Greetings, all.  Larry Smith wrote (about changing addresses):

> It won't help.  The problem is that it's way easy to get AOL
> addresses from within AOL - even easier than "harvesting" them
> from USENET.

It's true.  Yesterday I checked my main AOL account's email and there
was *46* spam messages ("make money fast/hot babes/lose weight fast/
chance of a lifetime, etc.")

Yet, I still desire to keep AOL for cheap 'web space: I'm still
only paying $10/month!  So, I finally changed my account's "mail
preferences" to block *all* mail except for specific addresses on a
list.  Now I'll only use that account for posting to USENET newsgroups.

To check your own USENET exposure, go to:
        http://www.dejanews.com
and search your (or other's) email addresses.  DejaNews is attempting
to archive EVERY email message ever sent to a USENET newsgroup. Scary.

> You _can_ reduce the total spam - by getting an account with an ISP
> that doesn't make it so easy to get your address [snip]

True again.  But most local ISP's still charge $20/month, with less
web space than my AOL accounts, and [with AOL] I can go anywhere in
the country and AOL is almost always a local call.  But if I was just
starting out today, I'd definitely use a local ISP, rather than AOL.

Best wishes.

Pete Woodworth