Re: Anti-spam on usenet (Google Groups?)

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Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 15:08:57 GMT

NEWBIE wrote:

> I understand that google groups isn't the same as usenet. However it
> covers pretty much the same info it seems to me.

Correct. Goggle Groups is an archive of (most of) what's posted to
Usenet. I say "most of" because they don't carry all the groups out there
(most notably the binary groups), and some groups that don't get a lot of
activity will come up as "no longer archived". That, and some people
include the "X-No-Archive: Yes" header in their posts, which does exactly
what it sounds like.

> My question is this: I use Opera (browser) to read and post to
> "usenet"/google groups. My email address (that I don't use for
> personal e-mails) is visible to all spammers. I see that most
> experienced hackers(and even some lamers?) disguise there e-mail
> address. While it is not that critical, it is still a hassle to find
> spam when I want to check if somebody perhaps gave a private reply to
> something I posted. Is there any way to disguise my e-mail address
> using only my browser when I post? (I had to give a working e-mail
> originally to google to be able to post at all).

Yep.

Get an account at one of the free services (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. - we call
that a "throwaway account") and use that for your "official" posting
address with Google. It'll probably get harvested by the spammers' robots
straight away, but no problem.

Use another account (possibly even your "real" e-mail address) to solicit
replies, but don't post it verbatim in the message body. Instead of
"username@domain.com" use something that that a human can decipher, but
won't look like an e-mail address to the robots - like "username (at)
domain (dot) com".

You might also want to get creative in how you "spell out" your address,
since spammers seem to eventually catch on to our latest evasion tricks.
:-)

> Pse. forgive me if I'm asking something stupid. I know that there are
> things like specialized newsreaders out there, but it seems as if they
> also need ISP's that will specifically provide newsgroup access. Am I
> right?

Yes - most ISP's provide newsgroup/Usenet access as part of their basic
Internet access, but some of them (usually the "budget" providers) don't.
You can always sign up for a newsgroup account at places like Supernews,
Teranews, etc. Do a Google search on "newsgroups", "Usenet", etc. and
it'll turn up even more providers.

Hope that answers some of your questions. :-)

--
GregR - Another Beemer Biker ...o&o>

• Previous message: Lee Higdon: "Re: Port 113 Closed but not stealthed"
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