Stop The Spam.... Blockers!

The only thing worse than SPAM itself is a SPAM BLOCKER.

Well, actually, the worst is a spam blocker & anti-virus combo.

My advice: If you use a SPAM blocker, please check the folder often and don't choose the setting that automatically deletes spam and suspicious messages.

As the webmaster for many websites, I often receive a hundred messages in a day. I answer each and every message promptly. If someone writes to me and does not receive a reply, chances are, they are using a SPAM blocker/firewall program that is interfering.

The problem is getting worse and I am frequently assailed with caustic messages about how awful, rude and inconsiderate I am for not having the courtesy to reply to a reasonable question.

I DID reply to the original message and also to each subsequent message - but they can never get there if they are blocked - or automatically deleted.

God only knows how many people think I am simply not answering messages.

ONE reason my messages are blocked/quarantined/deleted is because "FLU" appears in my email address and also in my surname - Fluharty.

It is bad enough having the surname and now I am stigmatized in cyberspace because of it. - Get it? FLU is a VIRUS - Ergo, that means the message must contain a VIRUS. How irrational is that?

Well, no more irrational than the numerous people who hear my sister's surname, WHITWAM, and ask, "Is that an Indian name?" Because it sounds similar to wigwam?

My sympathy really goes out to people with other surnames. They must have a heck of a time on the Internet!

A few months ago, I was trying to send a text file to the West Virginia State Archives. It was simply a transcription of a letter related to the Civil War. - I sent it 30+ times and could not get it to go through.

The WV Archives uses a SPAM filter/firewall called Barracuda. - Trust me, if you want to stop spam and viruses, that is the program for you! The downside is that it is so sensitive that you may never receive another email in your lifetime!

It turned out that the reason the message was stopped by BARRACUDA is because it contained the surname PRICKETT. This is not an uncommon name but it was stopped cold!

At least people who use that program don't have to worry about getting cussed at in an email.

But I have to wonder what communications on the Internet are like for people with surnames like Prickett, Raper, Shitler, Shittle, Cuntz, Bastardi, etc.