Changing my email address

[Buckeye]

I am switching from an Earthlink email address which I have had for nearly 20 years to gmail.

The strangest thing is happening and that is I am receiving almost no spam email at my old email address. The old email is still up and running and will be for remainder of the year. Can anyone explain why the spam has virtually dried up (gone from a dozen a day to one or none)?

I like gmail, especially since I have not received one spam message over the last month.

 

[DayDreaming]

Since your gmail address is brand new, the spammers just haven't found you yet. They will. Over time, the amount of spam you receive will keep increasing as your email address becomes known to more and more spammers.

Just be careful about showing your email address on any public web page - that will help minimize the spam you receive.

(But I have no idea why the spam dried up at your OLD address).

 

[Greencheese]

I think spam filters for email have been vastly improved. In the past I remember just about anything would wind up in your mailbox, but now companies like Google are able to analyze all the emails being received and quickly mark specific emails and pattern emails for spam so you never see them. While some people hate that Google auto scans your emails for ads and such, there are some benefits to it. I presume all companies have been striving to do the same.

 

[Lakedog]

I like gmail, especially since I have not received one spam message over the last month.

I switched to gmail a few years ago and very rarely receive spam email, but yahoo (secondary email address) is a completely different story with a few spam messages daily.

 

[Buckeye]

I just checked my old email and there were no messages in the spam filter. That means no spam emails for about the last 18 hours. I never got a huge amount but zero for that length of time is pretty amazing.

 

[marko]

I"m trying to figure out what the problem is here.

 

[Buckeye]

I"m trying to figure out what the problem is here.

Yes, you are right. I'm pretty much worried about nothing but I can't figure out why the spam has dropped off to nothing even though I have changed nothing about my old email account. Why does using (or not using, in this case) an email address have such a tremendous effect on how much spam is received?

The only thing I can think of is that the spammers filter out inactive email addresses so they are not wasting their spam!

 

[imoldernu]

Afraid to change my Email address...
Hey!... It's me!...25,000 websites and 10 years later.
My link to the world outside.

 

[Tadpole]

Maybe - if you set the old email address to forward to the new email address, the filters at the new location are just eliminating the spam from the old location before you see it.

 

[Buckeye]

Maybe - if you set the old email address to forward to the new email address, the filters at the new location are just eliminating the spam from the old location before you see it.

Yes, I am fetching emails from the old address but the spam is routed to my 'suspect email' folder which does not come over to the new address. Daily, I go back to the old account and check what's in the "suspect email' folder. Still nothing today. Don't they know my supply of Viagra is running out!

 

[PERSonalTime]

I am switching from an Earthlink email address which I have had for nearly 20 years to gmail.

The strangest thing is happening and that is I am receiving almost no spam email at my old email address. The old email is still up and running and will be for remainder of the year. Can anyone explain why the spam has virtually dried up (gone from a dozen a day to one or none)?

I like gmail, especially since I have not received one spam message over the last month.

So why did you switch after 20 years?

 

[Buckeye]

So why did you switch after 20 years?

I stopped using Earthlink as my ISP several years ago but I have paid them $30 per year to continue using their webmail. When renewal time rolled around in January, the price had jumped to $60 per year, even pre-paying for the year. They increased the storage space by 10X but I didn't need additional storage space.

I squawked for about half an hour in an email chat and the price for the year dropped to $40. I knew it was going to take months to get everything switched over (and at least a month to get motivated to do it!) after having one email address for so many years so I signed up for another year.

Sometimes increasing prices doesn't increase revenue, especially when there are good, free alternatives! The 50% price increase finally got me motivated to switch.