This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.

I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an occasional
question, and tried to answer a few now and then when I can. I now have a
request that is off topic, but I'm hoping you can help.

I'm one of the email system admins for my company. We're in the process of
implementing an anti-spam system. One of the things we want to do is
experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without affecting our live
user email system.

What we've done is have our ISP set up a new email domain for us,
"test.cmhmetro.net". This email domain points to our new system. We've
set up an isolated system and created a couple of accounts with those
addresses. What I want to do is all the things you're not supposed to do
with email addresses on the internet; post them in newsgroups, put them on
junk mail lists, use them to answer Nigerian banking emails, etc. The
intent is to start getting real world junk mail through this test
environment.

When we're ready to put the anti-spam software on our production system,
we'll remove the test.cmhmetro.net domain and apply the settings we've
learned to our real system.

I'm asking for help from the readers of rec.woodworking. Use the addresses
of:



and put them on any internet junk email lists you run across..

I want to make it clear, I am not asking for anyone's email address. This
isn't some address harvesting scam..

(This was also posted on alt.home.repair)

Mike O.

Have trust in UseNet bot's... In the morning, the trickle will start, by
the end of the week you'll be well known just from the post you've made -
you won't need to much help other than clicking on a few of those emails to
confirm your address is a live one and then you'll be well know around the
world - all in 3 days or less.

Bob S.

"Mike O." wrote in
:

One of the things we want to do is
experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without affecting
our live user email system.


Just set up a web page or two that contain links to your email addresses.
The spam will start almost immediately. I have found that this works
"better" than any addresses made visible via usenet.

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 04:31:46 GMT, "Mike O."
wrote:

This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.

I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an occasional
question, and tried to answer a few now and then when I can. I now have a
request that is off topic, but I'm hoping you can help.

I'm one of the email system admins for my company. We're in the process of
implementing an anti-spam system. One of the things we want to do is
experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without affecting our live
user email system.


I'd like everyone here to know that the above post was not from me and
I am not this guy and he is not me...or something like that. Sheesh!!

Mike O.

"Mike O." wrote in message
...
On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 04:31:46 GMT, "Mike O."
wrote:

This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.

I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an occasional
question, and tried to answer a few now and then when I can. I now have a
request that is off topic, but I'm hoping you can help.

I'm one of the email system admins for my company. We're in the process
of
implementing an anti-spam system. One of the things we want to do is
experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without affecting our
live
user email system.


I'd like everyone here to know that the above post was not from me and
I am not this guy and he is not me...or something like that. Sheesh!!

Mike O.

Sorry about any confusion I might have caused. I wasn't in any trying to
pretend to be someone else. I knew there was already a "Mike O." here and I
intended to use "Mike O'Donnell" in my post.

I forgot to change my signature line when I posted yesterday.

Just for the record, I'm "Mike O.", not "Mike O." Hope that clears things
up. G

This reminds me of an incident from several years ago. I ordered a piece of
(fortunately inexpensive) camera equipment. I never received the order, and
it turned out they sent it to a Bill O'Donnell in Arizona. The odd thing is
that Bill is my father's name (it wasn't him).

Mike O'Donnell

Mike O. (in ) said:

| "Mike O." wrote in message
| ...
|| On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 04:31:46 GMT, "Mike O."
|| wrote:
||
||| This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.
|||
||| I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an
||| occasional question, and tried to answer a few now and then when
||| I can. I now have a request that is off topic, but I'm hoping
||| you can help.
|||
||| I'm one of the email system admins for my company. We're in the
||| process of
||| implementing an anti-spam system. One of the things we want to
||| do is experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without
||| affecting our live
||| user email system.
||
||
|| I'd like everyone here to know that the above post was not from me
|| and I am not this guy and he is not me...or something like that.
|| Sheesh!!
||
|| Mike O.
|
| Sorry about any confusion I might have caused. I wasn't in any
| trying to pretend to be someone else. I knew there was already a
| "Mike O." here and I intended to use "Mike O'Donnell" in my post.
|
| I forgot to change my signature line when I posted yesterday.
|
| Just for the record, I'm "Mike O.", not "Mike O." Hope that clears
| things up. G
|
| This reminds me of an incident from several years ago. I ordered a
| piece of (fortunately inexpensive) camera equipment. I never
| received the order, and it turned out they sent it to a Bill
| O'Donnell in Arizona. The odd thing is that Bill is my father's
| name (it wasn't him).
|
| Mike O'Donnell

If the "Mike O" who wants to test with real spams will provide
confirmation and either an e-mail address or an FTP destination for a
zip file, I can provide about 10K that I've saved up...

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
Mike O. (in ) said:

| "Mike O." wrote in message
| ...
|| On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 04:31:46 GMT, "Mike O."
|| wrote:
||
||| This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.
|||
||| I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an
||| occasional question, and tried to answer a few now and then when
||| I can. I now have a request that is off topic, but I'm hoping
||| you can help.
|||
||| I'm one of the email system admins for my company. We're in the
||| process of
||| implementing an anti-spam system. One of the things we want to
||| do is experiment and tune the system using "real" spam, without
||| affecting our live
||| user email system.
||
||
|| I'd like everyone here to know that the above post was not from me
|| and I am not this guy and he is not me...or something like that.
|| Sheesh!!
||
|| Mike O.
|
| Sorry about any confusion I might have caused. I wasn't in any
| trying to pretend to be someone else. I knew there was already a
| "Mike O." here and I intended to use "Mike O'Donnell" in my post.
|
| I forgot to change my signature line when I posted yesterday.
|
| Just for the record, I'm "Mike O.", not "Mike O." Hope that clears
| things up. G
|
| This reminds me of an incident from several years ago. I ordered a
| piece of (fortunately inexpensive) camera equipment. I never
| received the order, and it turned out they sent it to a Bill
| O'Donnell in Arizona. The odd thing is that Bill is my father's
| name (it wasn't him).
|
| Mike O'Donnell

If the "Mike O" who wants to test with real spams will provide
confirmation and either an e-mail address or an FTP destination for a
zip file, I can provide about 10K that I've saved up...

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html


I thought about using some of the mount of junk mail we're currently
receiving in our "real" system and sending it through the filter; we
certainly have enough of it. We get approximatly 70,000 pieces of incoming
mail daily into our system, probably 3/4 of which is junk. That's why we're
setting up a filter system.

The problem is that the test environment is set up as "real" as possible
with the new system receiving mail from the outside via our ISP. If I send
mail from an inside source, it's routed directly through our network to the
target mail system without going through the filter. If I send it from an
outside source (like a hotmail account), the ISP for the source account
thinks I'm spamming.

Besides, we're already starting to receive some junk on the new accounts.
About 10 have come in over the last day or so. Of course I'm "replying" to
each one...

Mike O'Donnell

On Fri, 4 Nov 2005 20:30:53 -0600, Morris Dovey wrote:

If the "Mike O" who wants to test with real spams will provide
confirmation and either an e-mail address or an FTP destination for a
zip file, I can provide about 10K that I've saved up...

Well, all fun aside, training a spam detection system only goes so far
with someone else's spam. You really have to take the initial hit with
your particular variety of spam to get the filters trained well. Better
than starting raw _probably_, but until you teach it with your own crop,
it won't be as effective as it can be.

Better, and less effort, to just let it chew through and let it learn
the real stuff for a week or three.

Mike O. wrote:
This seems so weird to be asking to be spammed.

I've been a regular reader here for a few years. I've asked an occasional
question, and tried to answer a few now and then when I can. I now have a
request that is off topic, but I'm hoping you can help.

...

I'm asking for help from the readers of rec.woodworking. Use the addresses

...

(This was also posted on alt.home.repair)


Uh, would you consider posting to news.admin.net-abuse.email?

--

FF

"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 4 Nov 2005 20:30:53 -0600, Morris Dovey wrote:

If the "Mike O" who wants to test with real spams will provide
confirmation and either an e-mail address or an FTP destination for a
zip file, I can provide about 10K that I've saved up...

Well, all fun aside, training a spam detection system only goes so far
with someone else's spam. You really have to take the initial hit with
your particular variety of spam to get the filters trained well. Better
than starting raw _probably_, but until you teach it with your own crop,
it won't be as effective as it can be.

Better, and less effort, to just let it chew through and let it learn
the real stuff for a week or three.


I know this isn't going to give me a complete filtering setup, I'm mainly
just trying to get a feel for the system and how it works and the different
settings before we go "live". I've already informed management (several
times, in big bold letters) that:
1) No filter will eliminate spam completely
2) The tuning will be an ongoing process.

Hopefully when we go live with this and stuff still shows up in someone's
inbox, they won't blame me and/or the software (they probably will anyway)

So far, in the last week or so, my test account has:

- Won three European lotteries (all I need to do is give them my bank info
for the prize.. Three very different contests, but the verification form
has the same email address in all three..
- Been informed that my PayPal/Bank/Credit card account needs verified.
- Received a few patches from Microsoft.
- Found out where I can by $1000 worth of software for $5
- Offered discounted Viagra, Cialis, etc.

I know it's just a test, but actually those types of email are what most of
our users are getting, too.

Mike O'Donnell

On Wed, 09 Nov 2005 06:59:43 GMT, Mike O'Donnell wrote:

"Dave Hinz" wrote in message
...

Well, all fun aside, training a spam detection system only goes so far
with someone else's spam.

I know this isn't going to give me a complete filtering setup, I'm mainly
just trying to get a feel for the system and how it works and the different
settings before we go "live". I've already informed management (several
times, in big bold letters) that:
1) No filter will eliminate spam completely
2) The tuning will be an ongoing process.

3) people will bitch about what gets blocked.
4) people will bitch about what doesn't get blocked.
5) people will bitch.

Hopefully when we go live with this and stuff still shows up in someone's
inbox, they won't blame me and/or the software (they probably will anyway)

They will. See alt.sysadmin.recovery for details.

I know it's just a test, but actually those types of email are what most of
our users are getting, too.

Yup. And enough idiots click on the links that the bottom-feeders keep
doing it. Death penalty for spammers _and_ for people who buy from 'em,
I say.