# Reap the Whirlwind, Bastard Harvesting Spammers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 14, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154 "2000-09-14T06:17:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/1 "2000-09-14T06:17:51Z")
So I login to Snotmail for the email address I use for this board (yes, I don’t use my “real” and easily traceable email address), and what do I see? A barrel of moldy, stinking, fungi-sprouting spam. How do these deepthroating electronic sheep fuckers manage to send spam to an address I have _never_ listed anywhere else but the profile page on is Message Board? I see two or four possibilities: 1- A harvester program that browses threads and steals addresses. Has anyone noticed a spam increase that can be directly attributed to use of SDMB? 2- Snotmail is selling my address. 3- My address got ripped off from someone who compromised Snotmail. 4- **They** are out to get me. [nervous laugh] hahahehaheh [/nervous laugh], 57 varieties indeed… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/2 "2000-09-14T06:47:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neuroman \* > 1- A harvester program that browses threads and steals addresses. Has anyone noticed a spam increase that can be directly attributed to use of SDMB? This thread from ATMB may help with this point . [Why does my profile address attract porn advertisers?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=35228) . As to snotmail . My account is full of porn spam . I block sender and the next time I check it it’s packed again . Which was one of the reasons why I stopped using it . ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/3 "2000-09-14T06:56:45Z")
You know, I always hear horror of Hotmail, yet I’ve personally never had any trouble myself, after using it for years. All the “spam” I get is from sites that I registered to receive E-mails from (I even occasionally get some nifty things, although most of it is crap that I delete immediately). My lack of troubles probably just makes yours all the more curiouser and curiouser. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/4 "2000-09-14T07:13:24Z")
I always open full headers, trace it back to it’s source, and mail spam@whatever, abuse@whatever, and webmaster@whatever, notifiying them of the problem. The ones that gobble my nuts are the ones out of country. Japan seems to be big. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/5 "2000-09-14T07:21:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly \* > \*\*You know, I always hear horror of Hotmail, yet I’ve personally never had any trouble myself, after using it for years. \*\* I have had several hotmail accounts over the years. Some have been utterly overrun with spam, and others have remained completely unscathed. Specifically, I have 2 hotmail addresses that I use right now, never given out anywhere, one getting spam, the other dry. Quite weird. Errrg. After reading the thread you referenced, **SPOOFE** , I can see I’ll never get to the bottom of it. I would be really interested to see the “disease vector” diagram, of how my email address got spammed, but that’s impossible. Bill Gates, you rotten pavement stain. Tim, once when I got spammed at my “real” email address, I forwarded the message to abuse@_ispdomain_.com, and the **next** morning I got an email saying the spammer’s account had been terminated. Quite satisfying. But these ones from Lebanon, fuck, there’s nothing to be done… ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/6 "2000-09-14T07:52:24Z")
THEY are out to get you. Give up now. Stop all correspondence. The end is nigh… Moroni is posed to trumpet… Life sucks; get a helmet… Hey, I’m just trying to help… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/7 "2000-09-14T08:29:06Z")
> [@](#): > > I have had several hotmail accounts over the years. Some have been utterly overrun with spam, and others have remained completely unscathed. ditto. I’ve never been able to figure out why some and not the others? Bastards! ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/8 "2000-09-14T09:44:10Z")
but how do they know whether I want the following things unless they ask?: blonde college coeds hot nympho teens lesbians sisters cumsluts writhing chesty whores bouncing breasts penile enlargement surgery stock advice morgage advice business opportunities ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/9 "2000-09-14T12:15:43Z")
I think hotmail is slow, and it crashes very often trying to simply read or reply to messages, but I have never received spam of any kind on it. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Lazarus7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/67e7ee/32.png) [@Lazarus7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazarus7)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/10 "2000-09-14T12:57:12Z")
You lucky Anthracite, you … although I do enjoy the dip into debauchery everytime I check my mail … ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/11 "2000-09-14T13:54:47Z")
I have a Yahoo account that I almost never use-- not even for this board. It’s basically my “emergency” account, to which I turn maybe once or twice a year when my work e-mail is down but I can still get online. All I _ever_ get on that account is spam. Mainly porno and financial stuff. Yahoo has a bulk mail filter, but even the few that sneak by into my regular mailbox are complete crap. My Earthlink account, which I pay for, also racks up spam at an alarming rate. I’ve noticed, though, that the porno offers have dropped off. Now it’s all “Find Anyone Anywhere!” and “One Million E-Mail Addresses!”’ stuff. Frankly the porno was more fun. ---
**Author:** ![dewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@dewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dewt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/12 "2000-09-14T14:15:08Z")
I’ve been running from this one particular fart-knocking gerbil-fucking shit for brains porn spammer for almost a year. I’ve had their email account closed _countless_ times. They just reopen a new one. I’m not a violent guy, but one day I’m going to find these fucks… shortly after that I’ll probably be going to jail for a very long time. Crock-procking bastiges. Oh great. Now I’m all pissed off. ---
**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/13 "2000-09-14T16:06:26Z")
You go for it, dewt, I got your back. I don’t get alot of porn, it’s always “Make 200000 bajillion dollars in 10 minutes!” or “Find anyone fast!” or “1 million email addresses!” “Exciting business opportunity” “You’ve won a trip to Hawaii!” type stuff. .jn, .cn, .cx, and .ln are the worst. And there’s not shit you can do. –Tim ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/14 "2000-09-14T16:14:26Z")
I have 2 hotmail accounts - one is fairychatmom, the other is my name with and underscore between first and last names. My name account gets all the garbage, and I’ve noticed that the other addressees are \\_\ in alphabetical order… I’m guessing that someone wrote a program to generate likely mailing addresses. I’ve got a netscape account and 2 [mail.com](http://mail.com) accounts that are not regular names, and they don’t get garbage. Of course, my fairychatmom account gets little of anything - guess my buds don’t love me any more… \ ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/15 "2000-09-14T16:19:18Z")
NEVER reply to a spammer. In any way. Not even to have their account deleted. All it tells them is that your address is active. I really like Hotmail’s bulk in-box feature. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/16 "2000-09-14T16:35:42Z")
> [@](#): > > but how do they know whether I want the following things unless they ask?: > > blonde college coeds > hot nympho teens > lesbians sisters > cumsluts > writhing chesty whores > bouncing breasts > penile enlargement surgery > stock advice > morgage advice > business opportunities But aren’t these things what _everyone_ wants? 🙂 Any, I have no idea how my main adddy has stayed spam free for years. It must be all over the internet, and I rarely use webmail. MR ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/17 "2000-09-14T16:51:30Z")
I’ve not had much trouble with Hotmail over the years. I got in on the ground floor, early enough to snag a very common, 4-letter name with no appended numbers. Alas, I left it by the wayside, and it’s been claimed by another. Sigh. Nevertheless, I work two Hotmail addys currently and while I get some spam, it’s not much–maybe 2 or 3 a week. I do get an awful lot more now than I did before the Micro$soft buyout, but that’s probably more a matter of there being more spam to be had these days than maliciousness on MS’ part. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/18 "2000-09-14T17:00:26Z")
I’m just dissapointed that I wasn’t the first to use “Reap the whirlwind” in a thread title. What I want to know is how do I get spam that isn’t even addressed to me? ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/19 "2000-09-14T17:33:44Z")
One more thing… My work account is an .edu address. It used to be spam free, but lately, they’ve been creeping in. Not nearly so much as Yahoo or Earthlink, but they do show up. Either the university has a better filter than Yahoo, or maybe spammers don’t mess so much with .edu accounts. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154/20 "2000-09-15T00:48:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChiefWahoo \* > \*\*I’m just dissapointed that I wasn’t the first to use “Reap the whirlwind” in a thread title. > > What I want to know is how do I get spam that isn’t even addressed to me? \*\* 😛 The spam that’s not addressed to you is probably just "bcc"ed, blind carbon-copied. Your name & address won’t show up in the “To” field, but trust me, they _meant_ to send you whatever garbage you’re reading. **matt\_mcl** is right, never reply to a spammer. You’ll only get more. **FairyChatMom** , there are indeed insidious programs that will attempt to find common user names (johnd, anyone?), and compile them into a fresh spam list. Common names at large ISP’s (or AOL) can be targeted this way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reap-the-whirlwind-bastard-harvesting-spammers/33154.md?page=2)