How does email come to me without my address

[kflorek]

Evidently it is possible to send email to me without having my email address being present, since I do get it. So what is it these prank/nonsense/viral emailers do to get it here? I know I can't send an email without an address to send it to.

This trash always has a different sender. Often the content looks like generated random phrases. They usually have a link to something that looks like nonsense, but I never click on it for fear of it confirming my existence and beng sent more. Most of it does have my email address, usually with some others. Is there some way of finding out if these things have anything in common so I can filter them? Is there any way of going to the links without confirming that I got the email?


Is there a site that explains this so it makes sense? I did not have this as a problem with my ISP until maybe a year ago. (And My MSN hotmail fixed this years ago. Before that it was constant crap.)


I don't want to have to have a list of only certain people and sites that I have to worry about updating constantly.

[tubezninja]

Evidently it is possible to send email to me without having my email address being present, since I do get it. So what is it these prank/nonsense/viral emailers do to get it here? I know I can't send an email without an address to send it to.


It's called Blind CC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_carbon_copy), a standard e-mail feature. It, like e-mail in general, has its usefulness and is used in a number of legitimate situations. It's just that unfortunately, it (like e-mail itself) can be used for not-so-beneficial purposes like sending spam.

[aaaantoine]

You can receive email with someone else's name in the To: field if your address is in the Bcc: field. I'm pretty sure Bcc information isn't sent via email.

Filtering out spam is best left up to the mail provider (or failing that, the mail client), who can receive individual cases of spam from its users and use those cases to determine what is and is not spam.

If you are the mail provider, then, uh, you have to come up with your own spam filter. Keep in mind that spam filtering is the sort of thing that companies like Cloudmark sell subscriptions for. Like virus database upkeep, it really is a full time job.

[pp.]

You can display either the source code or all of the headers of the offending mail. That way, you see all the information contained in the mail, including much that's normally hidden.

I won't pretend that I understand all of it, though.

[swoll1980]

Is your your name God, or Santa Clause? That could explain it all right there.

[kflorek]

Is your your name God, or Santa Clause? That could explain it all right there.

Shush! It it gets out, I'll never see an end to this.:lolflag:

[LaRoza]

Shush! It it gets out, I'll never see an end to this.:lolflag:

Emails sent. I expect answers.

[JillSwift]

Shush! It it gets out, I'll never see an end to this.:lolflag:Yeah, well, I have a question about the pony I asked for when I was 9. :tongue:

[LaRoza]

Yeah, well, I have a question about the pony I asked for when I was 9. :tongue:

Check your chimney...

[JillSwift]

Check your chimney... :shock: Oh dear.

[kflorek]

:shock: Oh dear.

Mortals, you have to follow through on things like this. I can only handle so much myself.