A warning about posting your email address

I think I've mentioned this before, but I just got a SPAM email to an address that I posted in 3 places on the site, forgetting about this issue.

If you post your email address anywhere on the site, like in the forums, or if you have it displayed in your main profile, then it is possible for spammers to find your address on C3VR and use it to send you spam.  Sometime in the near future I will remove email address visibility from the main profiles.

So if you want someone to contact you, tell them to PM you instead of posting your email address.

To see if you email is readily available on an internet search, Google your email address and see if it turns anything up.

Thanks for the reminder.

I been sayin that all along! Ya gotta watch what ya put out there for the low-lifes...

Good point Adam, thanks for the advise .

Thanks Adam! Because I am fairly computer illiterate concerning the workings of computers how does a posted e-mail address turn into spam? Is this done by a person. Is it done by some sort of search engine? Just curiouson how this happens?

[QUOTE=Tuxblacray]Thanks Adam! Because I am fairly computer illiterate concerning the workings of computers how does a posted e-mail address turn into spam? Is this done by a person. Is it done by some sort of search engine? Just curiouson how this happens? [/QUOTE]

Either/Or.  Mostly it is from a automated "harvester" program. It is like a search engine, but it is only looking for email addresses. When it find them, it puts them into a database. Then the addresses can either be sold or used by the company that did the harvesting for their own spamming.

Thanks Adam   Googled my address and found it in three places on the net.  I bet thats where all my spam is coming from.

 Thanks for the tip Adam, I'm clean so far !!