# Arrrgh!  How long will this spam blast last?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrrgh-how-long-will-this-spam-blast-last/642940>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 4, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrrgh-how-long-will-this-spam-blast-last/642940 "2012-12-04T07:04:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrrgh-how-long-will-this-spam-blast-last/642940/1 "2012-12-04T07:04:44Z")

</div>

So I was using the web interface of my e-mail account (usually do it through Thunderbird), and there was a spam message in it that hadn’t been hit by the filter (which is usually pretty good). Before plunking it into the spam folder, I decided to look at another message in it first, one from a trusted source. For mails from this trusted source, I usually enable pictures, so I clicked the link that allowed remote content.

Well, somehow something went wrong, and I ended up doing this for both the message I wanted to look at _and the spam message_! (It was for ink/toner, if that makes a difference.) Horrified, I hit the “spam” button, but the damage was done. My web interface spam filter has been hitting more messages lately, and I’m pretty sure there’s a cause-and-effect thing going on here.

My spam filters are getting the vast majority of the “new” spam, and the increase isn’t a lot, but since more volume = more chance of something getting missed, I was wondering how much longer I can expect this increase to last. Forever? Less?