NOPE! Tried another test message to myself yesterday and no go. Was planing to ask my teenage daughter to IM them (for me, since I never did IM), at the latest RED GW alert message: "If you are unable to contact us via email and are trying to report problems on our forums, you may send an AOL instant message to username gardenwebhelp" If anything, things got WORSE, I do not if is just my computer, but lately, each time I click on a FF thread, it takes ages and ages ages... to load/display it. George (NJ).

All they have to do is click on your member name, then 'send email'. That's the only way that it would say it was coming from GardenWeb. I'm sure they are just selecting everyone who's active on a particular forum. It may be annoying, but it's not personal. You said it gave you the creeps; what about it was creepy? BTW, I think you should do like Jo and report it to GardenWeb. And of course never, never open links that come to you from unwanted emails! Kate

You can also make your e-mail visible... then anytime you post, it would show up in your "posted by" line... like: Posted by brazosvalleygardener TX Zone 8 (JWS@brazovalley.com) on Tue, Jul 3, 07 at 9:43 ...but the e-mail address will be clickable--this way anyone can contact you thru their e-mail client program in case thru GW doesn't work... but you're wide-open to receiving more spam that way.

No software, no protocol and no activity is 100% effective. Helpful, but not absolute. And yes, address generators and miners are a spammer's best friend. However, focusing on the word "best" the adage is still absolutely true. Unfortunately users are still their own worst enemy, particularly newbies and the those with limited experience. Through their zealousness to enjoy, and learn on the Internet they register on sites without proper research. They use forwards. They CC. They publish their e-mail address in plain view. They fill in the line on product registration cards. They register on-line for newsletters and free product coupons. And, all this are just examples. We as users sit at home and pay our ISP money for the privilege to connect to the Internet. Site commerce is what drives the Internet. Even legitimate spam though annoying is perhaps useful. It is quite similar to the bulk mail we all get in our mailbox at home. A user's biggest concern is the malicious, false or unwanted, by subject, spam. My personal remedy has been being security minded with my addresses, and multiple e-mail addresses for dedicated use. DA