Spam

SPAM!

Having an email address on a web page is a sure way to attract spam bots. Below is a small graph that I created from the spam I received on another email address (within the XS4ALL domain). The green parts are the emals (yes, this is spelt correctly!) that were directed into my spambox, the red parts the ones that slipped through:

Some interesting details can be gleaned from this picture. First of all, since I adjusted my spamfilter to dump Korean junk the red parts dropped to nearly nothing. Occasionally some spammer manages to slip through it, but only maybe once a week, or even less. I am amazed how effective XS4ALL's standard spamfilter can be with just a little tweaking (no tedious editing in a Linux ruleset!). Then there is the ridiculous peak around Xmas. This was the "d0wnload" spam. Some spammer asshole wanted to peddle mp3z, or something. Finally, while 2005 saw a steady drop in spams since halfway May the junk volume has doubled. Apparently the CAN SPAM act is not as effective as is hoped. What would really help is people not opening spams and actually buying spamvertized wares! If spam successrate dropped from 1:100,000 to 1:1,000,000 or so to ZERO there would exist no more spam. Of course, after a web presence of nearly ten years now I realize that this will never happen. Oh well, my spamfilter is good enough!

Rejoiced too soon... Spammers keep trying to find ways to get past spam filters. From July 2005 the false negatives are on the rise again. Still, the current volume of spam, around 20 per day, is manageable. I can't understand how some friends seem to have to cope with hundreds of spams per day. Even on a widely advertised Yahoo email I currently get around fifty. Of course it could be that if a new spamrun is detected that whole run is consigned to /dev/null. I dunno! I'll check with the BOFH at work.

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