Re: Gen: Chain letters

[Carol Simpson <csimpson@TENET.EDU>]

On 19 Jun 1997, Nancy Wooldridge wrote:

> Have any of you received chain letters today?  I have received two.  I
> don't appreciate this type of mail and wondered how they got my e-mail
> address to send them to me personally.  The letters were from P4010@aol.com.
> Any ideas???
> Thanks,
> Nancy Wooldridge   nwool@rams.nesd.k12.ar.us

See this?            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's your e-mail address.  There are some robotic programs that can scan
newsgroups and lists and collect these e-mail addresses for the purpose of
spam. There is a simple trick you can employ that will trick these
scavengers:  Insert a space on either side of the @.  That space tells
the scavenger that what it sees isn't a valid address, but humans can
"modify and adjust" when they go to send e-mail.

Also, when you get those annoying spam messages in your mailbox, DON'T
respond to them even if it says you should do so to get off their mailing
list.  These responses tell the bulk e-mailer that they have reached a
valid address, and they will add your name to lists of "validated" e-mail
addresses which get loaned, rented and sold.

Carol Simpson
Library Technology Facilitator
Mesquite (TX) ISD
csimpson @ tenet.edu