I have to wonder where this list is coming from (or if it’s merely a bunch of guesses at usernames). When I’m not at my Macs, I’m usually checking my email either through the web or through my Palm. The problem with that is that neither have a spam filter. When spam inevitably arrives, I’m forced to deal with it. It’s not much right now, but clearly this could become a problem. I’ve started considering leaving one my Mac’s running with Mail.app going just to filter the majority of that unsolicited email.
Russel hits upon what I think the solution should be: server side spam filtering. Give me a basic layer of protection that dumps suspected messages into a folder of the user’s choosing. Please. I don’t want to harp upon the fact that I’m paying for the service, but that fact does reinforce the idea that Apple should implement something like this. Add some real value, it’ll go a long way with .Mac members.
As owner of a .Mac account I've only given to a few friends, I have no problem whatsoever with .Mac spam. Perhaps in addition to better filters, etc., one could cut down the spam by being a little more circumspect in giving out your email address.
Sounds like a reasonable wish. Gmail does a very good job of server-side filtering so I get very little SPAM into mail.app (1 or 2 per week).
Michael, I am very careful with my dotMac address.
In fact, to help fight spam, I've set up a private domain just for handing out email addresses. I put the business name in the address (amazon@spam.example.com). It forwards to my dotMac account.
Should that company spam me or sell my address to spammers, not only can I simply shut off just that address, but I can find out who did the deed and rat them out.
I'm not alone (as the linked blog entry suggests) and it's not simply a matter of being careless.
Even if it were just carelessness, .Mac should still have something that puts them on par with the major (free) email services.