! why?

[__Clint__]

> > The "clint+freebsddotorg at acm.vt.edu" email was a one-time disposable
> > email address that I only ever gave to FreeBSD.org.
>
> Well, you started out with the right strategy, but you abandoned it too
> soon.  You've now blown what looks like your real email address.  Never
> reveal your true email address, for it can be used against you.

How have I blown it?  I sent a note to abuse at freebsd.com when I got
spammed.  The automatic bounceback said to send it to
questions at freebsd.com.  If questions at freebsd.com is actually a mail list,
I was never told.

So yes -- maybe it's been blown (even further) now.

But that is due to your poor bounceback message.

1) I get spam
2) I complain to abuse
3) it bounces with a message to use another address
4) I guess, from what you've said, that address is a mail list

so in exchange for complaining about you selling my
clint+freebsddotorg at acm.vt.edu email address to spammers, you have now
redirected me into unknowningly posting to a mail list, thereby causing
more spam.

Maybe when I get spam I should just sit here helpless and do nothing.

But that didn't work well for the jews in WWII.
Complacency is not an attitude I like to adopt.



> > Now I am receiving spam email targeted at that address. An address I
> > only gave YOU. Any suggestions or response?
>
> Response:
> This is a public mailing list, and it is archived in many public places
> on the Internet, and is also (unfortunately) forwarded to Usenet by
> well-meaning souls.  Spammers harvest email addresses from public
> archives, and almost any address that appears on Usenet will be
> spammed. There's nothing we can do about that.

And again -- I never posted on that list in the past.

And I only ever posted to it, unintentionally, 2 days ago, because I
complained about my spam to abuse at freebsd.org which redirected me (via
bounceback message) to an email address that i did not know was a mailing
list.

I suggest updating the bounceback message or you are just giving more
email addresses to spammers as other complainers like myself are tricked
into disclosing our actual email address to your maillist.




> Suggestions: Never post your real email address on a public mailing
> list.  When you complain to a suspected spammer, don't use your real
> email address in the complaint. If you want to stop the spam, turn off
> the address you used (good thing it was a throwaway address, right?),
> although that will make it hard to receive replies to the questions you
> post here.

Unfortunately having had my email address for over 10 yrs I am a bit
attached to it.  At least SpamAssassin works well.





> To clarify: this is a mailing list of FreeBSD users helping each other.
> It is not FreeBSD, Inc. answering your questions.

that surprised me...