Food For Thought WAS: Re: [G4] Fix for Image Spam?

[Don]

>
>>i just sent a note to anne off list about earthlink's webmail program and
>>its new free antispam and anti virus options.  any other earthlink users on
>>the list who are not familiar with these 2 features just hollar.
>
>I am signed up for these features. Perhaps it's helping but I still get
>a LOT of spam.
>
>I have a strategy for the spam, actually, and that is to upgrade my
>Email software so I can filter some of it out. But the images are something
>I don't understand yet.

I too have earthlink as you can see.  My account has several email
addresses and we have found it very interesting that one of them
gets almost NO spam whatsoever while others regularly seem to get
varying amounts.

For the record, I have not placed this address on their antispam
program in any way.  My daughter's email addy is created by using
her initials combined with our last name... as are some of our
other email addys.  It seems that perhaps addresses with 2 initials
+ a last name are very bad news while less 'obvious' addresses are
more difficult for spammers to find.

I can't authenticate that information buy my theory is that a *good* (?)
spam creator might be perfectly capable of sending letters to *any*
2 letter combination of initials combined with *any* last name to get
a certain number of hits just by running a dictionary of last names.

Thus, eventually I will switch some of those addresses to new 'less
identifiable' ones...but in the process, it appears that there is
an explanation that makes a little sense to me.  Perhaps others might
comment on how your addresses 'behave' with regard to how much spam
you get?

I regularly do NOT send return mails indicating anything of
the functionality of my email addresses to any spammers whatsoever,
yet the disparity between the spam volume I get between my email
addresses continues.  Call this mail a 'food for thought' mail even
though its really not machine specific.

Don