Comments on: Spam, it’s getting worse again http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/ Notes from the former CIO of Plymouth State University Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:06:30 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Joe Long http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/comment-page-1/#comment-30728 Joe Long Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:11:10 +0000 http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/#comment-30728 A great piece by Dwight. My only concern is how the increase in protection is being compounded by institutions and businesses concurrently trying to provide a "spam safe" environment. Right now I, as the Alumni Director, get daily on average between 5-10 legitimate email messages "bounced" before they even arrive in my mailbox. These legitimate messages from alumni are caught using our latest and greatest technology. The alum sending the email communication does not understand, nor should they, that they just happened to send an email from their hotmail account that was routed through a server in DeMoines, IA that happens to have been identified as a enabler of SPAM. All they see is that they sent and email to their alma mater and it was summarilary returned without explanation. Add this to the fact that we, as professionals, often communicate with others in our field at other institutions via email. Now I am blocking email messages from them and they are blocking messages from me. This communication breakdown is unacceptable. We need to do a better job at balancing the risks with the rewards. If I can not effectively communicate with alumni, then I can not do my job. Just one more opinion. Thanks. A great piece by Dwight. My only concern is how the increase in protection is being compounded by institutions and businesses concurrently trying to provide a “spam safe” environment. Right now I, as the Alumni Director, get daily on average between 5-10 legitimate email messages “bounced” before they even arrive in my mailbox. These legitimate messages from alumni are caught using our latest and greatest technology. The alum sending the email communication does not understand, nor should they, that they just happened to send an email from their hotmail account that was routed through a server in DeMoines, IA that happens to have been identified as a enabler of SPAM. All they see is that they sent and email to their alma mater and it was summarilary returned without explanation. Add this to the fact that we, as professionals, often communicate with others in our field at other institutions via email. Now I am blocking email messages from them and they are blocking messages from me. This communication breakdown is unacceptable. We need to do a better job at balancing the risks with the rewards. If I can not effectively communicate with alumni, then I can not do my job. Just one more opinion. Thanks.

]]> By: Liam Jewell http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/comment-page-1/#comment-26656 Liam Jewell Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:03:22 +0000 http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/#comment-26656 While their certainly is a rising crisis when it comes to stopping SPAM, I feel that if I only get 2-3 SPAM messages a day (which I currently get) that's okay with me. Not a big deal. I have accounts through other services and they all offer varying amounts of SPAM detection and protection. I must get 300+ SPAM e-mails a day at my Google account, but then again, I haven't had one delivered to my INBOX in over 4 months, they are all put in my SPAM box. I have a hotmail and yahoo account, and those too get a lot of mail, and they choose to dump most of it into my inbox. I have my own mail at: http://www.liamjewell.com, which is an address that is hardly given out, and I receive 30+ SPAM e-mails a day on that. So, when looking at what Plymouth gives me for SPAM protection compared to other similar enterprise systems, I would have to say that we are doing a good job. I am however a little worried about your 3rd to last paragraph. You mention, "Yet if the spammers continue to have their way, they may force us to develop new strategies for communicating and messaging. It might mean that we change to another means of messaging.“ What other methods do you propose? What other options will be widely accessible to users both on and off campus? Finally, will users want to use those new methods and their inherent issues? I think not. I think that you need to stay focused on blocking the 1,000s of e-mails that you get bombarded with each hour of every day. Also, some spam is not only the fault of the system, or spammers, but people who use their e-mail address too freely. If you restrict the use of your address, it greatly reduces the crap that gets sent to it. My solution: a no-reply e-mail system like: www.dodgeit.com, or a non-compulsory log in system like: http://www.bugmenot.com when browsing other sites. We should also focus on educating users of these alternative ways to gain access to the things online that may not respect the privacy of our private e-mail addresses. A Student’s Opinion, Liam Jewell http://www.liamjewell.com and my blog at: http://blog.liamjewell.com. While their certainly is a rising crisis when it comes to stopping SPAM, I feel that if I only get 2-3 SPAM messages a day (which I currently get) that’s okay with me. Not a big deal. I have accounts through other services and they all offer varying amounts of SPAM detection and protection. I must get 300+ SPAM e-mails a day at my Google account, but then again, I haven’t had one delivered to my INBOX in over 4 months, they are all put in my SPAM box. I have a hotmail and yahoo account, and those too get a lot of mail, and they choose to dump most of it into my inbox. I have my own mail at: http://www.liamjewell.com, which is an address that is hardly given out, and I receive 30+ SPAM e-mails a day on that. So, when looking at what Plymouth gives me for SPAM protection compared to other similar enterprise systems, I would have to say that we are doing a good job.

I am however a little worried about your 3rd to last paragraph. You mention, “Yet if the spammers continue to have their way, they may force us to develop new strategies for communicating and messaging. It might mean that we change to another means of messaging.“ What other methods do you propose? What other options will be widely accessible to users both on and off campus? Finally, will users want to use those new methods and their inherent issues? I think not.

I think that you need to stay focused on blocking the 1,000s of e-mails that you get bombarded with each hour of every day. Also, some spam is not only the fault of the system, or spammers, but people who use their e-mail address too freely. If you restrict the use of your address, it greatly reduces the crap that gets sent to it. My solution: a no-reply e-mail system like: http://www.dodgeit.com, or a non-compulsory log in system like: http://www.bugmenot.com when browsing other sites. We should also focus on educating users of these alternative ways to gain access to the things online that may not respect the privacy of our private e-mail addresses.

A Student’s Opinion,
Liam Jewell
http://www.liamjewell.com and my blog at: http://blog.liamjewell.com.

]]> By: Ted http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/comment-page-1/#comment-26440 Ted Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:58:36 +0000 http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/#comment-26440 Oh... BTW. The Spamkill page does contain instructions for Outlook users as well. Oh… BTW. The Spamkill page does contain instructions for Outlook users as well.

]]> By: Ted http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/comment-page-1/#comment-26439 Ted Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:57:47 +0000 http://dcfischer.blogs.plymouth.edu/2006/10/16/spam-its-getting-worse-again/#comment-26439 The URL you list for SpamKill is broken. It should read and take you to: http://oz.plymouth.edu/spamkill/ The URL you list for SpamKill is broken. It should read and take you to:

http://oz.plymouth.edu/spamkill/

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