how the hell

[barbtries]

did my yahoo email suddenly fill up with mail from Onenewsnow and the AFA?

i tagged them as spam, unsubscribed and wrote back to one telling them that i believe in equal rights for all citizens, the separation of church and state, and to stay the hell out of my inbox!

but how did they end up there in the first place?

[blogslut]

1. Is your email address posted publicly anywhere?

?

[barbtries]

2. this one,

i don't think so. i hardly ever use it. i do use it to correspond with my avon lady. apparently the two email addresses are both from the same organization. i responded to the second addy:
leave me alone. never darken my inbox again. i am a liberal democrat who doesn't believe in gawd, pro-choice, pro-peace, who loves our new president.
barbara bales

i also tagged them both as spam and unsubscribed to both. hope it works, i feel uggy.

[glowing]

3. There's your answer right there.. the Avon lady.

[blogslut]

4. Okay, rule #1

Never reply to an email that you consider to be spam.

#2. Removal replies are often used as a ruse to add you to another email spam list

#3. Companies often sell their email lists

#4. If you receive an email that is addressed to multiple users - and the sender neglected to hide the recipient's email address behind BCC, someone else on that recipient list can snag your email address as easy as pie.

#5. If you sent a complaint email to someone like the AFA, they're going to put oyu on their email list.

#6. If you signed up to take some test or poll, using your email address, you're going to end up on strange email lists.

#7. If you email an elected representative, you're going to end up on their email list

#8. If you join an online community (not this one) with lax member security, you're going to end up on an email list

#9. If you do nothing but your email address is common enough to be re-created by an email-list generator, you're going to end up on an email list


The best thing to do with emails that you consider spam is to set up a filter to block them and report them to your email provider as spam. Another thing to do is install http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/">THUNDERBIRD as your email client. Thunderbird's junk filter uses to artificial intelligence and will whittle down spam to practically nothing.

I am sorry you are getting spam from hateful organizations like the AFA. You have my sympathies. In my day job, I have one email account that receives over 500 spams a day. There's not much I can do about it because my only option is to use my boss' SpamArrest account. SpamArrest is run by a scumbag who, among other things, funded the film Michael Moore Hates America and my conscience won't let me.

[barbtries]

6. thanks

i think it must be the avon lady. i really like her and am contemplating a diplomatic way of finding out for sure and letting her know not to do it ever again.

i hope yahoo's spam filter works.

[Greyhound]

5. Yahoo! is leaning toward desperate lately.

I have a bunch of friends that work for them and there is something in the air over there. OTOH, it may not be Yahoo! at all, but your Avon lady or someone else that you use that account for, once the address gets out it can take months for the spammage to stop.

Personally, I think Yahoo!'s problems are mostly the result of their firing so much well-connected talent in order to out-source development. Their stock has been on a disturbingly steady decline for well over a year, currently at about 12 1/2.

[zagging]

7. Google: email harvesting

There are numerous ways.

[barbtries]

9. strangely it's never happened until now

i suspect the avon lady. and i like her! :(

[stewartcolbert08]

8. Funny you mention yahoo

Mine didnt do that really, but it kicked me out TWICE tonight and made me reset my password to log back in. I thought that was really weird because I have had that email for like 8 years and it has never done that to me before much less twice in one night.........weird.