Spam from putting email address public on Registry?

minibeers

I'm new to the game here and, before I list my email address publicly on any of the set registries, I was wondering if someone could let me know in advance how much my spam volume might increase. Currently, I don't get hardly any spam at all and I'm very careful about where I post it on the web. I've had to deactivate my email I used on ebay twice now because I was getting pummelled by it and I would prefer to avoid that nonsense if at all possible.

cheers
Scott

jackstraw

i would say that if you don't want people emailing you with cards that you need for your set then don't publish your email.
if you do publish your email the volume of(i wouldn't call it spam)emails from people who have cards you need is minimal at best.
that does depend on the sets and how many you are trying to complete. i consider spam when someone sees you bidding on a joe mullan card you want for your set and sends you an email saying "i see your a big joe mullan fan so check out my autographed puck".
i have made a few good friendships from the board and by publishing my email.

sellerman23

I don't publish my email, but my username is the same as my eBay username, so people can figure it out and contact me if they really wanted to. Only once has someone gone through the trouble of going to eBay and contacting me that way. They just wanted to know if one if PSA 9's were for sale. I told them thank you and that it was not and that was all.

If I were looking for people to contact about cards that I needed, I might do it, but I blow enough money on eBay as it is...

I think that I have gotten spam by putting my email address on my auctions, though.
That might come off soon.

Dave
sellerman23

yawie99

I recommend going public. I've developed a good relationship with a guy who has a lot of nice cards for one of my sets, as well as a few for my other two. I had never even heard of the guy until he contacted me. Plus, going public seems to help build camaraderie with fellow collectors, at least the ones that aren't hypercompetitive.

Of course, I've also had a guy contact me saying he had an SGC 3 copy of the last card I need for one of my sets. I think he thought I was going to break the bank for the card, which definitely would not have crossed to a PSA 3 due to significant paper loss on back, so nothing materialized, but it wasn't necessarily a waste of time.

I'm sure baseball people get a lot more e-mails through the Registry than us hockey cultists, but I'm guessing most would agree that the upside outweighs the nuisance factor.

mariner

Scott.....

I have my email address listed on my registry sets and have since I joined. I have not had any spam problems at all. I do get contacted by fellow collectors who have similar interests and have traded and sold accordingly. It all has been positive and I have communicated with some great new people. I would recommend it.

helionaut

I don't think the registry pages are trolled by spammers like they are with newsgroups, regular web pages, and ebay. You have to click through three layers of pages to get to one email address. But as someone who gets 400-500 email messages a day, 98% spam, I couldn't say if my spam increased or not after getting on the registry.

But the benefits of a good hobby deal outweigh the small chance of nuisances, IMHO.

minibeers

Thanks for all the follow up posts. I guess I should have defined what I mean by spam. I consider spam to be the ENLARGE YOUR... and M.O.R.T.G.A.G.E and other crap like that. Emails from collectors are greatly appreciated by me and I take time to answer them all. I just don't want automated stuff from some African king trying to wire me money. I've helped so many folks from Africa that have needed my help getting money into my bank account that I just can't handle any more requests.
Scott

Griffins

I use this particular email address only for the CU board and the registry. I probably get 2-4 pieces of spam a week of the type you are talking about. Since I have a delete button on my keyboard the aggravation from this is greatly outweighed by the emails I have gotten from other collectors offering cards or information about the sets I collect.
If you are worried about spam interferring with your primary email address I suggest you set up another account just for this. In my opinion the contact with other collectors is worth it.

minibeers

Based on the feedback, I've just gone public. I think based on the fact that the addresses being 3 levels deep and the fact that the pages are database driven templates and not static HTML the chances I will get automated junk email probably won't be bad.
Thanks all,
Scott

Fabfrank

I wouldn't have developed the friendships and contacts I have if I didn't post my email address. If you do get spam, just delete and/or block.