Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 15:36:57 -0400
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Cc: jekindell at aol.com, macbuccfo at msn.com, erjablow at cais.com,
	mike.nelson at seahunt.org
Subject: [WSFA] Re: On Google and WSFA policy
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" wrote:

> It's probably a good idea for everyone to do a Google search for their
> own name, just to see what information is available online.  Chances
> are, unless you have a very unusual name, there's no way for anyone to
> tell which references actually apply to you anyhow.

A search on your e-mail address may be more productive.  I don't think
I've ever tried a search on my name; I know exactly what would happen.
(Steve Smiths that I know about include a violinist for the Pasadena
Symphony, a member of the Kennedy Clan, a tenor with Lawrence Welk, and
two NFL football players.  Not to mention the Steve Smith in my Russian
class in college.  We were dating the same girl; I imagine her phone
messages were interesting.)

For at least ten years, my signature block contained my office phone
number.  In that time, I received one (1) phone call relating to
something I'd posted.  That was from a guy who wanted to compliment me
on some posts I'd made.

Once, somebody took my signature block and put it under a composite
message  made from one line I'd posted and a whole bunch of other
peoples' stuff.  This was posted to a website that bills itself as "The
Voice of the Religious Right" with a comment "Let's all call up this guy
and tell him what we think of him and his kind".  Calls received --
zero.

Keith, I think the reason that you receive so much spam is that you are
an active spam fighter.  You receive an order of magnitude more spam
than anybody else I know.  I have never made an effort to hide my
address, and I receive maybe 10 a day.  (Interesting psychology there --
"punish" somebody by giving them more of what you're trying to sell.)

Personally, I think that trying to "spamproof"  ourselves is a waste of
time.  That said, I agree with keeping all but "public contact" e-mail
addresses off of the public part of the WSFA website.  Easiest way to do
this is to simply not put a link to the mailing list archives on the
main site.  I would also suggest a banner that says "PLEASE DO NOT LINK
TO THIS PAGE".  If *anybody* puts up a link to the list, it's fair game
for address harvesters.  Google plays by the rules and won't archive
things you don't want archived; the spammers don't.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."