(PeteCresswell) wrote:
> I foolishly embedded a bunch of "MailTo" links in a high school class
> reunion site.
>
> Now, of course, I'm getting spammed daily to the link's address.
>
> Are there any strategies for avoiding or mitigating this - short of the
> brute force approach of constantly changing the address?
1) The best solution is to avoid the disclosure of your address to begin
with, or having a hierarchy of mail boxes. Each box should have a different
set of rules applied, e.g. some will sit behind a boxtrapper, some will be
checked periodically yet only once a week, and some will have software like
SpamAssassin in place.
2) Since you already got 'filth' in one of your live boxes, create a new
one, forward all mail from the old one to the new one, but also flag
forwarded mail so that you know which message came from (to) where. Change
your reply-to address to ensure that all correspondents slowly begin to
write to the new address. At some stage, the old address (the flagged
messages) will contain nothing but spam so you can say farewell and refer
to point (1). Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way after some
unpleasant experiences.
> Also, if changing the addr is the only option, is there a workaround for
> the
> legitimate users who would use it in the future? i.e. some kind of
> forwarding/bounce scheme where the user gets a note telling them what the
> revised address is - but which wouldn't be read by a spam generator?
Add a 'Vacation message' to the old account. Everyone who writes to the old
account will know that you may check that address once a week. Clarify that
and do _not_ include your new E-mail address, or else spammers will receive
that too.
Here is my automatic reply for deprecated accounts:
---
*** THIS MESSAGE IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED ***
This E-mail account was closed due to the high volume of incoming bulk mail.
It may take me a while to read your message.
Apologies,
<Your Name>
---
Hope it helps,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz
http://Schestowitz.com
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