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newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD
| Points to consider when your ATTBI address changes
I've posted this before, but it bears repeating . . .
Some points to consider when your ATTBI email address changes to Comcast.
If you are receiving a lot of spam on your ATTBI address, you will probably receive a lot of spam when it changes to a @comcast.net address, if you keep the same username. Every spammer in the world knows that Comcast bought ATTBI, and they also know that the email addresses are going to change. It's a trivial matter to change @attbi.net to @comcast.net in a spammer's list of good email addresses. This happened to some degree with the change from @home.net to @comcast.net.
The email address you receive from Comcast will be the PRIMARY email address, and will be the only one Comcast will use to contact you for system and account information. This email address cannot be changed. Even if you do not plan to use Comcast addresses, you might want to make sure you set this one up to receive those notices. Guard this address at all costs . . . DO NOT give it out to ANYONE.
In order to avoid dictionary attacks on your PRIMARY email address, you might want to consider requesting an address in the format of gki5t9dl@comcast.net . . . a mixture of letters and numbers, but again, DO NOT give that out to friends and family, or for that matter, to anybody. If all you're going to use the primary address for is to receive notices from Comcast, it really doesn't matter what it is, so take pains to "spam-proof" it.
Setup one of the 6 other secondary email addresses you are allowed for your day-to-day email, and give that out instead to friends and family. If, in the future, you start receiving a lot of spam . . . you simply delete the secondary email address and create another.
On the same note, you might want to setup another secondary email address to use for shopping sites and web sites where you have to signup, and only use that email address for that type of activity . . . again, if you start receiving a lot of spam, simply delete the secondary email address and create another.
For those of you planning to use Comcast GigaNews, I strongly recommend using a NNTP client that allows for inputting any email address you want as your contact email. I contacted GigaNews about this and they replied that it is NOT absolutely required that you use the PRIMARY email address as your contact. You DO NOT want to use your PRIMARY address as your newsgroup email address! Again, setup a secondary email address, (I use another secondary email address consisting of a combination of numbers and letters to prevent dictionary attacks), and again, if you start receiving a lot of spam, simply delete the secondary email address and create another.
Following these guidelines will help to substantially reduce the amount of spam you receive, and allows you to control your inbox by controlling your "reachability".
EDIT: Minor grammar corrections
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The Rules of Spam | Maryland's New Anti-Spam Law
Where are we going? And what's with the hand basket?
[text was edited by author 2003-05-09 21:49:55] | |
Qumahlin
Never Enough Time
Premium,MVM
join:2001-10-05
united state
| Very informative article  Definitely will help when everyone starts swearing up/down that comcast/ATT sold thier email address list to companies
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Forum Posts:2400 | |
madylarian
The curmudgeonly
Premium
join:2002-01-03
Parkville, MD
| reply to newview
said by newview  :
For those of you planning to use Comcast GigaNews, I strongly recommend using a NNTP client that allows for inputting any email address you want as your contact email. I contacted GigaNews about this and they replied that it is NOT absolutely required that you use the PRIMARY email address as your contact. You DO NOT want to use your PRIMARY address as your newsgroup email address! Again, setup a secondary email address, (I use another secondary email address consisting of a combination of numbers and letters to prevent dictionary attacks), and again, if you start receiving a lot of spam, simply delete the secondary email address and create another.
An alternative to this is to use a non-email address in that field and include your address in your sig file written out in words. For example:
In the email address field: someone@somewhere.else
In your sig file: username at comcast dot net
Humans can read your sig file but it won't get picked up by spam bots. I have been posting my address this way for years on usenet and get almost no spam at all at that address. Using just about any "word".com in the header is not advisable because the chances are it's someone else's domain and you are setting them up to be spammed. Ask the person who owns the domain none.com how he or she must feel about all of the selfishly stupid people who use it.
Of course, then there are those of us who have a Hotmail account just to use where a "real" address is necessary, such as those using the News.CIS.DFN.DE server, which requires one.
mady
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Honi soit qui mal y pense | |
CableUZR
Cuidado, Hay Llamas
join:2003-02-04
Mount Holly, NJ
clubs:
|  reply to newview
Great Suggestions
Great Suggestions NewView!
For those of you who like to do a little leg work, you could also use spamgourmet.com. It lets you create disposable email addresses you can use for all kinds of fun and entertainment.
Happy Spam-consumption!
Uzr
* Looking forward to the day that spamming is punishable by pillory. | |
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