I'm getting carpet bombed by junk e-mails. Does anyone know of a...

[El Supremo]

a really filthy or just witty e-mail that I could send back to these ass-holes?

I know, you aren't supposed to reply to them. But I am getting fed up and my Thunderbird filter doesn't work well.

[FourStarDemocrat]

1. change your ISP

Change it to one that blocks junk/bulk emails. Usually the cable ISPs have stuff in place that block them. I used to get tons from earthlink, then I changed to a high speed cable one, and don't get more than a few a year now.

[I Have A Dream]

2. I have broadband through Comcast, and I get lots of spam.

It's the type of spam where they use fake E-mail addresses and fake subjects, so there's no way to determine that it's spam.

[FourStarDemocrat]

12. yeah, almost all the spam has fake addreses and subjects..

It seems like Comcast isn't doing a good enough job at controlling it. I have Optimum Online,which might not be available in your area. They do a very well with keeping spam from ever reaching me, and I don't miss out on other bulk emails from companies that I want to receive emails from. I'd still look into changing if you're not satisfied.

[El Supremo]

5. Thanks, but that's what I have.

Comcast cable. When they made me change my e-mail address, it was heaven. I went a long time without all the spam. But these bastards have finally caught up with me. And it seems to be a lot worse at the end of this year.

I guess I'll look into what Comcast offers for spam-blocking. I don't want the occasional good messages blocked.

[I Have A Dream]

10. Yep -- it just happened to me within the last 4 to 6 weeks.

I had cable for about 5 months without any spam at all, and then I started getting lots. My husband hasn't gotten any though.

[Redstone]

3. DON'T EVER REPLY TO THEM!!!

It's just confirms that your email address is a valid one, and they'll not only bombard you with more spam, they'll sell your address to other spammers.

Whatever small satisfaction you'd get from sending them a nastygram would NOT be worth it.

Redstone

[ghostsofgiants]

7. Listen to this man, seriously

Replying = VERY bad idea.

[El Supremo]

9. Ok OK

I have sent a "nasty-gram" to only one or two in the last year. I just want to send something that would attract their attention. How about getting their mailing address and sending a ripe turd?

[Redstone]

14. That'd work, if the manky scumbags actually provided a real address.

Though if I ever got a spammer's real address, I believe I'd visit with a 34-ounce Louisville Slugger, rather than mailing something.

Spammers are not human, and do not deserve to be treated as humans.

Redstone

[0007]

4. My thunderbird mail controls are doing a great job, so far.

Do you keep all your cookies?

Try this website www.spanblockerutility.com

[El Supremo]

6. Yeah, I haven't lost my cookies - yet.

The trouble with Thunderbird is it just puts the suspected spam in the junk folder - which I am compelled to look at then delete. And it only intercepts about 40% of them.

[0007]

11. Change your control settings

[Kat45]

15. I'm having the same problems, with Thunderbird and Comcast

I just started using Thunderbird about a month ago. Lately, it seems I've been getting more spam than legitimate e-mail. And it is a pain in the ass, because as you said, you have to go look at them in the junk folder and then delete them, and it misses a lot of them anyway. Most of the spam I've been getting have nonsense words in the subject line. If you find any cure for this, let me know.

[ghostsofgiants]

8. Thunderbird does the trick for me as well

[democracyindanger]

13. Find a goatse image

But realistically, any reply you send would be delivered to a non-existent address.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. Doesn't do any good to reply to them -

I used to set up an autoresponder that sent an email to anyone not on my whitelist; and most of them came back as undeliverable.

All you can do is get a good email program that let's you set up filters and a white list (like Ritlabs "The Bat!") and have your filter send all the spam to trash.

I also used to use a Spam filter that did a great job of indentifying spam, but I can't remember what it was - I'm thinking spamfilter. It's icon was a little red umbrella.

The best solution is to buy your own domain, find a place that will host it cheap, and use an email address with that domain. And then never use that email for anything but the people you actually want to communicate with, or for buying anything except from the very most legitimate of online businesses.

[Kire]

17. Gmail has great spam control

PM me if you want an invite