[games_access] email adress spam & wiki

[Tim Chase]

> Whoops! I'm so used to getting so much spam from the list
> bounces, etc that I've just gotten used to is. Yes, it's a
> good idea for all of us to be more careful about the wiki, etc.
> 
> On another spam note, I've noticed a significant increase in
> some new style of spam that's getting around a ton of filters
> we have at university, etc. So I guess it only took about 20
> minutes for the spammers to figure out how to get around our
> own spam filters that took a year to develop. ;)

Just a quick plug...Thunderbird's junk filters use a (Baysian?) 
learning algorithm, so that as you tell it what is and what isn't 
spam, it learns and can do a better job of classifying future 
mail as ham or spam.  I'm pretty sure there are other mailers (or 
plugins for other mailers) that offer similar features.

It's also got some pretty easy-to-use features for setting up 
filters.  I've got one that auto-classifies anything coming to 
the agdev list as suspect (for my future review), unless the 
sender is in my "mailing list" address-book.  I think I've caught 
most of the participants on the mailing list so that they don't 
show up as suspect.

On top of that, I've got my own domain name, so that anything 
that comes to the address comes to me.  However, I can set up 
particular addresses for each list I'm on which helps 
auto-classify stuff merely by which address received the mail. 
It also helps track down who/what is leaking my email address. 
For those on the list that have their own domain names, it can be 
a life-saver (well, not to be so melodramatic, but at least an 
inbox-saver).

Lastly, while it doesn't apply in the case of the wiki, if folks 
haven't heard about it, the site mailinator.com offers free 
disposable accounts for receiving (not sending) email.  It's 
great for websites that want an email address at which to mail 
you a confirmation number, but that you don't trust because you 
suspect they will spam you.  You just make up an email address at 
mailinator.com (such as yeahright at mailinator.com), put it in the 
form, go over to mailinator.com, enter "agdev" in as the mailbox 
name, and check until the confirmation email arrives.  Mailinator 
deletes all emails after a given time-frame (it used to be 24hr, 
but now might be down to 8hr) so your confirmation information 
isn't too public for too long.  You're then not bothered by any 
spam that might show up to the account.  Oh, and (making a 
desperate reach to keep a thread of on-topic-ness) mailinator is 
fairly accessible too...just a boring HTML form, and works in IE, 
Mozilla, Lynx and Dillo, so it should work in just about any 
browser you can throw at it..

Just a few tips I've found helpful for managing spam that builds 
up after 13+ years of emailing.

-tim