I understand that Spammers scan public discussiion groups in order to
find emails. Reading the groups in this site, I have noticed, that
many people post, instead of their email, a spoofed email that would
distract Spammers (for example, instead of myname@hotmail.com, they
have an email saynotospam@nospam.com or they distort their email a bit
as in my-nospam-name@hotspammail.com).

How do they do it? When I try to register to your Groups site, I have
to give a legit email.

---

Request for Question Clarification by joseleon-ga on 04 Aug 2003 03:21 PDT

Hello:
  There are many ways to access newsgroups, you can access using
Google Groups or a newsreader. If you use a newsreader you can set it
up with an spoofed e-mail. Do you want links to newsgroup readers?

Regards.

Hi Floyd!

Unfortunately, you cannot alter the e-mail address you use for posting
to Usenet via Google Groups.  Google will send a verification letter
to ensure that posters use only valid e-mail accounts to register.

This does not mean, however, that you'll be forced to deal with spam
if you choose to post to Usenet.  You have options!

If you *must* post through Google Groups (either because you don't
have access to an NNTP server through your ISP or because the bulk of
your posting is done from work), you can set up an account using a
disposable e-mail address from a service like Sneakemail (it's free!):

Sneakemail
http://sneakemail.com/info.pl?sel=quick

Let's say you've created an account at Sneakemail.  Create an e-mail
address, set the filters to "allow", log in to Google Groups with your
current e-mail and password, and change your e-mail address to the
Sneakemail address.

It will look like this:  6pkmrtyz8kr19t2k802@sneakemail.com  (This
isn't an active address.  I just created it for testing.)  Make sure
you write your Sneakemail address down somewhere!

When you receive your verification note from Google Groups, click the
link to verify, then log back in to Sneakemail.  Change your filters
to "bounce" or delete the address entirely.  Spammers might lift this
address, but it won't get them anywhere.

Of course, you'll want to include a way for fellow newsgroup
participants to contact you, without attracting the spambots.  That is
easily accomplished when signing your posts.  Simply add

floyd (at) myrealemailaddress (dot) com

to your signature.

If you have access to an NNTP server and AREN'T forced to use Google
Groups, you can alter your e-mail address with just a few clicks in
your newsreader.  Of course, you'll need a newsreader first.  My
favorite is Gravity:

Gravity (at Tom's Gravity Pages)
http://gravity.tbates.org/

If your ISP doesn't provide Usenet access, register for access to a
free NNTP server.  I like the one offered by the Freie Uni Berlin:

news.individual.net
http://news.individual.net/

Otherwise, you can use the NNTP server provided by your ISP.  (It
usually looks like this:  news.yourisp.com )

Now let's configure Gravity!  Once you've installed the program, it
will prompt you for setup.  Give the news server you're going to use a
descriptive nickname (like Earthlink News or FU-Berlin News), fill in
your name and SMTP (outgoing mail server) information, and when you
get to e-mail address, fill in:

floyd@DONTYOUDARESPAMMEyourisp.com

...or whatever anti-spam address you'd like to use. You can change
this at any time by going to Server-->Properties.

I hope this helps!

--Missy

Search terms:  None.  I'm a Usenet junkie.