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"If it does not fit your definition of spam then that's fine with me, but it definitely fits mine." hmm it does fit my definition of spam. Hence my suggestion

"If it does not fit your definition of spam then that's fine with me, but it definitely fits mine." hmm it does fit my definition of spam. Hence my suggestion to "Mark as spam".Maybe you aren't replying to me? So yes, I agree it is spam. "Anybody that would not even take the time to read the profiles they're sending these emails to are spammers." I agree(again perhaps you aren't replying to me). I don't see where we disagree. I don't understand the surprise (and handwringing) about spammers harvesting any publicly available email on any webpage. This has been true since the beginnings of spam. Why should HN be immune?

jacquesm 17y ago
I think the main problem here is that it seems to be HN'ers spamming other HN'ers. If it were for some large sum of money that I'm going to come in to it would be business as usual, this is different.
- plinkplonk 17y ago
  " think the main problem here is that it seems to be HN'ers spamming other HN'ers." Well (a) an HN'er is just someone who has filled in two text boxes. There is not even amoderator approval step to join HN and it is not like you have to have a certain amount of karma to see email addresses. (b) (I could be wrong about this but) you can see email addresses even when logged out if they are part of the "publicly exposed" part of the profile. So you don't need to be an HNer to harvest a good set of emails. If I am wrong on (b) then maybe the moderators can do something about this, but I can't think what. Anyone can log in with pseudo name/password combo. quietly harvest all visible emails and hey presto targeted spam.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    You seem to be very much intent on showing that this kind of behaviour is both to be expected and acceptable, we will have to disagree about that.
    - plinkplonk 17y ago
      "You seem to be very much intent on showing that this kind of behaviour is both to be expected" Yes. If you put your email somewhere public you are certain to get spam. So yes it is to be expected. "and acceptable" No, it isn't a nice thing to happen to you but there is nothing that can be done about it once you've put your email id on a public page. So it is not acceptable, but it will happen anyway. I guess i am not surprised when it happens. " will have to disagree about that." shrug. I guess I just don't get the sense of outrage about first putting an email id on a public, indexable, crawlable web page and then groaning and moaning about nasty lowlifes sending you spam. This is like wandering around in dark alleys in shady areas and then being surprised about getting mugged. I agree it shouldn't happen and in an ideal world it wouldn't but it does. If you don't want spam, don't expose your email id on the web. Or have an extra spamtrap id if you must enter email ids into web forms. Obfuscate the id to throw off regex matchers. Have a good spam filter. That's the state of play as of today.

jacquesm 17y ago

I think the main problem here is that it seems to be HN'ers spamming other HN'ers. If it were for some large sum of money that I'm going to come in to it would be business as usual, this is different.

plinkplonk 17y ago
" think the main problem here is that it seems to be HN'ers spamming other HN'ers." Well (a) an HN'er is just someone who has filled in two text boxes. There is not even amoderator approval step to join HN and it is not like you have to have a certain amount of karma to see email addresses. (b) (I could be wrong about this but) you can see email addresses even when logged out if they are part of the "publicly exposed" part of the profile. So you don't need to be an HNer to harvest a good set of emails. If I am wrong on (b) then maybe the moderators can do something about this, but I can't think what. Anyone can log in with pseudo name/password combo. quietly harvest all visible emails and hey presto targeted spam.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  You seem to be very much intent on showing that this kind of behaviour is both to be expected and acceptable, we will have to disagree about that.
  - plinkplonk 17y ago
    "You seem to be very much intent on showing that this kind of behaviour is both to be expected" Yes. If you put your email somewhere public you are certain to get spam. So yes it is to be expected. "and acceptable" No, it isn't a nice thing to happen to you but there is nothing that can be done about it once you've put your email id on a public page. So it is not acceptable, but it will happen anyway. I guess i am not surprised when it happens. " will have to disagree about that." shrug. I guess I just don't get the sense of outrage about first putting an email id on a public, indexable, crawlable web page and then groaning and moaning about nasty lowlifes sending you spam. This is like wandering around in dark alleys in shady areas and then being surprised about getting mugged. I agree it shouldn't happen and in an ideal world it wouldn't but it does. If you don't want spam, don't expose your email id on the web. Or have an extra spamtrap id if you must enter email ids into web forms. Obfuscate the id to throw off regex matchers. Have a good spam filter. That's the state of play as of today.