"Bouldered E. Memorializing" - how do I get rid of this spam?

[leyton]

Has anyone else been getting several spam a day from these random names - two random words with a middle initial slapped in between? I get very little spam because I guess somewhere along the line - either in Outlook or Roadrunner - there is a good spam blocker. But I don't know how to get rid of this one, since the sender is always different, and I'm reluctant to click any links in the e-mail, even if says "unsubscribe."

[ChoralScholar]

1. My favorite one was a Viagra e-mail

From: Mr. Preposterously D. Banjoes.
Subject: A costate braless consecratedness.

Hello, what's a nice girl like you doing in...?
Half-starved spiders prey'd on half-starved flies
-------------------------------------------
My theory is that the unsubscribe button just lets them know their spam got through and that they should keep sending it.

[realisticphish]

2. never EVER click "unsubscribe"

that means "here be a real email"

[trof]

3. yep

[mcscajun]

4. You're fighting a losing battle unless you have the right ISP.

I have my ISP blocking known spam at the source; I have their mailbox software set to trap 'suspect spam', and don't allow any mail to reach my mailbox that isn't in my address book.

I still have to inspect and clean out the suspect spam, but 1000+ pieces of Known Spam a month doesn't reach even the suspect folder.

You need help at the ISP level; no known filtering will block these bastards, 'cause they keep changing the frequency to match your defenses.

[leyton]

5. Yeah, sounds like you're right.

I think I probably have a good ISP (Time Warner Cable RR) so I'll call 'em up one day.

[mcscajun]

8. You probably don't even need to call 'em.

There's probably a support page on the Time Warner RR website that covers whatever procedures/tools they have for Spam Blocking. It's certainly the hottest topic around.

[asthmaticeog]

6. I don't bother.

Some of those randomly generated names are really awesome.

A sampling from my Yahoo mail bulk folder:

Pincushion P. Lieutenancy
Guatemala H. Buckboard
Bisexuality U. Semesters
Curfew G. Congregated
Discursive P. Michigander
Pusillanimity O. Disengaging
Addict P. Rarefy

And my faves, the following, which form sentences:

Horticulturist Q. Czarinas
Outfielders C. Options
Underfeeding D. Art
Bodhisattva U. Trollop
Bombers R. Eager

EMBRACE the spam. The spam is fun. And it doesn't take that long to hit "delete."

[LoZoccolo]

7. That sounds like the kind I'm getting at work.

I really have no idea how they might have gotten my work address because with the exception of my internet provider, I've only given it to people for business reasons. No internet shopping, mailing lists, or anything. Someone else at work started getting it first, and now I have been getting it for like three or four weeks. My theory is that someone at my work opened some sort of spyware or trojan horse that went through the address book or addresses on emails in their inbox and gave them to some spammers, but that's pure speculation really.

[progressor]

9. I rarely get spam.

I have several email addresses. I have one at work - IT department at a university - and never get spam through that. For personal use, I have a Gmail account and an account on my own domain (which forwards itself to my Gmail account). That yields about 1 spam email/week.

Let's say you're a member of a forum that puts a link to your email at the bottom of your posts. Let's say you post on 100 threads. That's 100 places for bots to find your email address and add it to a list. Or if you comment on a blog, or post your email address on your personal site (this is why I use a form and script to handle the email).

Also, good idea to write your email out when it's in a publicly available area - i.e. "soandso at yahoo dot com".

Many times, they don't really need your address. Especially with free services at common top-level domains - hotmail.com, yahoo.com. They don't need the "@yahoo.com". They just write a script to generate thousands/millions of possible account names - [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail] - and try 'em all. Some work, some don't.

You can create a disposable email address for forums and chat rooms - your "public" email. And only give out your private email in private places.