[Milsurplus] e-mail address harvesters of QTH.net

[gl4d21a at juno.com]

Group:

I was going to draw some conclusions, but let me instead just list my experiences.  When I first subscribed to several QTH reflectors, I used my then only e-mail address.  Soon, the SPAM was overwhelming, but I had exposed the address in many other venues, so the connection was tenuous at best.  

I created my previous gl4d21 at juno.com and used it ONLY for QTH reflector(s).  (I also subscribe to RCA, which must have over a half-dozen posts a year.)  Anyway, it took about 6 months before the SPAM started up on that address.  I discussed it with Ralph, who indicated that he thought the QTH servers were secure.  But then another member pointed out that the summaries/digests can/do contain e-mail addresses and are publicly searchable.  

Then, I tumbled to the option on the QTH reflector subscription to suppress my address on the digests.  I exercised this option when I adopted my current gl4d21a address.  This time it took almost a year before the SPAM started.  Except for correspondence with reflector members, I use this address only for QTH messages.

Summary:  IMHO, the harvesters will find a way to break into any system and gather addresses.  The rewards are too great not to.

My future solution will be to set up another address on my main (ATT) account, and set an inbox filter which accepts only messages containing (milsurplus) in the heading, including the parentheses.

73,
George
W5VPQ

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