# Straight Dope and Spam
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [November 17, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877 "2001-11-17T03:20:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/1 "2001-11-17T03:20:42Z")
When I signed up for SDMB, I used an email address that had very little spam, uh, maybe one spam email message a week or so. It’s a freebie, so I expected a little spam.
It’s been a bit over a month since I signed up for SDMB, and I’m now getting 4 or 5 a day. Is this directly related or is it just coincidence. Anyone else notice this.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/2 "2001-11-17T03:24:52Z")
Nope. The only spam I’ve EVER gotten was from my sister.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/3 "2001-11-17T03:28:18Z")
Well, do you have this e-mail addy listed in your profile? If so, it’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility that somebody is harvesting e-mail addresses from this website, to add to spam lists. We live in an ugly world. ☹
I have no e-mail address listed in my profile, and I’ve never gotten any extra spam.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2001, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/4 "2001-11-17T04:48:11Z")
My email address is shown in my profile, and it’s a new one that I’ve had for a couple of months. No spam, although Yahoo may be filtering it.
CNet did a little [experiment](http://cnet.com/software/0-3227888-8-6602372-1.html?tag=st.sw.3227888-8-6602372-6.back2.3227888-8-6602372-1) to see which activities generated the most spam. Usenet posting and AOL chat rooms were the worst. If you’ve given out your email address on one of these, you’re toast (which will go well with the spam). 😃
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2001, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/5 "2001-11-17T19:31:27Z")
I hate to say this but even on this board you should use an email address that you don’t use for anything else . . . and filter it to remove the worst of the abuse before it gets to your inbox.
It IS the times we live in and the hateful scum sucking bastards that harvest email addresses. May they rot in hell.
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
And yes, I’m a bit peturbed about it.
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### Author:  [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/6 "2001-11-18T01:09:22Z")
Took your implied advice, DDG, and removed it from appearing in my profile. See what happens. It’s just a throwaway type email addy, however, would like to keep it somewhat spam free. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/7 "2001-11-18T02:40:56Z")
I have my email and NEVER have gotten spam
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/8 "2001-11-18T02:45:38Z")
Well, touch you. Born under a lucky star, I guess.
May you always be able to claim no spam in your life.
your humble TubaDiva
Adminstrator
who has not been so blessed.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/9 "2001-11-18T19:15:07Z")
I’d also like to point out that, while it’s still possible to automatically harvest addresses from this site, the version of vBulletin we use makes it a little harder. If you click on someone’s mail link, you have to click another link to get the actual address. It’d be possible, of course, to program a spider to take that extra step, but it wouldn’t be the straight off-the-shelf spambot.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2001, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/10 "2001-11-20T04:30:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Chronos \*
> \*\*I’d also like to point out that, while it’s still possible to automatically harvest addresses from this site, the version of vBulletin we use makes it a little harder. If you click on someone’s mail link, you have to click another link to get the actual address. It’d be possible, of course, to program a spider to take that extra step, but it wouldn’t be the straight off-the-shelf spambot. \*\*
That’s exactly what I was thinking, actually. Then I thought it would be a rather simple hack to click the extra link. Of course, most people, in my experience, don’t like to do even simple hacks. And seeing as how many other ways there are to harvest email (sorry, **bibliophage** :D) addys, I doubt anyone would take the time to alter a spambot to be, essentially, vB specific.
So remember, kids: Correlation does not equal causation. Just because your spam intake jumped (slightly) after your SDMB registration does not mean one event caused the other.
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### Author:  [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2001, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/12 "2001-11-25T13:34:08Z")
I have gotten two pieces of Spam e-mail that said in the text “I saw your ad on the Chicago Reader…”.
Since I don’t advertise on the Reader and the only association I have is with this board, I have to say I have been hit by spammers.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Call\_Me\_Tech-Mex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Call_Me_Tech-Mex)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/13 "2001-11-25T18:01:57Z")
If you’re getting spam, it’s not from a bot on this board, since I’ve never gotten anything at this email address.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2001, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/14 "2001-11-25T20:18:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Who’s going to check back hoping someone emails them that they want to hear from? What are the odds?
Matter of fact, I did get about a half-dozen emails from assorted folks, asking about posts I had made, even before when I became a moderator. Of course, I got significantly more while I was a mod, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.
The point is, if you want to be able to get emails from other board members, you’ll have to check the address occasionally, and if you don’t want to, then you can just check the box to hide your address, and it’ll be immune to spammers, as well (the admins can still see it, but they aren’t spammers, nor in any way cooperative with them).
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/15 "2001-11-26T03:09:41Z")
Spam that comes to the e-mail address you use for the SDMB doesn’t have to be generated by a “bot” roaming the SDMB website, unless the bot in question is a carbon-based lifeform with a keyboard and hunt-and-peck typing capabilities, or even those archaic pieces of equipment, a “pencil” and a “piece of paper”. In other words, if you have an e-mail addy listed in your profile, anybody can just copy it down and add it to a spam list.
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2001, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/16 "2001-11-26T11:00:01Z")
I’ve tried filtering the porn spam out of my email by highlighting “naughty” words, but being good Aussie boys, most of my friends swear so much that I never received their mail. I gave up on it eventually because it was taking more time to check the trash folder as well as the inbox than it does simply to delete the offending mail manually.
BTW, this thread title just screams out Dr Suess.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/17 "2001-11-26T21:23:05Z")
Do you? I see a bunch of bloody Vikings standing in the background . . .
your humble TubaDiva
But I don’t like spam!
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/18 "2001-11-28T03:16:07Z")
Vikings (singing elaborately): Spam, spam, spam, spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spaaam! Lovely spam! Wonderful spam. Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am! Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am! Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am! Spa-a-a-a-a-a-a-am! Lovely spam! (Lovely spam!) Lovely spam! (Lovely spam!) Lovely spaaam! Spam, spam, spam, spaaaaam!
Believe it or not, the script to the whole sketch is in the help file for Sam Spade.
[http://samspade.org](http://samspade.org) - Get this great anti-spam tool. The help files alone are worth the free download. 😃
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### Author:  [@Fishhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishhead)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/19 "2001-11-30T23:12:39Z")
I opened a three-month-free msn internet account and got two spam emails (not from msn) within an hour, and I hadn’t even used the internet yet! Guess I’ll not be paying for that fourth month!
Fishhead
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### Author:  [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/20 "2001-11-30T23:20:55Z")
**Fish** , you should meet **SpaceGhostofArrakis**. You two should get along grandly.
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### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-and-spam/93877/21 "2001-12-01T01:28:10Z")
I was thinking of setting up a spam filter that looked for the word unsubscribe.
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