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I am getting tons of Spam after joining here!

M

MontyZ

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 7, 2005
887
0
Why am I all of a sudden getting tons of spam just shortly after joining this site? I used an email address that wasn't public here (because they don't accept Hotmail accounts), and since then I've been bombarded with spam.

Are the Admins here giving out our email addresses??
 
Mr. Anderson

Mr. Anderson

Moderator emeritus
Nov 1, 2001
22,568
6
VA
This is news to me - we don't *give out* emails. Is this the only place you've used the email address?

We'll check on it and get back to you.

D
 
baby duck monge

baby duck monge

macrumors 68000
Feb 16, 2003
1,570
0
Memphis, TN
i have not heard of people having that problem around here, and i know i certainly have not seen it happen :):knock on wood::). did you happen to post your email address anywhere on these forums or anywhere else asking someone to send you information about something? selling something? buying something? there are lots of programs that search through message boards for addresses, so it's possible that something like that happened.
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
7,514
Los Angeles
MacRumors absolutely never shares your e-mail address with any company or person. The privacy policy statement can be found at the bottom of the main site page and I've seen no violations of it in the years I've been here. These are the most common cases I know where a newly created e-mail address (one intended only for MacRumors) receives spam:

1. The group or ISP that issued the e-mail address has shared it, with or without your knowledge, within or outside of their privacy policy. I've had this happen to me twice!

2. Your e-mail address has a simple pattern, e.g., yourfirstname@aol.com or happy123@comcast.net, because spammers generate such addresses based on lists of names and lists of common words and patterns, whether or not the addresses are known to be valid. I've been hit by spam this way too.

3. You shared it, maybe without remembering, by posting it in the forums or telling it to somebody else, who might have posted it or spread it elsewhere. For example, somebody who knows your address might send their latest list of jokes to everyone in their address book, including you, thereby spreading your e-mail address to everyone they know.

Less likely possibilities:

4. There is some other way that your e-mail address came to be used by spammers, such as it having been used by you or somebody else in the past.

5. The forum software has some kind of glitch that revealed your e-mail address. There has never been evidence of this.

6. The forum database has been hacked. There is no evidence of this either.

Least likely of all:

7. MacRumors shared it.
 
absolut_mac

absolut_mac

macrumors 6502a
Oct 30, 2003
934
0
Dallas, Texas
MontyZ said:
Why am I all of a sudden getting tons of spam just shortly after joining this site? I used an email address that wasn't public here (because they don't accept Hotmail accounts), and since then I've been bombarded with spam.

Are the Admins here giving out our email addresses??
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the others, but I have NEVER received any spam since joining MR.

Maybe some spammer just got a lucky break by correctly guessing your email (the comp does the work for them) shortly after you joined MR.

In support of the above, I do get some spam (2 to 5 per day) on my primary email account, even although that account has never been posted publicly anywhere, nor is it used by me when I join groups/forums etc.
 
Sun Baked

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
May 19, 2002
14,937
157
However, be warned if you ever do decide to include your email in a post: the spambots will grab it.

I placed a short term email address in a post, after getting sick of the cyberbegging people were doing by coming here -- and it became spam central rather quick.
 
Littleodie914

Littleodie914

macrumors 68000
Jun 9, 2004
1,813
8
Rochester, NY
I must admit, I'm not sure if it's something I said, or something I did (didn't?) do... But everyone seems to think I have a small tally-whats-it and "INSTANT HERBAL IMPROVEMENTS" are the solution... :rolleyes:

(But I got those long before I joined MR, so other than that, spam-free as well :D )
 
solvs

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
A friend of mines little sister got ads for "growth" as well. On a new Hotmail account at that, never even used. I get ads for breast enlargment, depite being a guy. It happens. Viakagra as well (also not needed).

Me thinks the original poster is jumping the gun a bit. And since when can't you use Hotmail and Yahoo accounts? I'm signed up here with a Hotmail address.
 
Phat_Pat

Phat_Pat

macrumors 68000
May 8, 2004
1,955
0
I Live Where I Live
Where's the spam from, could it possibly just be a misunderstanding on the term "spam"

Maybe it's not spam and you choose to recieve e-mails when someone replyies to a thread?

Also no spam here :D
 
Doctor Q

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
7,514
Los Angeles
MontyZ, you should change your e-mail address, making sure it's something unguessable, and see if your spam stops. That should solve your problem AND confirm that MacRumors isn't leaking it.
 
sjpetry

sjpetry

macrumors 65816
Oct 28, 2004
1,195
0
Tamarindo, Costa Rica
applemacdude said:
Are you sure it wasnt from that porn website you visited last week? jk buddy
Click to expand...


Thats the only reason I get spam. :p jk

MacRumors has never sent me spam. :cool:



P.S. Are you sure you didn't fill out any form at microsoft.com or dell.com? ;)
 
slooksterPSV

slooksterPSV

macrumors 68040
Apr 17, 2004
3,543
305
Nowheresville
MontyZ said:
Why am I all of a sudden getting tons of spam just shortly after joining this site? I used an email address that wasn't public here (because they don't accept Hotmail accounts), and since then I've been bombarded with spam.

Are the Admins here giving out our email addresses??
Click to expand...

No the Admins would never do that,... well read the privacy policy (I think they have one). Now do a search for your name on this site, or your email address on google. You'll find the MacRumors pops up with your posts. Yeah...

[PRIVACY STATEMENT]
Privacy Statement for MacRumors.com, DailyTunes.com, and MacBytes.com


We have created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the websites: Dailytunes.com ,MacRumors.com and MacBytes.com.


We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our website - which includes hacks/spamming/abusing posts in which case you may be held liable.


This site contains links to other sites. MacRumors.com is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such Web sites. However, no information is transmitted from MacRumors to sponsor sites.


We offer registration to our site in which we ask visitors for contact information (primarily, their email address). The customer's contact information is used to contact the visitor when necessary. Users will not be sent unsolicited email and their information will not be distributed or sold in any other fashion.

We allow you to prevent your true email address from being revealed online at our website.


Contacting the Web Site


If you have any questions about this privacy statement, the practices of this site, or
your dealings with this Web site, you can contact


Arnold Kim
MacRumors
webmaster@macrumors.com
 
D

dotnina

macrumors 6502a
Aug 19, 2004
856
0
If you are really paranoid about this sort of thing, you could always use Spamgourmet. It lets you create an infinite number of "fake" e-mail addresses that will forward e-mail to your real e-mail address. You can have a unique fake address for pretty much everything, so for example you could sign up for MR with an address like "macrumors.4.spamgourmetusername@spamgourmet.com." That way, if you see things in your inbox that were originally sent to that address, and you know you didn't give out that e-mail address to anyone other than Macrumors, you'd know that there's a high probability that MR shared your e-mail address.
 
solvs

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
So... why hasn't MontyZ posted since? Did he really just think it was MacRumors, so he left? Yeah, that'll stop the spam. Looks like he posted a couple of times before this post.

I still don't understand why he couldn't just use a Yahoo or Hotmail addy. Is this a new rule or something?
 
Mechcozmo

Mechcozmo

macrumors 603
Jul 17, 2004
5,215
2
I get over 30 spam messages a day, so I really wouldn't notice if I got one or two more.

And I tried to protect my email address... oh well. That's why we have spam filters.
 
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