(no subject)

[aslant]

!

i was quoted in a short reuters article here about online contests (last two paragraphs). the writer contacted me last week but i hadn't thought to look for it.

Comments

[radegunda.livejournal.com]

ha, that's neat! :D

[coast.livejournal.com]

haha, i like that the article ends with your quote but it seems like it cuts off so abruptly! the article that is, not your quote. hmm.

fifteen minutes indeed!

[aslant.livejournal.com]

yeah i know. i think the writer agreed w/ my point about trawling for spam, but didn't want to openly attack any of the websites. i was pretty harsh about poetry.com in the email interview.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

hehe. i feel all legitimate and stuff.
even if their contests are semi-scams.

with tongue firmly planted in cheek she says:

[souvenant.livejournal.com]

tee hee.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

oh, indeed :)


someone my dad works with forwarded it to him, after seeing it posted as a random newsfeed item on the company credit union website! how random is that?

[translucent.livejournal.com]

[aslant.livejournal.com]

ack! my goodness. googling makes me feel so....exposed. hmm.

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

spamgourmet.com has an excellent and free solution for distributing emails to questionable outfits

[aslant.livejournal.com]

hm, very elegant. thanks for the tip.
i've read about a couple of places that offer similar services....but i've never personally had a problem with spam. i don't know why. i use regular & webmail all the time and i don't have any spectacular filters set up. i just never get any.

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

through spamgourmet, i can see that precisely one disposable email address is compromised. and it's really compromised. it is the one i posted to a newsgroup. most web sites are pretty sensitive to privacy. but it just takes one leak into the sleazy underground. with spamgourmet i was able to tell that one job listing site leaked, and they didn't believe it, but i proved to them they were leaking email addresses to competitors. eventually i complelled them to close the hole. and my email remains secure. it's a great solution.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

the ny times had an article some time ago about someone's spam research. they set up test accounts & i distinctly remember them saying that addresses posted to newsgroups were the most vulnerable.

that's impressive that you went after one specific leak source. not many people have much motivation beyond the delete key.

Ranting For SpamGourmet

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

i know how they feel because i was once one of them. but since i found this tool, every spam has become a rarity worthy of examination.