It may make sense to have a spam filter on your network/PC to block out spam sent using old-skool techniques. But for all the new spam-blocking systems that are updated every hour/day/week (delete as applicable), the spammers will always be one step ahead.

If the spammers weren't one step ahead at all times, the spam blockers would not know what to block, as the spam blockers would be thinking ahead of the spammers and would therefore be blocking things that may never become spam.

I read somewhere recently - if somewhere knows where, I'd love to bookmark it so I can argue successfully the benefits of having stupid email addresses - that people with email addresses starting with A, S, M or Z get 40% more spam than those people with email addresses starting with any other letters.

Maybe the solution is for webmail providers to note that people creating email addresses with the letters that are most likely to get spammed will get more spam than if they chose an email address starting with another address.

I'm just surprised to see that a spam blocker would allow a message with a link to .swf through no matter who it was supposedly from. This is really a "duh, whoops!" moment for whoever writes that spam shield software.

Isn't it their job to block junk e-mail like this? Haven't they proclaimed the death of their own company before, claiming in 2001 that e-mail would become unusable by 2007 / 2008?

Jesse has it right. This is a "duh" moment for an outfit that claims to block this garbage.

I'll be able to order my Viagra from the office again!

Example -> some.twat@no.where

...will be very unlucky to get any spam. The dot separator in the local part seems to screw 'em right up. Been my experience with umpteen accounts over some years. I have a good idea why that is.

Keep it to yerself, now.

Paris, cuz that might actually be one of her old email addies...

I have a name-dot-name e-mail address and it still gets plenty of pharma-spam and faux-chronometer-spam. I think the solution is simple:

1) There are a finite number of spammers in the world

2) Declare them UNPROTECTED by any international laws

3) Assassinate them one by one until that finite number is reduced to zero

4) Hopefully, those who would become new spammers would get the message!

5) Eventually, the world enjoys a spam-free Internet.

Simple and elegant! A good place to start would be the ROKSO. ^_^

-A

Ah, great minds think alike. :) Like my own oft-vaunted solution to this problem:

Ch-Click...HOCK! OOOOORRRRAAAAAAYYYYY!!!