Has the spam dam really burst?

Ha. Some people say that Spam's beign made out to be worse than it is?

Then tell me why I have to have a seperate account to sign up for stuff, and that account gets - literally - hundreds of emails PER DAY, most of which are deleted as spam? I save MAYBE 5 of those a day.

My Juno and Netzero accounts are useless. ALL they get are spam. Period.

I know when I "opt in" to get messages. There are five game companies, two computer companies, and a couple mailing lists (This is True and Langalist) I sign up for. If those are ALL I'd get email from, I'd get 10 a week - 14 if there's a promotion of some sort on.

I have other email accounts (not listed) that get amost zero spam. I mean, literally, I get maybe 5 a MONTH. And one of those is usually let in via Yahoo groups (someone signing onto the *group* and spamming.)

So where does all the spam come from on those other accounts?
1. I'm sure Juno and NetZero have sold my email address. I got almost NO spam on NetZero 'til Juno bought it. And I get almost the same spam on both services. (FWIW, I only use them FOR email. I check once in a while.)

2. My Hotmail account is used for everything - newsgroups, websites, signing up for lists I don't know about, that sort of thing. I've also had it for years. Yet the spam "flood" has *really* kicked in in the last year and a half or so there. I know it's out there. That's why I use it. Besides, Hotmail is regularly targeted for spam attacks - you know, you get joe123, joey123, joe1234, joe12345, jog123, all sorts of iterations of email addresses.

3. I set up Hotmail accounts for my other websites, too. I've noticed they've started getting from 5-30 spams a day. My wife's Hotmail account, which she uses for nothing, gets... almost none.

I used to go through and "Hunt down" spammers, at least the worst ones. I know I cost some of them money ("University Diplomas!" - which I haven't seen in at least 3 months - I forced them to call ME, international long distance, and kept them yakking for a while. Even got them to admit they KNEW what they were doing is spamming.) And I did this more often when I used Juno or NetZero, since they were interfering with my ISP. (I don't use them at the moment.)

Yet when I realized how I could control what THEY saw and spammed, I dont' worry any more. Sure, I still think spammers should be hung by their gonads (small though they are,) whipped, covered in jalapeno juice, then dipped in honey and left by a fire ant mound. But at least I can (mostly) keep them out of my "real" accounts.