[TriLUG] Had it with worm

Aaron Bockover abockover.trilug at aaronbock.net
Wed Sep 24 21:32:44 EDT 2003


I say go for it...
Last June, I changed my email address from abockover at aaronbock .dot.
net to aaron at aaronbock !dot! net... My motive for switching wasn't a
worm, rather hundreds of pieces of SPAM a day. I set up an autoresponder
for the old account which said basically that I had changed my email
address. I didn't delete the old account, so occasionally, I could still
check it. If I received mail from a real person, with a real message, I
would just respond using my new account. I did the usual "alert everyone
in your address book" before the switch too. 

I noted one interesting thing: about a week after I created my new
account and set up an autoresponder on the old one, I received about
half the amount of spam at the old account. I think the SPAM software
which may have been used to send me the SPAM may have interpreted the
autoresponder as a bounce, and removed me from their database. I never
really looked into it, but I think the autoresponder reduced my SPAM
load.

Since I have been using my new account, I have honestly yet to receive
any SPAM. One change I also made at the same time: on my web site, I
stopped displaying my email address in the form of: user at host, and
started using whatever came to mind, such as user [AT.REMOVE.THIS.PART
host DOT.REMOVE.THIS.TOO domain]... not that extreme, but that helps
tremendously.

I really enjoy watching Evolution download my new email, and I know that
it's not SPAM!

Just some hopefully helpful thoughts,
--Aaron

On Wed, 2003-09-24 at 16:50, Mike Mueller wrote:
> I am thinking about retiring my email account that's getting all the worm 
> crap.  There's no slowing it.  Anybody else considering such a move?  I'm not 
> in the procmail/fetchmail/getmail crowd (yet) so I can't purge based on size 
> at the ISP's buffer or filter on incoming.  
> 
> Will killing the account help anything or will it create more noise?
> 
> Advice solicited.
> -- 
> Mike Mueller
> 324881 (08/20/2003)
> Make clockwise circles with your right foot. 
> Now use your right hand to draw the number "6" in the air.




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