Pet Talk software upgrade

**mruffruff** · 08-20-2001, 02:55 PM

I don't know how to put this delicately, so I'll just blurt it out. Your name could be translated to invite porn users. Could it be that?

**Karen** · 08-20-2001, 08:00 PM

I can state that, before we even started Pet of the Day, I have always received plenty of spam. All it takes is one company getting and releasing your email address, and it gets sold forever by bulk email companies - I often get offers to sell me "15 million sure-fire email addresses!" Why they think I'd want to annoy others like they annoy me is unfathomable!

We have never sold our users email addresses to anyone.

Users of "free" email programs, or big companies like AOL, are particularly susceptible. If you REALLY hate getting them, you'd have to change your email address and NEVER give it to anyone but friends, and never post it anywhere in a newsgroup or on a website. If you're on AOL, you can block all non-AOL mail, but then any message I sent you, for example, would also be blocked!

Spam is the thorn in the rosebush of the Internet. The quickest thing to do is "delete and move on," I've found. And we have "Internet via cable" which means that whenever my computer is on, I'm connected to the Internet. It has not increased the percentage of junk mail I get, I just get it faster than if I had a modem dial-up.

But hey, in my email, I get all the pet nominations - one pet picture makes up for 100 awful spams, and the percentage is way less than that!

**AmberLee** · 08-20-2001, 08:46 PM

This might just be net-lore, but several of my friends vouch for it's accuracy...

Apparently there are some companies that collect e-mail addresses that are returned to them with 'reject/remove' messages. They don't resend to them, but do sell them to other companies!

Since I've learned this I just hit 'delete' rather than sending a 'remove' response. It might be coincidence, but my spam receipt is down slightly.

Note: I do get spam on all my accounts to some extent, but the main one that gets it is one not posted here (my WORK account, arrrrgh!).

**Albea** · 08-21-2001, 12:13 PM

Another question for the experts!
I have my "preferences" set in such a way that cookies go back only to the sites I visit. May this be the reason why I don't get spam? Not that I'm complaining about it

I just wonder if that could be a way to reduce spam. Sorry if this sounds silly, but asking questions is a good way to learn

**4 feline house** · 08-21-2001, 09:17 PM

mruffruff-well, maybe, but all my email addresses are my first and second initial with my full last name plus the domain name, and only the one is spammed. All my life I've never heard of anyone snickering over my name, maybe there is some double entendre in it, but I certainly don't see it and can't figure it out. Sometimes people laugh at my three initials because it can remind you of "legs", but with my last name instead of initial I don't think even that's obvious. But, who knows, maybe there's some new slang out there that makes my name nasty now! Hehe!

**AvaJoy** · 08-21-2001, 09:20 PM

I, too, have Earthlink's Spaminator and it is doing a wonderful job of snagging most of the spam!

Albea, I was wondering how you set your browser to accept cookies ONLY from sites you have visited . . . normally I disable ALL cookies, but have to remember to enable cookies in order to post on POTD with this new format . . . no biggie, now that I'm used to it.

Speaking of the new format, I wish there was a way I could tell at a glance what topics I have posted to, and if there were any replies since my post. Showing what topics I have merely visited is not as important; I may not have posted to them. Maybe I am missing something, and there already is an indicator of this sort?

I agree with Spencer; hiding our email addresses from public view is a worthy consideration. In the meantime, I will make mine private (if I can) to offset the possible predicament that 4 Feline has been experiencing. Spam Stinks!

[ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: AvaJoy ]

**4 feline house** · 08-21-2001, 09:53 PM

Exactly how does Spaminator work, and does Earthlink have to be your ISP to be able to use it? In other words, is it only usable on your @earthlink (or whatever) mail? Hotmail has what they call inbox protector, but it's fallible in that you tell it what email addresses you do want to receive mail from. Therefore, if there is a possibility that you will be getting email from anyone whose email address you do not know, such as anyone on this site who might be sending me an email for the first time, or when I was still looking for a job, someone responding to my resume. That means I still have to check the junk mail folder to make sure I'm not accidenlty deleting mail I would like to get. But I'm no longer looking for a job, and the board now has the private message, so like I said a few posts back, it's not really going to be a big deal in the future.

Also - how in the world could you get a cookie from a site you've never visited? Maybe I'm not understanding what y'all mean there.

[ August 21, 2001: Message edited by: 4 feline house ]

**Freckles** · 08-22-2001, 10:03 AM

I have Netscape Communicator 4.78. In Messenger, preferences, advanced, is where I set cookies to "accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server". Other options are; "accept all cookies", "disable cookies", Warn me before accepting a cookie". Leah, if you have the "warn me" option, that might help show where the cookies come from.
When Earthlink merged with Mindspring, Spaminator came with it. It collects most of my spam, estimate 20 a week, but not all of it. Never stopped a message I wanted.
In Messenger,edit,Message filters, I set up two filters. If the message "contains" my email address, it goes in one folder. If it "doesn't contain" my email address it goes in my "Supertrash" folder. (I couldn't find "doesn't" in trying to setup on Internet Explorer.) It's a little more complicated than that to set up, but worth it to me. Weekly Supertrash averages three spam and one I want to keep.That's easy to sort.
Paul and Karen, sorry we kind of digressed from the original topic.

**Albea** · 08-22-2001, 11:38 AM

Thank you Freckles for answering the question about Spaminator and "cookies" and yes, you have to subscribe to Earthlink to get that service. I've done the same thing about "cookies." only the ones that are returned to the site I visit are accepted. If some of you can't do that, it may be time to change from Microsoft Explorer to Netscape

I don't know how you can get cookies from sites you don't visit, but you do, believe me

That's why I changed the preferences in my browser.

**AvaJoy** · 08-22-2001, 09:30 PM

4 Feline ~ Maybe mruffruff was going on the premise that "Feline House" was your email address . . . if so, I can see the porn potential since the term "cat house" used to be slang for bordello or house of ill repute.

But that was back in the old days and probably outdated, so it would be a stretch. I had to chuckle, though!

I guess that being MIE users, we don't have the cookie flexibility that Netscape offers. Someone else already answered this, but yes; Spaminator is exclusive to Earthlink, which I regard as a fine ISP without all the annoying bells and whistles to wade through. I am quite content with their no nonsense format.

**Freckles** · 08-23-2001, 08:21 AM

I tried v6. It had some nice features, but it looked and acted too much like Internet Explorer. There were some things missing, like printer page formatting, etc., so I went back to 4.xx. Maybe v6 is better now.

[ August 23, 2001: Message edited by: Freckles ]

**Freckles** · 08-23-2001, 06:36 PM

Will SEARCH be returning soon? I use it a lot.

**Karen** · 08-23-2001, 08:12 PM

Freckles, I just emailed you on that topic ...

**4 feline house** · 08-23-2001, 10:34 PM

NO SEARCH!!! I didn't notice! I just used it a few days ago! Is it coming back?

**Cinder & Smoke** · 08-24-2001, 11:53 AM

Maybe Karen could post and tell us all what's up (or down

) with the search feature?

But there IS another way to find things on Pet Talk, IF you know who posted the article you're looking for:

Find any posting the person has made; it does not have to be a very current posting. Go to the posting, made by the author you're interested in, and click on that author's profile button. Just above the author's Profile Box is a click line saying "View Recent Posts / Send New Private Message".

Now *click* on the words View Recent Posts. You'll be presented with a listing of That Author's 50 most recent posts; arranged top to bottom, most recent on top, oldest at the bottom. The post titles are all *clickable* - and give a number indicating how far down from the top of that subject your author's reply is. If it says "Post #0" it means your author was the originator of that subject. Click on a post title and you'll be taken to that post; scroll down the indicated number of replys, and Oh, Wow! you've arrived at that author's post.

Sounds a lot more complicated than it is - try it for yourself. If you can't remember where you've left all your own pearls of wisdom on the board, you can find your own posts the same way. Just start with something you've written or replied to and click on the Profile button on your own post. Note: the "my profile" button at the very top of a page is NOT the one to use.

I'd better quit before I confuse myself!