will joining a Yahoo group attract spam to my fastmail account?

roob · 19 May 2003, 04:46 PM

Hi - I have set up a yahoo group, but am hesitant to use my personal email address rather than my "spam account". Does anyone know if spammers prey on the yahoo group members? I'd like to start receiving the messages in my inbox, but another a bunch of spam if that comes with it! If the spammers do prey on yahoo group users, is there a way I can prevent them from finding my email address? TIA

ewal · 19 May 2003, 05:12 PM

I have not set up a Yahoo Group but have found that being a member of various yahoo groups (particularly the open to all ones) resulted in a rise in spam.

So I use disposable aliases (combined with a corresponding personality) when becoming a Yahoo group member. This, together with spam protection available at full/enhanced level, provides a high level of protection.

Edward

timpi · 19 May 2003, 07:31 PM

i'm subscribed to various yahoo groups, but i don't get much spam on my yahoo-alias. most of the spam was sent to the list itself, but also then i got no more than 1 or 2 messages per week.

regards
tim

bobwaters · 19 May 2003, 08:03 PM

Unlikely. I'm the owner of six Yahoo groups, and a member of a couple of times that many, and I've usually used the email address my ISP provided for them. While I get occasional spam- who doesn't?- it's rare, and if being an active participant in fifteen or eighteen groups and running six others doesn't attract spam, I think you can assume that it's just too inefficient a place to harvest email addresses for spammers to bother with much. For one thing, a large percentage of users use Yahoo mail, which is a much richer source of victims (though spam suppression software helps). It's easier just to go after the Yahoo mail accounts everybody who has a Yahoo membership gets.

A bigger danger is that you could tick off an immature or disturbed person who could choose to harrass you through your email account. I'm in the process of taking action against such a person right now. But I actually would see something like fastmail as an ideal way to participate in Yahoo groups. If you did get spammed excessively, you could just close your account and open another one here.

All in all, I'd say that while the chances of attracting spam by joining a Yahoo group are real, they are minimal. And if push comes to shove, there's always the option of visiting the group webpage and posting directly, thereby eliminating the problem of an email address altogether. You might then be able to conceal your email address from the public entirely.

Bob

bobwaters · 19 May 2003, 08:07 PM

I might add that as a group *owner,* you don't have the option of hiding your email address. But again, I don't see this as being a big problem.

CelticBlackCat · 19 May 2003, 11:43 PM

I joined a Yahoo! Group that has over 300 members in it now this past March and use a non-Yahoo! email address for it. I haven't received one piece of spam in that email address. I don't think Yahoo! Groups is a place where spammers get their addresses. If you join a Yahoo! Group, it's possible you'll receive invitations to join other groups on occasion, but I think they get your interest from your Profile.

DrStrabismus · 20 May 2003, 01:07 AM

I'd still use a sub-domain address, if only for filtering purposes.

chicory_patch · 20 May 2003, 01:35 AM

I'm a member of nearly 30 yahoo group accounts. About have of those I'm either the owner or moderator.

From my experience the only spam I get (I use sub-doms) are when a spammer finds the <owner>-owner at yahoogroups dot com address and spams all of the owners/moderators.

Then yahoo oh so kindly just sends the spam to every sucker that is listed as owner/moderator on the group.

roob · 20 May 2003, 01:42 AM

thanks to everybody for the help!

what I think I will probably do is sign myself up as a member of the group, while keeping my "spam account" as the owner. I will try to figure out how to hide my email address from everyone else. If that fails I will just check the message board periodically, as someone suggested.

19 May 2003, 04:46 PM	#1
roob Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 12	will joining a Yahoo group attract spam to my fastmail account? Hi - I have set up a yahoo group, but am hesitant to use my personal email address rather than my "spam account". Does anyone know if spammers prey on the yahoo group members? I'd like to start receiving the messages in my inbox, but another a bunch of spam if that comes with it! If the spammers do prey on yahoo group users, is there a way I can prevent them from finding my email address? TIA

19 May 2003, 08:03 PM	#4
bobwaters Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Des Moines Posts: 15	Yahoo groups and spam Unlikely. I'm the owner of six Yahoo groups, and a member of a couple of times that many, and I've usually used the email address my ISP provided for them. While I get occasional spam- who doesn't?- it's rare, and if being an active participant in fifteen or eighteen groups and running six others doesn't attract spam, I think you can assume that it's just too inefficient a place to harvest email addresses for spammers to bother with much. For one thing, a large percentage of users use Yahoo mail, which is a much richer source of victims (though spam suppression software helps). It's easier just to go after the Yahoo mail accounts everybody who has a Yahoo membership gets. A bigger danger is that you could tick off an immature or disturbed person who could choose to harrass you through your email account. I'm in the process of taking action against such a person right now. But I actually would see something like fastmail as an ideal way to participate in Yahoo groups. If you did get spammed excessively, you could just close your account and open another one here. All in all, I'd say that while the chances of attracting spam by joining a Yahoo group are real, they are minimal. And if push comes to shove, there's always the option of visiting the group webpage and posting directly, thereby eliminating the problem of an email address altogether. You might then be able to conceal your email address from the public entirely. Bob

19 May 2003, 08:07 PM	#5
bobwaters Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Des Moines Posts: 15	Yahoo spam I might add that as a group owner, you don't have the option of hiding your email address. But again, I don't see this as being a big problem.

19 May 2003, 11:43 PM	#6
CelticBlackCat Essential Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 260	Spam from Yahoo! Groups I joined a Yahoo! Group that has over 300 members in it now this past March and use a non-Yahoo! email address for it. I haven't received one piece of spam in that email address. I don't think Yahoo! Groups is a place where spammers get their addresses. If you join a Yahoo! Group, it's possible you'll receive invitations to join other groups on occasion, but I think they get your interest from your Profile.

19 May 2003, 05:12 PM	#2
ewal Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: West Sussex, UK Posts: 1,335	I have not set up a Yahoo Group but have found that being a member of various yahoo groups (particularly the open to all ones) resulted in a rise in spam. So I use disposable aliases (combined with a corresponding personality) when becoming a Yahoo group member. This, together with spam protection available at full/enhanced level, provides a high level of protection. Edward

19 May 2003, 07:31 PM	#3
timpi Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: belgium Posts: 154	i'm subscribed to various yahoo groups, but i don't get much spam on my yahoo-alias. most of the spam was sent to the list itself, but also then i got no more than 1 or 2 messages per week. regards tim

20 May 2003, 01:07 AM	#7
DrStrabismus The "e" in e-mail Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,804	I'd still use a sub-domain address, if only for filtering purposes.

20 May 2003, 01:35 AM	#8
chicory_patch Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: NorthEast, USA Posts: 138	I'm a member of nearly 30 yahoo group accounts. About have of those I'm either the owner or moderator. From my experience the only spam I get (I use sub-doms) are when a spammer finds the <owner>-owner at yahoogroups dot com address and spams all of the owners/moderators. Then yahoo oh so kindly just sends the spam to every sucker that is listed as owner/moderator on the group.

20 May 2003, 01:42 AM	#9
roob Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 12	thanks to everybody for the help! what I think I will probably do is sign myself up as a member of the group, while keeping my "spam account" as the owner. I will try to figure out how to hide my email address from everyone else. If that fails I will just check the message board periodically, as someone suggested.