# Innovative spam strategy - using my name in the subject line? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654 "2006-05-29T19:54:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654/1 "2006-05-29T19:54:09Z")
My trusty gmail spam filter has failed me twice this week, both times letting through messages that have my own name in the subject header. It’s one of those names with a variety of spellings, and both times it was spelled exactly the way I spell it. Also notable is that my name appears in my gmail address. Are they doing this on purpose? Or is it just a crazy coincidence? Does the spam filter fail because my name is in the header? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654/2 "2006-05-29T20:09:41Z")
No telling why it got through, without looking at gmails rules. It’s unlikely that the name has anyything to do with it, though. Using your name is hardly an innovative spamming technique. I used to get, “Larry, is your penis too small?” e-mails every other day. (Hell, I used to get those in the post.) Most likely it just got through because you were one of the first recipients of that particular mailing, and it wound up in there before enough people marked it as spam. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654/3 "2006-05-29T20:13:07Z")
My spam filter (Earthlink) does a very good job of filtering. It has filtered out spam with both my first and last names on it. It has features called “Suspect email” and “Known Spam”. Good stuff. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654/4 "2006-05-29T20:15:03Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > Using your name is hardly an innovative spamming technique. I used to get, “Larry, is your penis too small?” e-mails every other day. (Hell, I used to get those in the post.) I have never, ever had one of those! (Perhaps it’s because I don’t have a penis?) I get tons of spam, and these were the very first with my name. Plus, they weren’t part of a sentence like that, the name was one of the random words in the line. > [@](#): > > Most likely it just got through because you were one of the first recipients of that particular mailing, and it wound up in there before enough people marked it as spam. It’s just that there were two, in the space of a week, that struck me as odd. It’s a pretty uncommon name, especially with my spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/innovative-spam-strategy-using-my-name-in-the-subject-line/358654/5 "2006-05-29T20:28:30Z")
My email address is a variation on my name, but is not my actual name. The variation from my email address sometimes shows up in spam subject lines. So yes, I do think spammers are having some success by addiing your email address to their mix of random words. Whether this defeats some filters, or just makes it more likely for the email to be opened if it gets through the filters, I have no idea. I also have Earthlink and its trainable filters are pretty cool, I agree.