[Previous entry: "NO ONE IS STEPPING FORWARD IN WILSON"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "I LOVE SIGNS!"]

06/22/2003 Archived Entry: "CLASSIC CABLE...SPAM...SO FAR, SO GOOD"

CLASSIC CABLE...SPAM...SO FAR, SO GOOD

Most of the intricacies of the World Wide Web and my computer are a complete mystery to me, but gradually I have learned a few things over the past ten years or so since I’ve struggled with each. When I think back to the time I started with my first computer, I know I’ve come a long way. It just doesn’t seem like it when I encounter a problem. There is so much to learn.

It’s nice to have Classic Cable and high speed services. It makes a huge difference in the amount of time I spend trying to get things done on my computer. It’s a hundred times faster than dial-up, and there are other advantages too that I’ve noticed.

Before my switchover, I was being inundated with spam and viruses which I was positive were being generated by my ISP. It now seems that I was correct as my machine has been almost totally free of both spam and virus-laden emails since I switched to CC... and they don’t have filters, as the previous ISP supposedly did. Since I haven’t made any substantial changes I know my previous ISP was the culprit. I’ve never been deluged with such stuff as I was with The Nameless Provider in Salina. I hope it doesn’t happen again.

I know my freedom from these troublesome things can’t be attributed to an address change as I have several addresses that have been in constant use; all were spammed, but are all spam free since the switch. I don’t know how that happens inside ISP equipment, but I do know that is where it came from.

I do know that some who have really serious spam problems have eliminated old addresses (this isn't as easy as it seems) such one they may have had with a long-standing Dow Jones account. Getting rid of that address eliminated 80% of a guy's spam. There is something to be said about occasional address changes.

It is a good idea to have a special yahoo or hotmail address to use on the net when you order or sign up for something. I know people who do all of this completely anonymously without ever using a correct name, address…email or otherwise, birth date or anything of that nature. And, I know it is a good idea to use an address other than your domain or server address for such purposes. If you start getting spammed, you can easily change a yahoo or hotmail, or anyone of the free addresses. I have a yahoo address I use when I travel, otherwise I only check it every couple of weeks or so to delete about 100 spam emails. If I order anything, I do it with that email address. I don’t use it for correspondence or anything that really matters. I have a hotmail address for the same ordering purposes.

On the other hand, if you forward jokes and pictures without deleting the email addresses that usually accompany such mail, then you are setting yourself up for someone to pick up your address along with those of everyone else on the list and pass it on to spammers.

Spybots pick up addresses too. That’s why many of us with websites write out our addresses in forms such as prairie_at_classicnet_dot_net. Spybots can’t pick that up and pass it on to a spammer, but anyone who is reading it can tell what it means.

It’s not a good idea to respond to spam or check those boxes that supposedly allow you the opportunity to be deleted from their email list, unless it is a legitimate business. All that tells them is that you are alive and well, your address is correct and they can continue sending you more mail. I wish there were a way to respond by having the spam bounce back to them with the subject line …”DECEASED”.

One other thing: newsgroup users have long used a technique called "munging". What you do is set up something inside your email address in parenthesis when you sign up at eBay, Amazon etc. A human can see to remove the extra words, but a bot cannot. I haven't done it but it makes sense. I suppose it would look like this: prairie@(take this part out)classicnet.net

I know there are some government agencies working on the spam problem as it is a serious one to many using the net for legitimate purposes. But, I wonder what really can be done as no one owns the web or has any regulatory authority over it except in certain instances in various countries. Once they solve that problem, some clever person will find another way around or over it. Spam is as easily moved off shore as Dell tech services have been. I just know that, at the moment, I am free of it.