Let me underline that.
> on their email, so it goes into the bit bucket anyways. Worse yet, some of
> 'em DO put a deliverable addres, but not their own, so you wind up spamming
> some poor guy that had nothing to do with the original email.
This has happened to me. It was partially my fault because Songbird
had old mail server software, and the spammer was able to trick the
software into sending messages for it. Needless to say, I upgraded
the mail server as quickly as I could...
> So what I do is look at the body of the SPAM message for an address or
> better yet a web site or telephone number. All of which is usually there,
> since they are generally trying to sell you something. If its a 1-800 number
> i call and then usually a prerecorded message plays and I put it on hold or
> something. If its a website, you can often find a deliverable real email
> address on the site. If its a WA-state illegal spam (i.e. spams with
> misleading subjects like "re: your request" or "long time no see!") I
> usually drop 'em a note that I'm a washington state email address and point
> 'em to the law on the subject at
> http://www.mcnichol.com/spam.htm
I think the best thing to do is completely ignore them. Any response
means that you actually read the message, which is pure gold to a
spammer...contrary to what you might think, the important criteria
is not whether you liked the message, but whether you read it...
> on the NW potter list our list software is configurable to not allow posts
> from non list members, and that simple configuration stops a ton of spam.
That is what should be done here, as well. It's a little more work
for the list maintainer, because you have to deal with bounced
messages from people who regularly use multiple email addresses, and
people who change their addresses. But it does cut out almost all
the spam.
-- Kent Crispin, PAB Chair "Do good, and you'll be kent@songbird.com lonesome." -- Mark Twain