You may have wondered how the spammers get your email address (so that they can send you unwanted ads for mortgage refinance, prescription drugs, and Viagra).   You probably thought that your email provider was selling lists of addresses to the penis-enlargement guys.

Not necessarily.

The spammers send "robots" throughout the web.   The "robots" look through millions of webpages for email addresses (which always contain the character "@" and always end in "net" or "com" or "gov").   These email addresses are collected and put on lists, and voila, you start receiving email from people you don't even know.

If you post your email address in a guestbook, you'll end up on their list.   If you put your email address on one of your own webpages (a "Send me email" button), it ends up on their list.

So I decided to give them a gift:   3,600 email addresses that don't exist (see below).

May the spammers choke, and may their computers burst into flame.   Come and get it!

NOTE:   Most of the pages on my website are protected against "right-click" (View Source) theft.   THIS ONE IS NOT.   Please feel free to copy this page (modify it any way you want to) and put it onto your own website.   Or, if you want to, just put a link to it on your own page: