[MikeGadget]

I spend way to much time managing spam. So when I see a link between mails I have to speak out. I carefully manage one of my mail accounts to keep spam to a minimum there with minimal filtering and another with heavy filtering for those online dealings where spam risk is high.

I find it a striking coincidence that when a friend unbeknownst to me names me as a referral using the more protected email account. I get a nice tivo referal reward message from help at tivo com for that referal. So when I haven’t seen spam in this account for months I get 2 refinance spams within hours of this message with all the typical countermeasures.

Coincidence ?

How ironic that a tool like Tivo that saves me so much of my time is undermining that by propagating spam that wastes so much of my time. :down:

 

[megazone]

I doubt it - I have an address dedicated to TiVo stuff. I only use it for my TiVo account, and therefore referals - I don't think it has ever received spam, and I've had a few referrals.

 

[audiocrawford]

Same here - I opened up a Yahoo! account soley for my TiVo and never gotten any spam at all (and I've gotten refferals).

As a bit of advice, I agree with your initial statement "I spend way to(o) much time managing spam." You seem to spend a great deal of time thinking about it. I've learned the best way to deal with spam is to use a good provider that does most of the work for you (i.e. Yahoo!) and the occasional errant spam that doesn't make it into the bulk folder I simply report as spam and delete, to help others.

If you are spending more than 30-40 seconds a day "managing" spam, then perhaps you need to look at your mail provider. No matter who you use a spam or three a day will make it to your inbox, and clicking "delete" only takes a second. Spam is not as much of a problem for end users these days as it is for ISP's who have to deal with all the extra traffic they produce.

In any case, it is highly doubtful TiVo was the cause of your spam.

AC

 

[gonzotek]

According to their privacy policy, unless you've actively done something to request mail be sent to you, they won't share your information with other parties

TiVo Rewards Terms and Conditions
TiVo Privacy Policy
TiVo Rewards FAQs

What is the TiVo Rewards privacy policy?
TiVo Rewards respects your privacy. Any personal information you give us will be kept confidential and secure. For more information on how TiVo Rewards protects your privacy and security, check out our privacy policy.

 

[MikeMar]

I just got my first referal the other day. Could go for another 7 or so!

 

[davezatz]

I've learned the best way to deal with spam is to use a good provider that does most of the work for you (i.e. Yahoo!) and the occasional errant spam that doesn't make it into the bulk folder I simply report as spam and delete, to help others.

I second Yahoo! I pay the annual 20 bucks or so for the "premium" version and the spam filter is awesome compared to just about everything else I've used (Hotmail, Thunderbird, Earthlink's Webmail, Outlook)... At max two messages might make it through a day (compared to the hundred or so spam messages it catches). I still have to go through my spam folder to find the occasional email list message that gets caught, but overall I'm very pleased.

And how come I'm only responsible for 1 referral? I find that hard to believe.

 

[MikeMar]

Any good ways to get more referals, short of friends or word of mouth? I want a big iPod

 

[audiocrawford]

I second Yahoo! I pay the annual 20 bucks or so for the "premium" version and the spam filter is awesome compared to just about everything else I've used (Hotmail, Thunderbird, Earthlink's Webmail, Outlook)... At max two messages might make it through a day (compared to the hundred or so spam messages it catches). I still have to go through my spam folder to find the occasional email list message that gets caught, but overall I'm very pleased.

I just have Yahoo! basic (with 1GB storage), which has the same great spam filter. I do scan the bulk mail folder, but I really like how Yahoo! relies on people clicking "SPAM" to ensure it's not a mail truly intended for you, not just relying on heuristics.
Once a week or so, I will see that there is a new message, then when I try to read it enough people have clicked "SPAM" from the time it arrived and I was notified until I checked the mail that it has already been routed to bulk.

I agree, nothing else has been better for me. Spam has all but been eliminated from my online experience, without fancy software or other such effort. Again, as I said above, spammers are still an issue for the Internet at large, as the traffic created by their nonsense is hurtful (who the hell buys crap that way, anyway??!!), but it has all been eliminated from the user experience, at least at Yahoo.

AC

 

[pmcoolt]

yeah i've had 25 referrals and haven't received spam from tivo....i don't know what to tell you

 

[BobbyK]

I think you may have jumped to wrong conclusion. I have many referrals and never had a spam message follow.

 

[TiVoStephen]

Please believe me that we have NEVER sold referral e-mail addresses to any third party nor would we do so because of our Privacy Policy. We never share your personal information except with your specific permission (e.g., for a Gold Star where you request a brochure).

Dictionary spam attacks are common -- spammers send mass e-mail to EVERY combination of letters @yahoo.com and @gmail.com and @hotmail.com. If you register for a new e-mail address at one of those services, you will EVENTUALLY get spam regardless of if you never use that address for any purpose whatsoever.

Sorry that you got hit by that.

Best regards,
Stephen

 

[MikeGadget]

Thanks to all in here for the great advice.
Having several people jump in here with their experience really demonstrates that Tivo has their house in order with respect to privacy.

I'll move my suspicions and sling the mud a bit more carefully next time.

Mike

 

[megazone]

Since I have my own domain (well, a few, but one I use for most things) I create a new email address for every company I deal with, every web forum, etc. Then I know who is naughty and who is nice. ;-) One or two spam now and then I may write off to a drive by dictionary spam attack, but regular spam tips me that someone has been giving out the address. And I can just kill that address at that point.

 

[Tivofoo]

I too have my own domain and create emails for each web login account I deal with to track spam. I was getting ready to send Tivo a nasty gram as I've started to get a good deal of spam to the email I setup for Tivo.

But then I remembered how bots are crawling through web sites and blogs looking for valid emails. And sure enough, I listed my Tivo email acount in my blog when talking about Tivo goodness and used it as a referral. So it looks like I shot myself in the foot here.

So just be aware this is one example of how these spammers can get your email outside of Tivo's control.

 

[mike3775]

Whenever I buy online, I have a yahoo email address just for online orders. That way, if the place I am buying from does sell my info, its a generic email address that I never check daily anyways because I only check it when I order stuff online.

It may get spammed out but it doesn't bother me because its not my primary email addy.

Tivo has my primary ISP email addy, and I get the newsletter from them, but have never recieved spam in that email addy except for what TiVoOpsMgr stated, the generic lets guess a name and number @ ISP.com/net trick spammers will use.

And Tivo is the only company I have ever given that email addy to, so I know that Tivo does not sell or give away info.

 

[miked1960]

News Flash>>>>> If you take some time to think about it most of all spam comes from companies that use people overseas for their so called customer support. They have access to all your info to contact you. Because most are only paid a $1 per hour or slightly higher some are going to take your info and sell it off to some spammer. Every time I had to deal with DELL I got spam mail most of it from India where Dell uses and abuses their tech support. Same with Tivo. Tivo will lie and make excuse's and say it ain't so but this has all their finger prints on it. These people overseas don't get paid much. My wife is from the Philippine where Tivo "USES" the people in the Philippines and they only get paid $300-$500 a "MONTH" she has friends that work for Comcast for their tech support. other countries maybe less

 

[tenthplanet]

Gmail is very effective for catching spam. It need be no more complicated then that.