Gabe probably won't like me posting this, but this warning is for all people who post on MotoringFile. It seems that spammers use MotoringFile to gather email addresses (as happens with MANY other sites), so I advise against providing your email address unless you like spam. I've already alerted Gabe.

I have a "catch-all" email address, meaning you can email just about anything to my domain name and I'll get it. So when I post things on MotoringFile, I use the email address: motoringfile@[mydomain], on NAM: nam@[domainname], etc. This works extremely well in situations where either someone sells my email address or they get picked up by a collector because I simply block that single email address, in this case motoringfile@[domainname]

BTW: MotoringFile is a great site, and I want every to go there, just be wary of posting your email address.

Thanks for the heads up Daniel

You make it sound like this is something specific to that site.

Virtually every email address posted openly on the internet gets picked up by spiders. While your statement is true, calling out only one specific site seems to imply that they are unique in this.

Blog spammers are a problem in general, not just on MotoringFile. There should be some security hacks and updates for his blog software.

Thanks - that's good info. That explains alot. I guess there's no way to get my posts deleted from there... but no more email address for now on.

The true geeks on sites like slashdot.org typically add extraneous words or characters within the email addy to trick the spiders. As an example, myname@[spamsucks]gmail.com. That way, the address does not register as valid for the spiders, but if someone really wants to email that person, they will have to remove the extra characters to make it work. You might want to try this technique when posting to any forum to lessen the spam.

The above statement is absolutely 100% true. This is an internet wide issue, not a site issue. Anytime and anywhere you use your email address you are a target for a spider and you will get spammed. It's specifically because of this that we make entering your email address purely optional on MotoringFile.

I'd highly recommend either not using your email address, entering it without the "@" symbol (or something to that effect), or having a spam email address that you use for the web.

Sorry to make it seem like it is specific to MotoringFile, but people in the NAM community visit MotoringFile and possibly post there. I understand this is not specific to that site; however, I wanted to announce that 1) there is a spider actively gathering emails from that site, and 2) none of the techniques employed by other sites are being used on MotoringFile.

Thanks goes to Gabe for making entry of email addresses purely optional on MotoringFile.

I've suggested this to Gabe via a comment/concern on his site.

Just to clarify. Supplying an e-mail address has been purely optional information on motoringfile. It is not a new change.

Thanks for making that clear Dave. I hope this makes people a bit more aware of how some spam works. Spiders or bots often comb sites for any email addresses. Once they get them, they send out spam that often have a fake return email addresses that look vaguely official.

Unrelated to this post on NAM but somewhat related to spam issues pervasive on the web, we've been planning on a major overhaul of how MF handles comments (among other things). Look for big changes coming in the weeks...

Yes, it has been this way since I've started visiting MF. Sorry to imply this was a recent change.