Alex & Peggy McGregor writes:
> If you (we) can alter them to something spammers can't directly use then
> why can't an intelligent spammer alter them back? I hate the stuff as
> much as anyone but if we alter our addresses so that the a-h's can't use
> them then how can legit people do so (if they don't know the
> conversion)?
Because by definition there's no such thing as an intelligent spammer! :^)
I've got a good friend who works in the local office of a company
which makes spamming software (MessageMedia). She works in customer
support. You would not believe some of the stories she tells of the
spammers who call in and can't get their spam software to work.
Complete dolts.
Actually, a spammer could alter the addresses back, but most spammers
won't go to that much work. As I understand it, spammers generally
get their addresses from people who sell CDs full of addresses. The
people who make the CDs use programs called "bots" to search the web
for addresses. By changing all the addresses in our archives from
user@domain.com to user(at)domain.com, hopefully the bots will not
pick them up. But a human can easily discern the correct address. So
if you see a message in the archive that interests you and you want to
contact the author, you should have no trouble.
--
T.J. Higgins
tjhiggin@ingr.com
Huntsville, AL
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