4,166

[watley]

That's how many spam messages got sent to my junk box automatically this month (since the 1st). Normally I just empty it every couple of days but this month I decided to let it go for a while. In that same interval I had to clear out another 1,711 from the inbox, about half of which were spam that escaped all the filters and half of which were bounce messages from email systems rejecting spam spoofing my domain as a return address.

Now, my domain is pretty public, and has been at times linked from a variety of sources, so it's quite possible my address is more visible than some. Still, the sheer volume of useless messages seems pretty ludicrous to me.

I am done ranting. That is all.

[StrongInTheArm]

Oh come now, that can't be interpreted as a rant, way too controlled. There isn't even a spelling mistake or a 'WTF'. Come on Watley, dig deep, let the beast out.

Have you tried hiding your email address: http://www.mways.co.uk/prog/hidemail.php

It works really well for me. I haven't received any spam, admittedly I don't get much in the way of email at all. Hang on, maybe ...

[Costin Trifan]

I get only 50/month
thank god!

4,166 ( ) it's quite something! (Maybe they like you)

[watley]

Well this is only my watleyreview account - I have others which are not listed publicly and don't have nearly so many problems.

The problem is, this particular address is all over my website, and my site has at some points been very very popular (though not so much these days - I peaked in 2004). I still have about 800 subscribers, and of course anyone with access to any of those address books has access to my email address; plus, it's on a few press releases for HumorFeed. So it's not practical or desirable to hide it at this point.

It is rather annoying though to weed through the dross.

[pctec]

I get 200/day so I got you beat at 6000/month

[chicgeek]

Movéd to computers.

[watley]

Originally Posted by pctec

I get 200/day so I got you beat at 6000/month

Not that I'm proud of being a spam-magnet, but I feel compelled to point out 4166/14=297 a day, on average.

Chicgeek: there are other forums besides the lobby? Zounds.

[pctec]

Originally Posted by watley

Not that I'm proud of being a spam-magnet, but I feel compelled to point out 4166/14=297 a day, on average.

Ah ha!
first 14 days... I missed that part

[eXweso]

I used to think I was the spam king here

Note: Please don't register in new sites which offer "GREAT" services. Most of them let out your email somewhere in public and then the softwares do their work!

[chicgeek]

Originally Posted by watley

Chicgeek: there are other forums besides the lobby? Zounds.

Egads!

[watley]

I don't register for anything... nada, zip, zilch.

[Julie]

Eek. That is bad. I get around 3000-4000 spam messages per month on my main account, plus more on my others.

What irks me the most is.... I've gotten spam text messages on my mobile phone! WTF! There's only like 10 people who have the number, and I never, ever, ever give that phone number out to businesses or random people.

[Michael_Goldman]

I get some spam on my cellphone too.
It's probably either the cellphone companies, or people are just sending the same message to random numbers :confused;

~MG

[watley]

Update... Turns out my email provider switched on a new spam filter at the end of August which uses user-specific bayesian filters. If you don't set it up yourself, it uses a default setting. Once I gave it 200 spam samples and 200 non-spam samples, it became much much more effective. Only 80 messages today, 78 of which were automatically sent to my junk box.

Watley is a happy camper.

[chicgeek]

YAAAY!

[watley]

I guess I ought to pay attention to those little update-notice-thingys they put in 8pt font on the homepage, which I barely see anymore as I click through automatically.

Well, it's 9 or 10 point font, tops. And I'm surprised the default setting was so ineffective. Is my spam really all that different from everyone else's?

(Maybe I don't want to know the answer to that.)