What I want to know is why email program designers haven't created a way for users to filter (or completely block!) email with subject lines like "8uy P@x1l H3r3!!!"?
Really, what legitimate email sender has to mix letters, numbers, and special symbols within a word in the subject line? The only reason this is done is to get past the current filters, so why not come up with a way to block them?
Call me elitist, but since all of my correspondents have at least a 12th-grade reading level and/or know how to use spell-check, we use proper spelling in our emails. I would jump at the chance to have anything else dumped immediately into my trash bin.
Denise, I think you are allowed to add new patterns to email filtering programs, on your own -- but it's a lot harder than you'd think to describe the pattern in a way that won't have false positives! (I might be sending you an email address or URL as part of the subject line, for example.)
Also, it's an arms race -- if a lot of anti-spammers have figured out how to recognize one pattern, then the spammers can always switch to a different one. I think someone once counted how many different ways there were to misspell "Viagra"...
---
Control over spam filters varies from provider to provider; some don't allow any control. Indeed I had to switch to get filtering at all -- which is a good thing, since by now, on an average day I don't get 750 spams that my filters screen out. (I also get about 200 legit e-mails, and 15-20 spams that the filters missed.) "Arms race" is certainly correct. -rc
I can't figure it out. I set up my computer and my wife's computer, using the same anti-spam (as well as anti-'other' programs). We're on the same wireless network. I have an address book of hundreds of names. Hers consists of a few dozen.
I get maybe a half-dozen spam emails a week. She gets 50 per day! And Randy's no slouch when it comes to computer technology and HE gets more spam than me. If I could figure out the answer, I'd be happy to pass on the info. (Fortunately more people in my groups tend to use BCC in their emails.)
---
Try this: Google her address, and then Google yours. Are there more hits on hers? That would explain the difference. (I found none when I Googled yours; I don't know hers.)
When you use online forums (for just one example), your address can easily be sucked up by spammers. This forum, of course, does not publish e-mail addresses -- and that's just one of many reasons. My Spam Primer discusses some of the ways spammers get your address. -rc
if the spam king in question was Alan Ralsky, I have a few links that would be of interest to everyone:
It is interesting that there were many calls for and threats of violence, but ultimately the chosen, and in the end most effective, revenge was signing him up for all the junk mail we could get him.
As a long-time member of slashdot, I am proud to be able to say "I was there when."
A Truly Heartwarming Story - Comments
What I want to know is why email program designers haven't created a way for users to filter (or completely block!) email with subject lines like "8uy P@x1l H3r3!!!"?
Really, what legitimate email sender has to mix letters, numbers, and special symbols within a word in the subject line? The only reason this is done is to get past the current filters, so why not come up with a way to block them?
Call me elitist, but since all of my correspondents have at least a 12th-grade reading level and/or know how to use spell-check, we use proper spelling in our emails. I would jump at the chance to have anything else dumped immediately into my trash bin.
Posted by: Denise, NC | May 17, 2007 4:01 PM
Denise, I think you are allowed to add new patterns to email filtering programs, on your own -- but it's a lot harder than you'd think to describe the pattern in a way that won't have false positives! (I might be sending you an email address or URL as part of the subject line, for example.)
Also, it's an arms race -- if a lot of anti-spammers have figured out how to recognize one pattern, then the spammers can always switch to a different one. I think someone once counted how many different ways there were to misspell "Viagra"...
---
Control over spam filters varies from provider to provider; some don't allow any control. Indeed I had to switch to get filtering at all -- which is a good thing, since by now, on an average day I don't get 750 spams that my filters screen out. (I also get about 200 legit e-mails, and 15-20 spams that the filters missed.) "Arms race" is certainly correct. -rc
Posted by: Robin from Los Altos | May 19, 2007 5:59 PM
I can't figure it out. I set up my computer and my wife's computer, using the same anti-spam (as well as anti-'other' programs). We're on the same wireless network. I have an address book of hundreds of names. Hers consists of a few dozen.
I get maybe a half-dozen spam emails a week. She gets 50 per day! And Randy's no slouch when it comes to computer technology and HE gets more spam than me. If I could figure out the answer, I'd be happy to pass on the info. (Fortunately more people in my groups tend to use BCC in their emails.)
---
Try this: Google her address, and then Google yours. Are there more hits on hers? That would explain the difference. (I found none when I Googled yours; I don't know hers.)
When you use online forums (for just one example), your address can easily be sucked up by spammers. This forum, of course, does not publish e-mail addresses -- and that's just one of many reasons. My Spam Primer discusses some of the ways spammers get your address. -rc
Posted by: Mike from Dallas | May 24, 2007 4:18 PM
if the spam king in question was Alan Ralsky, I have a few links that would be of interest to everyone:
It is interesting that there were many calls for and threats of violence, but ultimately the chosen, and in the end most effective, revenge was signing him up for all the junk mail we could get him.
As a long-time member of slashdot, I am proud to be able to say "I was there when."
Posted by: Suchetha, Sri Lanka | August 4, 2007 2:59 AM
Read the article that everyone's commenting on, or post a comment about it.