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Re: [OM] OT List etiquette -Reply

Subject: Re: [OM] OT List etiquette -Reply
From: Scott Nelson <SNelson@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 10:08:08 -0500
Sounds like a heck of a lot of work compared to hitting the delete key. Do you
"hunt down" every address of every company that sends you junk snail mail too?
Doesn't leave much time in the day for life, I'd think.

>>> "John A. Lind" <jlind@xxxxxxxxxxx> 02/15/00 01:43pm >>>
At 22:03 2/15/00 , Paul Schings wrote:
>SUVs: Off topic
>Politics: Off topic
>Computer operating systems: Off topic
>Music: Off topic
>Stereo systems: Off topic

Paul you left out . . .
UBE/UCE SPAM:  Off topic (and unwelcome)

UBE = Unsolicited Bulk Email
UCE = Unsolicited Commercial Email

There have been a couple of them recently, the last I noticed was 12 February.

As with SPAM occasionally arriving at my own email address, any that
arrives through the list also gets hunted down to the source.  Every
domain, service provider and upstream provider used by the perpetrator is
notified as soon as possible.  It has been a while since I posted about
this and there are new list members so forgive me if you've seen this
advice from me before.

You should know a few things about SPAM:

1. _Never_ever_ever_ reply to a "remove" address or web site, unless you
love receiving the garbage!!!  That is one of the primary methods used to
collect valid email addresses that won't bounce.

2.  _Never_ever_ use your real email address when posting to a USENET
newsgroup!  Spammers have automated "bots" that scour them for email
addresses.  Likewise _always_ use an alias for something like eBay, not
your email address.  Spammers use "bots" there also.

3.  _Never_ever_ cross-post a mail list message to a USENET newsgroup
without first editing it to removing all trace of the mail list's email
address first (e.g. olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) and any other email address
for that matter.

4.  Methods for "spoofing" the true source in the mail headers have become
even more sophisticated and some of the sources even more bizarre than ever
before.

5.  However, if you know how mail is handled, how to decipher the raw mail
headers (to extract valid information) and how to query some network
databases for information about domain addresses, you _can_ track them down.

6.  NO internet service provider I am aware of tolerates being used to spew
SPAM out over the network.  Most will shut down accounts that do this
almost instantaneously.

7.  Spammers usually use three (yes, 3) completely different domains and
accounts to do their handiwork.  One is the actual source from which the
spewage was mailed.  Another is the "remove" address or web site so nicely
provided for you.  The third is a "reply to," "return path" or the seeming
"from" address to collect bounced mail.  It's not always dumped.  They do
sometimes use this to purge lists, but only if it meets the criteria of
something truly bounced from an invalid address.

This message is already long enough.  If anyone wants more details on how
to hunt down who is spewing the spam, contact me off list and I'll send a
short tutorial.  Be forewarned, it does take a little time to hunt down a
source and requires being pissed enough to take the time for it.

-- John

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