Jean, That is a lot of paranoid hogwash! The search engines do not record your name and address when you use them!!! They do record the IP address you came from, but that's for statistical purposes and is never made public nor can it be read from anyone on the net. How would they get your name unless you give it to them? There is so much paranoia about cookies I won't even start, but there is NO relationship between cookies and spam. Set your IE privacy setting to Medium High or High and don't worry about them. Your history cache is used to change the color of links you've visited. It's not readable by anyone outside your computer. How could that be used by spammers anyway? There are good spam filters and there are terrible spam filters. Some ISPs filter based on content. That gets tons of RootsWeb and other list mail caught every day. Even worse, some don't allow you to see what was caught; they just bounce it back. Never, EVER, use an ISP that bounces mail back; that just increases email traffic. Use one that allows you to check the trapped mail so you can release the ones with the answers to your dead ends. The biggest way that your addresses are harvested by spammers is by spidering websites. Anytime your email address appears on a webpage in plain text, it's in danger of being harvested. That includes researchers you've sent your data to who credit you on their webpages. E.g. "Data supplied by bob@juch.org". Bob Juch http://www.Juch.org -----Original Message----- From: theshadow [mailto:theshadow@glade.net] Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 9:41 AM To: MSMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [MSMARSHA-L] Crank Email on the list... <snip> That was accurate. By the way, every time we use one of the search engines we put our name and address out on the net for perpetuity. If you want to check to see how many times your address appear on any search engine just go to one of them (Google, Dogpile, Yahoo, Excite, alltheweb, altavista, Bigfoot, Lycos, MSNsearch), type in your first and last name and you will see how many times you've visted a website---including the URL for the site. One last thing and then I'll hush. If you will delete the Cookie cache and clear your History cache everyday you will have a greater chance of stopping Spam from entering your mailbox. I'll be glad to help anyone learn how to do this if they have Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is very simple and well worth doing---I usually do it as soon as I get off the websites I want to look at. Also if your ISP does not have a Spam filter then insist that they get one---that should be part of the service you are paying for. Jean Hancock in TX

Bob, Thank you for your "informative reply", however if you don't mind I think I'll listen to what my ISP guru has told me to do. A little paranoia never hurts anyone while sometimes being too trusting can. There are many weird folks out in this old world and it can be quite dangerous if we are not forewarned. To say that anyone on the web "does not do something" is a little naive to me as I have faith that if something is possible there is always someone who can do it---and not always to our advantage. Early in my web searching I was cyberstalked by some nut who not only knew who I was but the town I lived in---simply by tracking my email address! Fortunately, for me, I live in the boondocks on our ranch so there was little chance of that nut finding me should he have wanted to. When a search engine such as Google can not only publicize your name and address but a map to your house I'd say it is better to be cautious. I do agree with you about the type of filter system your ISP uses and is something that individuals should be thoroughly discussed with them. I certainly appreciate your comments but I don't like being told that what I say is "hogwash". That really isn't very sanitary and I consider myself to be a clean sort of gal! <g> Hope you have a good evening. Jean ----- Original Message ----- From: Bob Juch To: MSMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 12:29 PM Subject: RE: [MSMARSHA-L] Crank Email on the list... Jean, That is a lot of paranoid hogwash! The search engines do not record your name and address when you use them!!! They do record the IP address you came from, but that's for statistical purposes and is never made public nor can it be read from anyone on the net. How would they get your name unless you give it to them? There is so much paranoia about cookies I won't even start, but there is NO relationship between cookies and spam. Set your IE privacy setting to Medium High or High and don't worry about them. Your history cache is used to change the color of links you've visited. It's not readable by anyone outside your computer. How could that be used by spammers anyway? There are good spam filters and there are terrible spam filters. Some ISPs filter based on content. That gets tons of RootsWeb and other list mail caught every day. Even worse, some don't allow you to see what was caught; they just bounce it back. Never, EVER, use an ISP that bounces mail back; that just increases email traffic. Use one that allows you to check the trapped mail so you can release the ones with the answers to your dead ends. The biggest way that your addresses are harvested by spammers is by spidering websites. Anytime your email address appears on a webpage in plain text, it's in danger of being harvested. That includes researchers you've sent your data to who credit you on their webpages. E.g. "Data supplied by bob@juch.org". Bob Juch http://www.Juch.org -----Original Message----- From: theshadow [mailto:theshadow@glade.net] Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2004 9:41 AM To: MSMARSHA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [MSMARSHA-L] Crank Email on the list... <snip> That was accurate. By the way, every time we use one of the search engines we put our name and address out on the net for perpetuity. If you want to check to see how many times your address appear on any search engine just go to one of them (Google, Dogpile, Yahoo, Excite, alltheweb, altavista, Bigfoot, Lycos, MSNsearch), type in your first and last name and you will see how many times you've visted a website---including the URL for the site. One last thing and then I'll hush. If you will delete the Cookie cache and clear your History cache everyday you will have a greater chance of stopping Spam from entering your mailbox. I'll be glad to help anyone learn how to do this if they have Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is very simple and well worth doing---I usually do it as soon as I get off the websites I want to look at. Also if your ISP does not have a Spam filter then insist that they get one---that should be part of the service you are paying for. Jean Hancock in TX