BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?

Subject: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 11:54 AM

Sorrry - not about the (in)edible kind...

I don't find a recent thread specifically on the subject of internet SPAM; although I know it's been discussed in a couple of threads, and is a concern to many of us.

One of the most informative articles I've seen recently is posted at Technology Review on SPAM. While it doesn't say a lot about what an individual can do about it (there are a few general suggestions), it gives a fairly detailed outline of how extensive the problem is, and what approaches are being considered to control it.

The article is fairly long - posted in 4 "pages," but if you go to the bottom of the first page and click on "single page view" you can just scroll through the whole thing.

A couple of sample quotes:

"More than 13 billion unwanted e-mail messages swamp the Internet per day, worldwide. This tsunami of time-wasting junk will be a $10 billion drag on worker productivity this year in the United States alone, according to San Francisco-based Ferris Research.

"Having risen from 8 percent of all e-mail in 2000 to more than 40 percent by the end of 2002, spam has now reached a majority, according to studies from several anti-spam software companies. Conceivably, spam could soon represent 90 percent of all e-mail …

"... says John Mozena, cofounder of the Coalition against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (CAUCE), an advocacy group."There are 24 million small businesses in the U.S. If just 1 percent got your e-mail address and sent you one message per year, you'd have 657 additional messages in your in-box every day. That is our nuclear-winter scenario."

"Ninety percent of spam is sent by fewer than 200 people, according to Mozena of CAUCE, the anti-spam coalition. That represents an astounding degree of concentration, but virtually everyone who fights spam for a living agrees it is roughly correct. The implication is clear: spam is a crime-fighting problem akin to the prosecution of the small number of malicious hackers who crack into networks."

The article gives a fairly specific couple of examples of the #!@$&** creeps included in the 200 persons cited in the last quote.

John

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:21 PM

I'm really tired of being told how to enlarge my penis, obtain millions, drive the other sex wild, and so forth.

I know several women who are tired being told how to enlarge their penises (penii? penisii?).

What if you're gay and want to drive the same sex wild?

It's a problem and it's ugly and it's pervasive.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:34 PM

Just opened my mail. 22 emails, and 20 of them spam.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: C-flat
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 12:46 PM

I filter most of mine (about 30 a day) but a good number still do get through. Some of it I put down to my own stupidity, being new to the world of the internet I tried to "unsubscribe" to these relentless messages in the belief that I had somehow "subscribed" without realising it. Well they just loved that!! My in-box was overflowing for weeks afterwards and I learned to bin them without opening them.
Old dog....New tricks.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 01:33 PM

It's bad if you waste time reading it. It's kind of fun if you don't. I enjoy highlighting all the stupid obvious spam and then (a delicious moment) pressing the delete key. BWAH-HAH-HAH!!! Another raft of silly messages vanishes into oblivion. I love it. Brightens up my morning every day (except when I rise after noon).

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 01:35 PM

I never give out my real email address on the web unless to a company with which I due real business and can trust and actually has some sort of need to potentially call me, ergo I very rarely get any spam. Companies like Amazon will sell your address unless you ask them not to, and then they don't. I'd prefer "opt-in," but a legit compnay will alwaysgive you the option and make it easy to opt out. Trick is to opt out before they have a chance to sell it even once!

When necessary for web forms and other internet garbage which attempts to harvest my email address, I keep a hotmail address that I never check except when expecting some sort of confirmation email to allow me to view a web site. Plus multiple layers of privacy and ad filters and automatic cookies deletion...

I practice the same thing with my phone number (I never give it out; I give my work number). I very rarely get telemarketing calls either. But I'm kinda fanatical about this sort of thing -- I can't STAND advertising intruding in my private space. I may not be able to do anything about the assult via sheer volume of billboards and whatnot, but they had better not come into my private space!

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 01:49 PM

it is BAD...some of the major spammers are well known and arrogantly defiant...(I saw an interview with one the other day...he is in New Orleans). They all want to claim some inalienable 'right' to do business. BS!

I know it will be hard to find some of them, who operate from foreign ISPs, but I want it regulated in such a way that you must specifically opt IN to mailing lists....and I want JAIL terms for those who try to get around it. Too harsh for 'victimless crimes'? Pshaw....ANYTHING that clogs the arteries of the internet this way and costs 10 billion in lost productivity is prima facie a crime!

When I got back from Mystic (5 days) I had 92 emails, of which 3 were something I wanted! Even with my trick of deleting them from the server before downloading them, it takes TIME to look at 92 headers and make decisions.

There is this newly touted system of making the sender of legitimate email respond with an 'ok' in order to have it delivered, but I have already seen one software designer who flatly says he gets too many questions and traffic to deal with each message twice, and will NOT accept questions using that system....and I see his point!

Spam MUST be stopped....I suggest a SERIOUS campaign to Congress, asking for laws 3 times as tough as a few states have tentatively adopted...with penalties that mince no words....

What, me? Opinionated?...naaawwww

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 01:56 PM

Nicole's system (never giving out your real email) does help, but the GOOD spammers have ways to slip the crap into to 'most' ISP systems by sending mail to all possible letter combinations and exploiting loopholes and weak spots which are VERY hard to close...

I used to get LOTS of spam to 'undisclosed recipient' or as one of all the 'Es' in a group of bot generated names...

These folks CAN be tracked down...there are guys who can do it....we need something to put FEAR into them....(a real address would do it, hmmm?)

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 02:09 PM

Bill D -

The obvious problem with the "ok" sytem (apparently already partially implemented by AOL) is that my email will refuse to accept your request for my ok of my email until your email answers my email's request for your ok of your request for my ok of ... lordy won't we all get confused. It is a system that only works as long as only a few people actually use it; but it will choke itself if it ever becomes popular. NOT a good answer.

The REAL problem, as outlined in the article cited, is that SPAM JUNK already accounts for the majority of the traffic on the net, and at it's present rate of growth, doubling every 18 months, it very soon WILL choke out all other traffic. All of the things that individuals now can do, that help a little, will be useless when there is no bandwidth left for the legitimate users. Even if you don't receive any SPAM, you won't be able to send your own email because "the line is busy - 100% of the time."

John

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 02:12 PM

yep...exactly. I can't understand why someone can't get this across to the powers that be and wannabe. It is like overfishing...if we wait too long, we can't even argue about it...

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 02:17 PM

One of the most annoying things is it's so easy to accidentally delete the occasional real message.

It's getting so I hardly even bother to look at the email at all these days.

Thank God for the Mudcat's PM facility.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 02:37 PM

I usually go to my 'e-Mail Guard' a couple times a day. Yesterday I missed- and this morning there were 212 spam mails! The Guard shows 25 emails per page, so I scan it to see if some jokester friend sent me a provocatively named missive then do a 'Select All' and 'Remove'. It doesn't take much time but it's an irritant nevertheless, offering everything from low, low, LOW mortgage rates (I don't own property in Alaska) to how to please my wife (I'm female) to how to enlarge my male appendage (I wonder if that product might grow me an appendage?) to how to make an easy $500 to $10000 a week part-time (Obviously I'm missing the boat here.) to whatever-is-the-next-remarkable-thing-on-the-horizon.

I read that when you subscribe to a filter, they redouble their efforts, hoping at least some of their 'offers' will make it through. It's certainly true that I'm getting a great deal more spam in the last year.

In an interview with one person who sends out several million (!!) unsolicited emails out each week, it amazed me that, as someone above (Bill D?) said, the person discussed it without embarrassment on the basis of free enterprise. I had thought that the day was long past where you could do anything you wanted without thought of how it affected your neighbors. What about 'your freedom ends where my discomfort begins'?

Is this a problem world wide- or is the problem more severe in the USA?

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Maryrrf
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 02:41 PM

Kevin brought up a legitimate concern. Twice in the last week I've come close to deleting messages that at first glance I thought were spam but were actually legitimate and pretty important. I would estimate that I get at least 20 per day - some of which is filtered into a junk mail section but not all of it. I would love to find some way to stop it! And I don't think the burden should be on the people who receive it - i.e. dummy e-mail addresses, etc. It should be illegal to send it.

Unbelievably, there must be people who buy from these folks, just as there must be people who buy from telemarketers, or they wouldn't do it!

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 03:47 PM

indeed, Maryrff...spam is aimed, just as lottery games and telemarketing is, at those who are clueless, (and often have the most to lose).

Since we went to county fairs and bought snake oil, only the delivery system and products have changed..(and being unable to ride to ride the S.O.B out of town on a rail).. the basic concept is the same- lie with a straight face and hyped claims and trust to math that shiny enough bait will catch SOME fish!....and there are a LOT of guys out there with delusions of what BOTH Viagra and 3 more inches will do for their...ahem...lives..

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 03:54 PM

Sorry, but not buying from spammers won't stop the spam, because it costs the senders nothing. Who pays? The recipient, because they have to pay for their ISP's traffic. It's why the free enterprise argument doesn't hold up, it's not ENTERPRISE at all. At least telemarketers have to pay for the outgoing call.

Bill id right -- there are loopholes in my system. But in reality, it works. I get about one spam per month, in a large part aided by my ISP's protection against systemwide emails. Unfortunately, personal protection doesn't solve the spam problem -- and it is a problem. It's not a bandwidth issue -- bandwidth increases all the time. It's a signal to noise ratio problem. After a while, a compromised email address becomes so flooded with spam, it's fandamentally unusable for serious business. Only closed systems can get around this problem, which again makes email practically useless.

I'm sure anti-spam legislation would have little effect. It's too untraceable, and there will always be somewhere where it isn't illegal to send it from.

The only solution I can think of is the abolishment of free anonymous email addresses like Hotmail, combined with a system that charges users per email sent, say over a certain number you are allotted each month. It won't stop serious hackers from compromising email systems, but it will stop the get-rich-quick guys who bought a $20 spammer software program.

Nor will it affect legitimate companies from sending ads. They are either paying for their own email systems (which are traceable and accountable), OR they won't care about a few cents per email -- it's still a lot cheaper than other forms of advertisement.

Lousy solution, I admit. But the economics don't allow much other alternative.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 05:26 PM

Nicole, if I'm a cracker (not hacker, please!) I can crack into your email server, shoot out the spam, and leave, my work done. I could, possibly, even crack into YOUR pc and do the same thing. Under your proposal YOU would be charged for MY dirty work.

Moreover, if I crack into someone else's mail server, I'm stealing computer time, power, and facilities from the legitimate owner. I'm using that which is not mine to make money for me. That is just as criminal as if I stole your car, delivered something, and then returned your car -- I'm using that which isn't mine for my purposes.

Cracking isn't some kid having fun. Cracking is a crime and should be punished as such. Spam intrudes upon my free time, upon the bandwidth I'm paying for. I value my free time at $100 million per minute -- but to whom do I send the bill?

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 06:38 PM

G'luck, darlin'. A properly protected email server is WAY above cracker level. I'm not talking about faked headers (pathetically easy, but irrelevant in terms of a charging scheme because it still goes through the sender's mail server) or open relays. Anyone who is operating an open relay email server (moderately difficult) is a HUGE part of the spam problem, and if they are too stupid to have shut it down by now then they deserve a big fine. But since they are running their own email server, the outgoing mail limit/charge is irrelevant to them.

I have as little sympathy for those who have broadband connections but haven't bothered to install a firewall or don't password protect their email. Again, way above cracker level if routine protections are in place.

>Cracking is a crime and should be punished as such.

It already is. "Cracking" and "hacking" are both slang terms referring to skill level and intent for the same criminal offense, which is breaking into a private network without authorization. This is very rarely the issue with spam -- most spam goes through open relay servers and freebie web accounts, often with faked headers.

"Spam" is NOT illegal (now) because no one does anything illegal to send it, although they might violate their ISP's user agreement. Some ISPs are trying to sue the spammers they catch, but I suspect in the long run it will be about as effective like trying to kill fleas by catching them one at a time.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: NicoleC
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 07:29 PM

How appropriate. Anti-Spam measures approved in committee to go to a floor vote today.

Basically the same measures in effect for spam faxes. Funny, I still get a few dozens of those everyday...

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 08:00 PM

Why am I mad? Well spam has the unique quality of being cloned or clones - millions ...hummm billions ... or maybe I mean ions of them..

Routers can be made to find stack and bloody erase them but first we need the legal authority to do that.

Now I wonder who would not want to do that?

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 10:34 PM

The curse of this entire society is the relentless proliferation of marketing...on radio, on TV, in public places, and on the Internet. Such marketing is forced on people by every means possible, and finds its victims among the young, the inexperienced, and the not very smart (I would assume). The only way you can really avoid most of it is by not watching TV and not listening to the radio (and I don't do either of those). The Internet is not so bad, because the user is more in control of what he chooses to look at...but...the situation is slowly getting worse.

Now here's the key to advertising: there is nothing wrong with advertising in itself, PROVIDED that it is not dumped on people against or outside of their will!!! I actively seek out advertising for stuff I am genuinely interested in, for God's sake! Why wouldn't I?

I love model kits, and I am always surfing around and reading model mags in search of info about new stuff that's coming out. Well, duh!

The advertising I object to is the stuff I don't choose to seek out, and never would...when it is forced on me, and wastes my time...as it does if I watch TV or listen to the radio. Because of it I have given up on TV and radio entirely.

Access to advertising should be controlled by the FREE WILL of the consumer who decides to go and LOOK FOR IT...NOT forced on people willy-nilly in spite of their absolute lack of interest in the product.

If this one simple thing were done, you could dispense with a hell of a lot of stupid advertising, and spare another generation of youngsters from being harassed and brainwashed into becoming the most deluded and materialistic population in World history (in my estimation).

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: LadyJean
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 11:00 PM

I'm new to this internet thing. I've been tracking down my friends, to let them know I've got email now. People's email addresses vary. My friend Anne Henry surname is ahsurname. Another friend uses McDuck. You get the idea. Plus, I'm in the S.C.A., so I don't always know what a friend's real name is. This is why I checked lovely julie, who turned out to be a stripper, and a half dozen assorted people from third world countries, who would like my assistance in getting their money. When I read "enlarge your penis", I know it isn't from a friend. But, Mrs. Rose Adama could have been a friend or a friend of a friend. I've got a friend and a cousin named Julie. Neither of them are strippers. But you get the idea.
Can Spam! Oh! and pop ups! I really really really really really really really really really really really really really really HATE pop ups. Long live Mudcat, which seems blessedly free of them.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 11:48 PM

LadyJean: There are a couple of free browsers with a kill popup option (Opera is one, I forget the others), just remember that many java applets (like crossword puzzles) rely on popups. There are also free popup killing programs. What I hate are animated gifs.

Lets face it. The only thing people like us can do to prevent spam is encourage our governments to make it a 'real' crime ahd send a few of them to prison. I won't use filters because no filter is perfect, you'll always lose some real mail. Instead I use an ancient mail program called pine to check my IMAP account with my ISP. With pine I can accuratelydelete a couple hundred spam in just seconds. Pine is free with linux. I'm pretty sure there's a windows version, too.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 11:55 PM

I don't really get that many anymore after blocking a LOT of senders but the ones I do get are about lending money, mortgages and making money. I just block them as they come. Only about 1 per day. Don't know what my blockig does to help the entire situation.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 04:30 AM

I use hotmail now with the setting set to block everything but th eaddress I let through! Bit extreeme but it works:-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: JennyO
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 11:24 AM

My ISP has just announced a junk-mail tagging service - this means it will identify a lot of the spam, but leave the actual deleting up to the customer, so that genuine emails are less likely to be accidentally lost. This is a new one on me. Anyone else have something like this?

Here is part of what they say, but I have only identified the server with xxxxx's:

New Junk Mail Tagging Service
=============================

With the ever increasing number of unsolicited junk
emails (also known as spam) being sent to people, xxxxx
is pleased to announce the launch of our spam tagging
service. This is now available as an option on all
accounts, for no added charge.

How can I enable spam tagging?

Spam tagging can be enabled via the xxxxx
Toolbox - xxxxxxxxxxx

Simply follow the prompts.

How does it work?

xxxSpam utilises a pre-defined list of criteria to
determine whether or not an email is unsolicited.
Should the system determine a message to be spam,
'xxxSPAM' will be prefixed to the subject line of
the message. It is important to remember that the
tagging system will not delete messages on its own
accord.

What else do I need to do?

By default, the spam is simply tagged with 'xxxSPAM' -
no further action will be taken. We believe this will
allow clients to easily determine what is spam, and
what is not. Should you wish for the spam to be
automatically deleted, it is possible to set up
your email client with filters, to automatically
delete offending messages.



Actually, I hardly get any spam - 3 in 7 months, including one "Nigerian scam letter". No-one seems interested in enlarging my penis! ;-)

I'm careful about giving out my email address, and I have a good firewall. I think it helps that my server is not very big, and I NEVER click on any advertising. It is a problem in Oz, same as in the US - some of my friends get lots of spam, but so far I seem to have been lucky.

Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 12:01 PM

JennyO, that's the kind of filter I have. I rarely get any spam on my email page anymore. I can live with this.

And there are levels of spam catching- a week or so after I signed on for the filter I started getting spam spillover on my email page. Checked with my server and they said to go to a stricter level of catch. Which I did, and now it's rare that one gets through.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Gareth
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 05:09 PM

I use 2 addresses, one, which is used for the "Friends of the Mudcat", and also public for other reasons. Using Mailwasher, in the last 24 hours, I have identified 42 spams - an annoyance. I also have a "hotmail" address. I set the filter to sidetrack into junkmail. This is neccessary as in the past a outright filter has killed mail i needed. In the last 24 hours I have recieved 37 spams. Total on both addresses = 77.

I do not want or need a 9 inch male appendage, if I do I'll have plastic surgery to remove the surplus length *BG*

Gareth, who thinks that the only good spam comes in cans.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Gavin
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 04:04 AM

How bad is spam - well, among the 20 spams I had this morning, I had one claiming to be from myself!

B......s!

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Gurney
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 04:30 AM

I got on a spammers list by buying into 'free' software. Don't do it.
What burns me is spam that is advertising free anti-spam software. How stupid do they think I am!

Don't answer that.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Devilmaster
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 11:41 AM

I'll offer to everyone what I do to help lose some of that spam, if you use Outlook Express.

DISCLAIMER: These instructions below will set your Outlook up to delete messages without you ever needing to see them. Remember the golden rule of programmers. Garbage in, Garbage out. You have to realize that the computer only acts to your inputs. You should always check your deleted file before you close outlook, to ENSURE that these rules didn't delete an email you wanted, especially in the first weeks or so of using rules. You could be missing email you wanted. Its not an exact science, but if you are vigilant, you will learn to properly filter out your spam from real email.


First off, you need to set your outlook express to wipe your deleted items directory everytime you exit. (you don't have to, but i find its easier and saves you from manually doing it later... especially, like me, you can get upwards of 20 spam mails a day)

Blocking email addys is good, and if you do that, keep doing it, the rules are used to ensure someone who sends the same stuff over and over with different emails gets stopped. You can do both a rule and block address on any email.

In outlook express, click on Tools in the top toolbar. It will show a list below it. Click on Options. This will open a new window with all your options. In the top index titles, click on Maintenance. The first line on that index should be "Empty messages from my 'Deleted Items' list on exit". Ensure this box is checked, then click on the 'OK' button at the bottom. Now everytime you close Outlook express, it automatically deletes everything in that folder.

K, to the next part. Actually setting up outlook express to filter out spam. What we will do, is make 'rules' for your email. So say for example, you open outlook express and you get some porn spam, that has the word 'hardcore' in the title. Hopefully, none of your friends send you the word hardcore in the title. That is why its important to pick words you feel will never be sent in email you want.

1) Click on once and Hi-lite the offending msg. (don't double click it and open it) Now go to the top toolbar and click on 'Message'. This will bring up a list below it. About halfway down that list, click on 'Create Rule From Message'. This will open up a new window that allows you to pick and choose conditions and actions for your unwanted email.

I find the easiest way to filter email is to pick certain words in the subject line that would not usually come from friends or wanted email, but show up in spam. (hardcore, penis, credit card, qualityoffers, dbdirect, optinbyrequest, etc.etc.etc.) Once you get used to using the rule maker, you'll find its easier to pick certain words, either in the subject line or even in the message body to ensure you don't see the spam. If your ISP is spam tagging your email, by putting the word spam in the subject line, like someone said above, it makes it easier. You can just create a message rule that says to delete any email with the word spam in it.

So continuing on...

2) Pick your conditions. You can have multiple conditions per rule, but lets keep it simple. Ensure that 'Where the Subject line contains specific words' is checked and nothing else.

3) Pick your actions. I usually just use 'Delete it' but you have multiple options including not downloading it from the server and deleting it from the server. So click on 'Delete it' for now.

4) Completing the Rule. In the box underneath your actions, it shows the rule. But you're not done yet, you have to tell the rule what word you want to use to key off the rule. So click on the blue link, which will open a new window. In the space provided, type in hardcore. (or whatever word you want to use for that rule) click on 'OK' which will close that window.

5) Read over your complete rule in the 'Rule Desciption' box provided. It should basically read:

Apply this rule after the message arrives
Where the Subject line contains "hardcore"
Delete it.

6) Click on 'OK' wait a second, and a window should come up stating the new rule was sucessfully added. Close that window. Your new rule is added. These rules only work as the mail comes in, so you will notice that the offending message to begin with, is still in your inbox. Just delete it like normal.

7) You're done! Now, from now on, any email with the word hardcore in the subject line will not go to your inbox, but to your deleted items folder. And if you turned on 'clean deleted items folder upon exit', if will be deleted automatically as you close outlook express.

I hope these rules were somewhat easy. I wrote it for first timers - once you learn how to do it, it will get easier. Just realize that one rule won't cover all. I have about 40 rules. It covers subject lines, parts of email addys (example: if you get alot of email from different people from the same server [e-mail], [e-mail], etc.   you can make a rule that says if the words hardcoreemail.net shows in any from line, delete it) and parts of message bodies too.

It covers alot of the spam now. Once in a while a spam mail gets through the cracks, and you can deal with that as the time comes.

Please read the disclaimer again, and ensure that especially in the first weeks, ALWAYS scan the list in the deleted folders section... you want to make sure you aren't deleting wanted email by accident.

Hope it helps, its alot to read, but very simple to do once you get the hang of it. Happy spam hunting!
Steve

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: GUEST,selby
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 12:48 PM

I downloaded a programme called mailwasher for free it brings all the mail into its own window you then blacklist who you want and then allow passage into youe own e mail account. The only trouble I have at the moment it proves to spammers that your account is active but the proccess is simple and effective.

Keith (cookieless)

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 01:24 PM

Odd. Did someone at the 'Cat re-date this thread? It purports to be from day before yesterday, but I know it's at least several weeks old.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 01:28 PM

As long as this thread has been resurrected, I received spam a week ago offering to enlarge equipment I don't even have -- but what I really liked was the subject heading: "If you build it, she will come." Not bad!!

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 03:13 PM

since the new anti-spam legislation, my spam has INCREASED by maybe 30-40%! I wonder if they are trying to milk all the suckers they can before the window is closed....

as to setting up filters, as Devilmaster suggests...yeah, this can help..(I use Eudora, which has it own filtering system) [and would not touch Outlook Express with a 10 foot pole..but..]

anyway...to avoid 'most' spam & viruses, I prefer never letting it get into my mailbox. There are several Email checking programs which look at your mail on the server, allow you to examine it, (just reading the headers is usually enough) and DELETE it before allowing your regular email program to bring down only stuff that you know is ok.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at things like

and Scan Mailbox (there are several other good ones also)
These add only a few seconds to your routine and 'may' save you a lot of aggrevation.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 03:17 PM

missplaced one > in my last post....here is the corrected version of the links

Do yourself a favor and take a look at things like PopTray

and Scan Mailbox

(BTW...this morning, I had 22 spams and NO mail I wanted..2 clicks and it was gone,,,deleted)

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 04:45 PM

I use Juno, and I don't get any spam.

On a personal level, I get irritated with friends who say they didn't get my messages because they were lost in the spam. Then they ignore advice about how to block the spam.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 06:01 PM

I figure spam costs me $13.55 per month. That's the difference between the $23.50 I'm paying for AOL and the $9.95 that I could be paying for perfectly adequate no-bells-and-whistles dial-up service. The thing is that as much as I dislike AOL, I dislike spam even more and AOL does do a great job on spam filtering. Every time I consider changing ISP's I get this vision of being overloaded with spam and just bite the the bullet for another month.

BTW: I do keep a Yahoo mailbox for the folks who have to have an email address but to whom I don't want to give my AOL address. It is always loaded to the gills with spam, but I don't really care.

Bruce

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 08:08 PM

Spam doesn't really bother me that much. It's not like telemarketing where you've answered the phone and interrupted what you were doing before you realize you're a victim. With spam you just click and delete. I set my email program (MS Outlook) so there is no preview window. The spam is always obvious because it's not from anyone I know or any site or company I do business with and the subject seldom makes any sense. You can highlight a whole string of spam and delete it with a single click. What's the big deal?

Junk mail has been delivered by our letter carrier as long as I can remember. I never actually open any of it, I just put it in the paper recycling bin unopened. It doesn't really cause me any trouble and it provides jobs for Post Office employees and recyclers.

The one thing I never do with spam is click where it says I can opt out of the distribution. That only provides the spammer with verification that the email address is a live one. Now the spammer can resell your email address and guarantee that there is actually a person reading it.

When you have to post your email address somewhere, post it in a way that is invalid but will be understood by anyone wanting to communicate with you. Post an email address like myname(at)NO.domain.SPAM.com. The harvesting programs that spammers use won't recognize it as an email address and anyone reading it will know how to respond.

Of course you should also use a really good AV program such as AVG Anti-Virus that checks all email for nasty things and certifies it as okay, both sending and receiving.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Jul 03 - 12:00 AM

Mark -

Actually, just throwing the junk mail in the trash is becoming an "unsafe practice." I receive a lot of junk mail - especially stuff offering credit cards, which contain enough personal "pre-entered" information to facilitate "identity theft" by anyone who picks it out of the trash.

I throw junk mail away without more than a cursory look, but only after I've shredded ANYTHING that has my name and address on it. It's easier to run it ALL through the cutter than to sort out what might be dangerous.

John

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 22 Jul 03 - 12:06 AM

The US government has an office that collects spam to study. One of the interesting things they reported was that most of those 'opt out' buttons did nothing at all. It's still correct to ignore them, though. They would probably do something terrible if spammers thought we might use them.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: cyder_drinker
Date: 22 Jul 03 - 04:33 PM

For those fortunate enough to run our own email servers, there's a great system called razor which runs on linux. Incoming mail is compared against a database of known spam - if it matches, it don't get in (or through). If one gets through, it's easy to add it to the database.
If all email relays were using this system, the spam wouldn't be able to propagate. Bandwidth friendly? Oh, yes.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 22 Jul 03 - 06:54 PM

Razor is written in Perl and, I'm guessing, will run on any POSIX-compliant platform with Perl installed. I haven't investigated this thoroughly but that may include Cygwin on Windows machines and probably Mac OS-X as well. Cygwin includes the SMPT (Simple Mail Transport Protool) server support and the ability to run POSIX (GNU) services as Windows services.

This stuff isn't for your average technophobe but if you're a propeller-head and concerned about spam, you might want to give it a go.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 10:28 AM

Bruce,

I have a couple of Yahoo accounts and with the bulk mail settings I've used there I rarely get spam. They're both rather quiet at the moment, but even when I'm subscribed to discussion lists with them, very little spam comes my way.

Here's a bit new to add to the discussion:

I've been seeing a new type of blocking problem on the Earthlink Spaminator. I get tons of spam there, and it goes in spurts when a lot gets through to my regular mail box, then it dies off. Mail often comes with an email address it lets the recipient see (if it pretends to be from PayPal, then there is a conspicuous PayPal "reply" address), but embedded in the post's header is the *real* address the response will go to. My system's solution is to pop up with a dialog box and offer you the option to block both addresses.

But now I'm seeing unblockable addresses like this (with my portion of it xx'ed out since this is going out in public)

dlbdirect-bounce-catcher-xxxxxx=[e-mail]

And I receive the following response from Spaminator:

We are sorry. Your Address Book is unable to handle the address below because it contains unsupported or invalid characters.
Please correct the address if possible and click OK. Otherwise, please click on "spamBlocker" to continue your session.

It may be the = sign in the address that throws it out, but the result is that I can't block that address unless (I have discovered) I go in and manually delete my portion of the email address from its sequence. I don't know if it ends up blocking anything.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 07:06 PM

The spammers know we are trying to block them, so they write all sorts of scripts to randomize and change headers so that it is harder & harder to set up filters that will stop it.

I am going off to do a search on this kind of problem,,,,

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 07:23 PM

interesting...it seems that there is a site called dlbdirect.com which looks like a spam engine!

a search on dlbdirect-bounce-catcher gets some info, but most are spam posts IN Yahoo groups.

wonder if Google groups has any info..*grin*

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 07:33 PM

why, indeed there are many posting at the abuse group about dlbdirect....

I have very litte support from my ISP on spam, so I rely on deleting it from the server most of the time...Eudora has some good filtering software, but you have to continuously 'teach' it, and I have been lazy. A few get through and I zap them instantly..*shrug*.....

When I am elected Emperor of the Universe, the penalty for spamming will be 'interesting'

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Ely
Date: 05 Aug 03 - 11:02 PM

Yahoo has been pretty good to me; I very rarely get anything, and if something does slip through, it goes right to "bulk mail". Lycos is TERRIBLE. Probably 40% of my mail is ads for enhancement of organs I don't even have. And they took away my "block" button, the bastards.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 01:25 AM

I've used spam filters on several desktop-resident email programs. They work, after a fashion. You have to keep going back and telling them more words or concepts or senders to filter, and after a while you're spending all of your time teaching the filter what to filter. One reason you see words written with numbers, caps, and spaces in them in spam subject lines is that your brain can easily detect what p*nis is, but filters miss the words that are not strictly real words any more, until it is brought to their attention.

I was working this evening and saw my first "critical" attack aimed at my computer via some trojan horse it was attempting to connect with. The assault was deflected--and I found it came out of Israel. When I traced it with the Norton software it came up to a domain name that I'm informed is "available to purchase."

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Escamillo
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 04:16 AM

I receive 80 to 90% spam in my mail. The Outlook Express rules are not very effective because the spammers have learnt a lot, and they don't write "penis" or "Mortgage" but "p-enis" or "M0rtgage" instead, so the filters won't work.

I am in Argentina, and 90% of the spam comes from the US. Every day I'm offered Viagra and other drugs without recipe, incredible loans and mortgages for buying my house in the US (will they get my visa too, and a job ?), but (alas) never a product to reduce penis size.

I've noticed that spam in my box has grown 400% when I suscribed to a Yahoo Group. I'm sure that company has sold my address. And if you read the small print in ALL those sites, you will see that they don't guarantee your privacy at all. Some legislation is urgently needed to attack THOSE "Privacy Policies" which are obviously written to guarantee the abuse. Without that first step, nothing will stop the spammers.

Un abrazo,
Andrés

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 05:07 AM

Ely - they aren't organs, they are glands.

Want to send it my way?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 08:42 AM

I don't know what effect it might have on spam, but the Children's Internet Protective Act (CIPA) mandates that all libraries that receive certain governmental monies block chatrooms (directly named in the Act) and "direct communications" (which as I take it includes email), as well as such things as porn sites.

Blocking "free" email sites such as hotmail will put a crimp in a whole lot of our public Internet users (we don't allow chat anyway). As a side effect it may eventually cut down some on spam -- like perhaps 1%.

I received a spam the other day that promised to increase the size of my "horn." My trumpet is a comfortable size right now; if it were bigger I might not be able to hold it or play it. To me this only reinforces the statement that bigger is not necessarily better!

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 11:05 AM

" but (alas) never a product to reduce penis size."

ah, Escamillo..you may not need a visa or job if that 'problem' becomes widely known..*big grin*

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 12:05 PM

Interesting article in Wired.com today. One of those spam advertisers is a 19 year old high school drop out in New Hampshire; a vice-president of the state chess association and a master quality player. He left his client list unprotected and Wired did a little checking. 6000 orders in two weeks at US$50 per bottle. (His profit is about $35). Many customers were well educated and well placed, most ordered at least 2 bottles. We are stranger than I can imagine.

Subject: RE: BS: SPAM: How Bad is it?
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 12:21 PM

I get twenty a day or so, mostly offering Viagra, penis enlargements or pictures of naked ladies. What I want to know is, how do these people KNOW?