt out, but not
advertising that fact).

The only way to completely avoid spam is to use an ISP that doesn't sell
lists, and never, ever use the address in any public fashion. And an
address you can't use isn't much good, is it?

Signature

I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
-- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.

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