Paintball or Porn?

[shamu]

You don't have to enter your email address for a site to collect it. If you have it configured in your browser (or use IE/Outlook), then the site can collect that info right from your browser. A lot of sites, both legitimate and shady, do this to build their own email lists. It's a questionable practice to slam people onto a mailing list, but it's not unprecedented. They don't need spyware to pull your email address from your browser.

Besides, we're talking about paintball here. It's not exactly the pinnacle of responsible, trustworthy business practices, now is it? Combine that with the internet and what have you got? A lot of untrustworthy characters.

If you don't want to get slammed like this in the future, you can leave the email part of your IE profile blank. Or do what I do - fill it with a string of vulgarity disguised as an email address.


PS - where's the porn? I expected at least one half-naked woman in this thread....

 

[John C]

I wanted porn too

The long and short of it is they have your email address cos YOU gave it to them.

They may have got it by some devious means but they didnt guess it did they??



Your second mistake was to read the email they sent you. They may collect hundreds of emails every day which could be fake or inactive.
The servers that provide the content for spam emails are set up to record which email addresses are active because every time you open an email that contains content not held inside the email (ie images/html) then the server knows that this particular email has been opened.

As soon as you opened the email you are basicly saying to the spammers "Hey I read my mail, even when its from you bunch of pricks." That really gets them excited and encourages them to spam you more.



The simple practical solution is to change your email address and never give it out except by phone.

 

[rancid]

What a great idea. I think we should do that. Cheers Bacs.

 

[Flash-Bugout]

Originally posted by ices
Do a anti-virus sweep or google a decent spyware killer.

If anybody reading this doesn't have a decent anti virus, and doesn't regularly scan for spyware, please turn off your computer, put it back in the box, and return it to the store you bought it from. You're simply too damn dumb to be using it.

With the number of free firewalls/anti virus apps/etc out there, you'd have thought that there wouldn't be any viruses out loose in interweb world...

 

[John C]

Originally posted by Flash-Bugout
If anybody reading this doesn't have a decent anti virus, and doesn't regularly scan for spyware, please turn off your computer, put it back in the box, and return it to the store you bought it from. You're simply too damn dumb to be using it.

I dont run anti virus software, neither do any of my friends. Cos we want to play games on our PCs without it going as slow as a spectrum.

My PC didnt come in a box, I built it and considering im too dumb to be using a computer Im doing quite well on my Computer Science degree.

 

[Bolter]

type in avg on google and download their anti-virus software. I also play games like Counter Strike and FarCry and avg never bothers me when I am playing. Others have, this one must be special!!

 

[Baca Loco]

Originally posted by rancid
What a great idea. I think we should do that. Cheers Bacs.

Sure, no problem. Glad I could offer a positive contribution.
Howe 'bout some really, really small print at forum registration that indicates registration obligates them to a term mag subscription?
Then follow up by making a deal with the phone company (mine is Verizon, the scumbags) to add monthly subscription rates to signees phone bills. They'll gladly oblige for a modest kickback. Since most of them won't even know it you don't even have to send out the mags. Win, win

 

[shamu]

Sounds like you should start your own national paintball league.

 

[Dark Warrior]

Ten of thousand of sites out there contain spyware of some description a lot of them in seemingly harmless adverts etc, so as well as a virus scanner and a firewall some sort of adware/malware cleaner such as Ad-aware or Spy-Bot S&D is essential

 

[ices]

Guys, Baca isnt really interested in how to kill spyware ****.

He just wants to know whether there are more p8nt related sites out there with the same tactics.

Oh look, a sensible post from me.