venting about pet sites

[SammySamantha]

I am so annoyed!!!! >:

My peachy Sam actually found me over a month ago. Flew out of a tree onto my shoulder and has been there ever since. I went to heroic efforts to find her owner. The staff at the avian vet got a good laugh out of me.

Part of trying to find Sam's home was that I put found postings on about 15 different web sites, about 12 of them being just for pets. Of course, I entered my email address on all of them so I could be contacted.

Since then, the amount of spam I get has increased like you wouldn't believe. I used to get 2 or 3 a day. Now it is 20! Every day! I was trying to do a good deed and reunite a pet with an owner and these crappy sites sold my info to Nigerian princes who want me to help them get some cash out of an offshore account! That sucks.

Since I posted on so many sites, I can't know which were the culprits. Grrrr! I am venting here because only registered members (crazy bird people) can see it. I don't want to discourage people from trying to reunite families. I am just irritated that someone would use lost and found sites to fish for information.

Okay, I am done now.

[linda040899]

Actually, the sites, themselves did not harvest/sell your e-mail address. Spammers are always on the lookout for e-mail addresses that are posted on the web and they just get them by searching for them. Suggestion. Next time you post your e-mail address, replace "@" with "at" and your addy becomes unreadable. Your real human readers will understand what you are saying and bots will view your addy as just plain text.

I don't know about your Internet Provider but mine (Earthlink) wants to know about spammers and they have a link to report all spam mail that I receive on a daily basis. I've been reporting spam to them for roughly a year now and the amount I'm getting is considerably less. There are also spam filters you can install on your computer that will help.

You did the right thing in trying to find Sam's owners. I'm sure they are missing him as much as you are enjoying him.

[Janie]

That is annoying but there is a way to avoid spam in your personal email account. I have four accounts (Hotmail, Yahoo, Comcast & Gmail) and give out two to stores asking for my email address (so that they can send out coupons) or for updates on on-line purchases and use Gmail to store large files. I don't give my comcast email account to anyone I don't personally know and for that reason have only had spam in that account 3 times in 5 years. I check Hotmail about once a week and usually find from 50 to 100 emails there that can all be deleted w/o reading.

[SammySamantha]

The spam is going to my spam folder so I can delete in bulk. Only a few are making it to my actual in box. I used to have multiple accounts, but that got too unwieldy for me. I know that spammers harvest, but I do a lot of posting online for various reasons. My jump in spam coincided with the posting on the pet sites. And if you try the "at" trick in a space specifically reserved for email, it usually bounces back with "not a valid email format".

But since the spam isn't really hurting me (just annoying me) I can't really complain. I am glad I did it. As the vet said, I did my due dilligence x 10 and can enjoy my birdie with a clear conscience. He did say that since these birds live so long, families with old owners who die will just turn the bird out into the wild. Can't be bothered to rehome or surrender them to a shelter. The area I found him in does have a large elderly population. Guess I will never know for sure.

[Mummieeva]

I have a e-mail address that i do not give out to anyone and it is filled daily with spam. The idiots making it are getting smarter then e-mail servers it seems.

Steph

[Eliza]

I'm so glad that Sam found his way to such a caring, considerate person. I hope that s/he is doing well :)

I'm sorry about the spam situation. It is SO annoying. Like Janie, I have a few e-mail accounts and that really seems to have helped. I had a TERRIBLE problem w/ spam on a "generic" g-mail account that I used to use; so bad that I ended up deleting the account! I've since opened a new one and have not had problems.

I don't know what to tell you, other than look into reporting the spam, either through your Internet service provider or your e-mail provider.

[Janie]

And if you try the "at" trick in a space specifically reserved for email, it usually bounces back with "not a valid email format".



OK, I'm dying to know, what exactly is the "at" trick and tell me how to do that. :)

[michael]

The only problems I've ever had was when I purchased online. The one site that offered my email address up for grabs was Dr's Foster and Smith. Needless to say they will no longer be getting any more business from me. Sure do wish they'd create a better spam filter though as I've trained most pets faster than I've been able to train my filter :roll:.

[SammySamantha]

OK, I'm dying to know, what exactly is the "at" trick and tell me how to do that. :)

When you type out your email address, instead of typing Janie@aol.com type Janie(at)aol.com. This helps keeps spambots from grabbing your address. Works about 50/50.

[SammySamantha]

I've trained most pets faster than I've been able to train my filter :roll:.

haha Yep, me too! The upside is that I have apparently won the UK lottery about 200 times. Lucky me!

[Janie]

When you type out your email address, instead of typing Janie@aol.com type Janie(at)aol.com. This helps keeps spambots from grabbing your address. Works about 50/50.

Thanks, I'll try that! :)

[Eliza]

When you type out your email address, instead of typing Janie@aol.com type Janie(at)aol.com. This helps keeps spambots from grabbing your address. Works about 50/50.


I take it one step further and do janie at aol dot com. That seems to help, too :)

Michael - I'm surprised that you had that happen w/ Drs. Foster Smith! I've only ordered from them once (on-line) and didn't have any issues. I haven't ordered since and am not likely to now, just as a precaution :wink: