Is email dying?

[Straylight]

When the internet first came about, you could stick your email address on your site without having to worry about being spammed. The free email providers like hotmail were actually pretty good. Nowadays, even a paid account will get filled with spam eventually, and the free providers like hotmail are flooded with spam.

Do you use email as much as you used to? Or do you tend to use alternate methods of internet communication, such as the PM system of a message board or instant messaging instead these days?

[shooraijin]

I use E-mail most of the time. I prefer mailing lists to web boards, and my server farm systems mail me status reports through cron and sendmail. I reserve IM basically for the same kinds of things I'd use the phone for -- E-mail for everything else.

Aside from the few who have my private address, the addresses I expose publicly either had such a spam problem previously that I don't care anymore, or it goes to a secretary program that reads through it with a ruleset of spam heuristics I wrote myself (I don't use Spam Assassin, this is entirely my creation), and then forwards it on or dumps it as appropriate.

[Straylight]

Interesting. I must admit most of my email usage involves keeping track of message board discussions, and pms that people have sent me on various boards.

[Link Antilles]

I never use E-mail, but check it. I have several E-mail addresses and two of them are pack with spam and the other three are spam free. Basically, If you want to talk to me either PM or IM me. E-mail is dead to me.

[inkhana]

I do use email sometimes; depending on how fast I need to get in contact with a person, I'll use a PM system also. I am on a couple of mailing lists (though I actually prefer forum software myself) And since most of my family isn't on the same boards I'm on, I still use email to communicate with them without having to rack up a high phone bill.

Incidentally, I have gotten very sick of spam, to the point that I only give out my email address to my friends, family and occasionally a company from which I order something. I have a spam address, and frankly, I'm tired of getting poorly targeted ads for ... stuff. You know what I mean...O.o

[Mithrandir]

Yeah. I have given my private address out to a very few people, and everything else get's blasted through my web based email programs. If you want to add your email address to site, and not have to worry about getting it crawled, why not use javascript? Something like:

Code: Select all

<SCRIPT TYPE="text/javascript">
  document.write('me' + '@' + 'mysite' + '.' + 'com')
</SCRIPT>


should keep the robots from getting access to it, right?

[inkhana]

Hey, that would be cool...maybe I should try that.

[shooraijin]

... except that people like me who keep it turned off won't see it.

[Mithrandir]

Yeah, but people like you have issues. Seriously, 90% of the market doesn't even know you can disable JS, let alone how to do it. If Shooby has it turned off, it's a good sign that he can figure out how to see it anyway.

[shooraijin]

Something like document.write is fine, but some of the ones I've seen are quite opaque (so I just reach for the close button in the browser). If you're going to use this approach, make it at least somewhat human-parseable.

[ShiroiHikari]

I don't use email too terribly often anymore. I have an address that I've only given out to friends, and LJ. So far it's been pretty free of teh spam, and I hope it stays that way...

I have an address that was so loaded with spam that it kept going over the inbox limit o.O so I don't use it for personal mail anymore. In fact I mainly use it to sign up for forums or what-have-you.

[andyroo]

It depends. My use of e-mail pretty spontaneous. I can go with a long time without checking mile and vice verca. I use JavaScript to case my e-mail into also. I use Anti-Spam Script Maker since I don't know a bit of JavaScript and why write it up if something will do it for you? Although, the program writes it out a little differently than you do, oldphil. I usually don't use IM.

[madphilb]

I use e-mail all the time, get almost no spam, but I don't have the address listed most places on the web, I don't give it out to sites (aside from places like this one).

I never send e-mail cards (aside from those through Yahoo since I already get their own spam with that e-mail account), I don't register at any joke sites, etc.

I agree with Shooby on the accesiblity thing... though something like the code posted earlier is humanly readable. The other would be to use things llike the old NOSPAM in the address trick (have they made the spambots smart enough to filter those yet?) or spelling out the address (i.e. - madphilb-at-yahoo-dot-com ) which doesn't offer much for clicking links to e-mail, but it's easy enough to copy-paste-edit. (and with Yahoo for my primary e-mail account I can't click on mailto: links anyway).

Using this same sort of stuff with my old Earthlink account I could keep my Spam at a minium, however older accounts wheren't so lucky, usually due to un-guarded posting of the e-mail address in public places (Usenet Newsgroups, web sites, site registrations, etc).

PHIL

[MillyFan]

I use e-mails for initial communication about 50% of the time (when nothing else is available) but I highly prefer board-based communication and AIM to e-mail.

Mostly, my e-mail is a way station of sorts: I use it to get notification of posts to boards (which is REALLY helpful sometimes to me as a moderator on another board: day before yesterday, some trolls made the fatal error of posting their spam to a thread to which I was subscribed: ), to exchange fanfic chapters with Haibane Shadsie so we can co-write them, to contact people that have no other listed means of contact, and to send images when my webspace is down.

Not only does spam annoy me, but forwards and the generally cumbersome nature of e-mail also bother me.

EDITED to add: Madphil is right. Spam is dependent on where you give your address. My SassyHush Compuserve address (which I do my best to guard) only gets a few spams a month. My "bishiefangirl" yahoo address gets MUCH more, simply because I use it to register at games sites and because I used it to pull a prank on that fount of spam and ordination mill called the "Universal Life Church" (LOL, PM me if you want that story, it's a riot ) My new "fayequeenofhearts" mail.com address, which I use ONLY to bait spammers and scammers, will most likely get all spam all of the time. Or at least I hope it does-wasting the time of these Nigerian scammers is great fun. Hehe. ~.^

[Bobtheduck]

I still use e-mail because not everyone has IMs or goes on message boards such as this, and not everyone freely gives me their telephone number...

My preferred method of communication is face to face, but that's only valid with people I know quite well... I Have a hard time getting things started like that...

The problem with e-mail/messageboards, and to a lesser degree, IMs is that my personality is a bit different in these places as it is in face to face conversation. However, I prefer imperfect communication to NO communication...

[Rashiir]

I use email all the time...I have like 7 emails that are checked every five min (when my computer's on). I guess I don't send mail much, but I'm pretty much reachable through it whenever I'm at my computer...

[LorentzForce]

my hotmail box is still only 22% full. only a few spams come along, probably because i don't release it to anyone unless they are trust-worthy people.

[Tet-chan]

I use my email really often.
I always block spam from my hotmail

[Michael]

That's like asking if the U.S. postal system has died, and the answer is (In my honest personal opinion) no.

[Will Smith, Jr]

I don't if it has died but it is frustrating to get spammed all the time. I don't know how everybody else does it but my Hotmail kept getting filled with all manner of mess. Talk about trying to stay holy!

I just use my work email to get and send work related messages.

Thanks to the format here, I know have a better outlet than just plain old email.

Blessings,
WillieDoc

[Heaven's Cloud]

I use e-mail very little. I don't use hotmail, I use one that doesn't ever get spam, and it's free. Mine is from japan.com, and I have never gotten spam.

I also don't use e-mail much anymore because of AIM, it's faster. If you are tired of spam you can start using japan.com. I used to use hotmail, but not no more.

[Fsiphskilm]

Well, I don't think e-mail is dieing.