Although the account responsible for the private messages that went out Sunday has been canceled (see this thread), if you're profile is set up to display your email address, it will be (and, sadly, probably already has been) mined by spammers. I just got a variation on the "I'm a nigerian banker with access to a billion kajillion dollars and I want to share it only with you" e-mail. But this wasn't a "private message" (which at least would have hidden my e-mail address from them) - it was sent directly to my account. So they now have my real name connected with my e-mail address. (And I had kept that email address clean for over 3 years...) :(
Under the "My Home" menu at the top of the page, select "My Preferences". About half way down the page on the right side is an option labeled "Display E-Mail Address" - remove the check box.
Drew/Langdon/Kollin/Whoever-has-access-to-the-source-code:
You might want to think about just disabling that feature altogether. With private messages, there's no real need to expose the e-mail address anyway, is there?
I set-up a different email address for web use so if I start having issues, it is easy to shut down. It doesn't contain my name either. The funny thing is, I get all my spam under the one NOT displyed on the web. I personally like having some kind of email displayed - the PM boxes can get a little limiting sometimes. But obviously, if it becomes a huge problem, we may all have to do without that luxury.
I got that same email even when I didn't have my email address public here. I found it better to just use spam control. I have had my number of issues with AOL, but their spam control features are really great.
Yeah, in this world of hotmail and friends, everyone should have a garbage email address used only for confirming registrations and such.
If you use a garbage email to set up DPC then any messages you may receive from people will go there too. DPC isnt set to my garbage email but one I use specifically for photography, but I know I've lost quite a few PM's and emails. I dont mind losing the nasty PM's after comments, but I'm sure some of those PM's were being nice to me too. I hope at least!
Yeah, in this world of hotmail and friends, everyone should have a garbage email address used only for confirming registrations and such.
If you use a garbage email to set up DPC then any messages you may receive from people will go there too. DPC isnt set to my garbage email but one I use specifically for photography, but I know I've lost quite a few PM's and emails. I dont mind losing the nasty PM's after comments, but I'm sure some of those PM's were being nice to me too. I hope at least!
I check my garbage mail frequently and just empty it constantly, but for dpc I only use the PM's.
If you have a website with your own domain and infinite aliases, it's easy to avoid spam. Just create a new alias for every place that you put your address. For instance, when I signed up here, I used dpc@hyperbolical.org. Now if I get junk mail, I know that they are taking my address from here (or that D&L are selling my info). And when I get too much spam, I can simply delete that address without having to change my information everywhere else.
I wouldn't post an email address anywhere on the web and expect it to stay free of spam.
I got the scam message both as a PM and using my e-mail addr. User name on the PM was soange555 which no longer exists.
To be honest folks, it is so simple to delete unwanted e-mail messages that I see no reason to worry about spam. It is a lot harder to get rid of snail-mail spam as I have to take it to the recycle bin and only get to empty that every other week.
I will keep displaying my e-mail address because I want to receive the occasional message from legitimate members. Now, don't all write at once.
