How come there is so much spam on this site?

[SouthShoreGirl]

I go away for a day or two and it seems like it's just page upon page of nonsense. I actually clicked on something someone posted that I thought was a legit blogger and now I get a ton of spam to my email. Thank goodness I have Gmail, but still..........

[hermione]

Unfortunately, the world is full of scumbags of innumerable sorts. Just yesterday, I got an email from an ad network checking to see if I had registered for an ad account for my blog. It turned out someone signed up for a Gmail address with my blog's name Pecuniarities (not a coincidence as it's a rare name) and tried to sign up my blog, maybe to earn referral commissions for themselves.

I've been really busy lately so I haven't had as much time to visit WiseBread and keep up with deleting spam much less participate in the forum. My email inbox is full of "reported post from Wise Bread forum" emails.

If the spam is really bugging you, here is a list I made up earlier this year of ways to report frauds, scams and SPAM to official (government) agencies. There is a section on SPAM.

Consumer Safety Resources from the Government on SPAM, Scams, Fraud, Phishing and Identity Theft

The human animal never ceases to amaze me with its infinite ways to make trouble. Yep, my rose-colored glasses have been replaced by black ones.

[codeyeti]

I hate spam so much. It degrades the quality and usability of the internet for everyone. Doing anything online now requires you to read a read some indecipherable captcha just so spambots have a harder time getting through. I made a website with a mail form a few months ago and a spambot found it. It took me over an hour too delete the hundreds of spam mails that went through and I had to reprogram the whole mailform to keep it from happening again.

[trustno1]

Unfortunately, technology has made it easier for thugs and bottom-feeders to do what they do best...annoy everybody. Cell phones and the internet provide the perfect resource for those mentally challenged, low self-esteem types to dysfunctionally compensate for their lack of character and social skills. It gives them a sense of "power" which they can use while continuing to hide beneath the rocks on the bottom of ponds they live in.

As with most annoyances in life; a good offense is better than a reactive defense. Cell phone yo-yos just require you to only answer calls that you recognize. Internet use requires a credible security program to be installed, at the very least, prior to access. (Trend Micro is what I successful use for protection).

It also requires some of the same logic applied to cell phones... I never click on any "link" I do not recognize, or feel might be "risky". (same with suspect e-mails). Including any names in an email header is asking for trouble from those with programs that scan the web and collect them. Same goes for typing any personal info into any email. That is just foolish. Emails can be accessed and read by anybody interested in learning how to do it.

Other than an isolated "trojan horse", which is quickly quarantined and deleted, I do not have any problems dealing with any of that nonsense.