Turning off catch-all

[#1]

Possibly a silly question, but will turning off the catch-all really help stop spam?
I've checked the properties of a random selection of the recent spam I've received and most of it seems to be addressed to my default plusnet username.
On the other hand, my emails from plusnet are addressed to 'postmaster' (as are emails from a few other trusted sources).
Will turning off the catch-all stop me receiving emails addressed to 'postmaster' ?
Sorry if this sounds a bit naive, but I rarely tinker with email settings (I didn't need to before the current spam-fest).

[#2]

The postmaster address is the one we use to send account related communications to you so unfortunately this has to remain open. If you change the default address and turn off the catch all a redirect to postmaster will automatically be created to your default mailbox.
Hope that helps,

[#3]

Thanks for the replies.
I actually want to continue receiving emails addressed to 'postmaster'  so that isn't a problem.
Just to keep things at the 'plusnet email for dummies' level, I'm not sure exactly what's  involved in renaming the default address (the help pages don't make it explicit).
Is it simply a case of deleting the defaut 'username@username.plus...' and changing it to 'anothername@username.plus...' or does it in fact involve changing the bit after the '@' ?

[#4]

Quote

Is it simply a case of deleting the defaut 'username@username.plus...' and changing it to 'anothername@username.plus...'

Yep, that's exactly it.

[#5]

Thanks.
I'll make the changes and report back later to confirm whether or not  it's helped stem the tide of spam.

[#6]

Well, so far it looks like all the spam that was going into my default account is now going straight into my webmail spam folder.
Which is good.
I'm still getting a few  spams going to one of my mailboxes, but things are looking up.

[#7]

I did the same thing in August Bookworms and I haven't received any SPAM since.
Like you I wanted my catchall facility turned on so that I could use multiple email addresses.
I realise that one day spammers will find another address to spam me on but I'll just deal with that as and when it happens. 

[#8]

Quote from: orbrey

The postmaster address is the one we use to send account related communications to you so unfortunately this has to remain open. If you change the default address and turn off the catch all a redirect to postmaster will automatically be created to your default mailbox.

I have provided an actively monitored address as my contact address in my account settings, aliased Postmaster to the default mailbox and turned off the catch-all. According to my Email Settings this has been accepted. I receive only one copy of PN emails - the one addressed to my contact address.
Am I misinterpreting what is happening? (I'm on FOL)
Jim

[#9]

Quote from: jazz

I did the same thing in August Bookworms and I haven't received any SPAM since. Like you I wanted my catchall facility turned on so that I could use multiple email addresses. I realise that one day spammers will find another address to spam me on but I'll just deal with that as and when it happens.

I am still receiving a few spams every hour or so to my POP 3 email accounts, but it's only about one twentieth the amount I received previously.

[#10]

I've done a similar thing except I've gone one stage further and blackholed the Postmaster alias. I've turned off catch-all.
1. I changed my default mailbox name
2. Created a blackhole mailbox
3. Pointed Postmaster to the Blackhole
4. Created a new alias to point my default mailbox
5. Changed my account settings to use this new alias.
I get emails from Plusnet to Postmaster and cc'd to my new alias but of course I don't see the mail to Postmaster.
Postmaster, email, info  &etc are overused and are easily guessable.
I don't see any spam at all now.

[#11]

My main problem is that I'm still getting spam to my most used mailbox - it's one that was compromised by the big plusnet database leak.
It would be a major headache for me to abandon this email address as I've used it extensively over the last three years and would lose lots of important contacts if I binned it.

[#12]

Well you wouldn't lose your contacts if you created a new email address and asked them to use that instead of the spammed address.
I did this a few months ago, created the new address and gradually swapped my contacts over to that address. I continued to run the old address for a while to catch the stragglers and then turned it off.
It seems to me a lot of people are waiting for Plusnet to solve their spam problems instead of trying to deal with it themselves.

Worked for me

[#13]

Quote from: Santiago

It seems to me a lot of people are waiting for Plusnet to solve their spam problems instead of trying to deal with it themselves.

Thought the spam problem was down to PN as their database was hacked. I had no spam up to this happening.

[#14]

Quote from: itsme

Thought the spam problem was down to PN as their database was hacked. I had no spam up to this happening.

Much (probably most) of the current issue was created by PN. However, for the majority of us, solving the problem will take very little effort - possibly even less effort than it takes to post here.
There are a few, fairly straightforward, fairly simple steps - these can cut down/cut out spam drastically.

[#15]

So why the 650+ posts and 14500+ views for the postini trial if :

Quote

[There are a few, fairly straightforward, fairly simple steps - these can cut down/cut out spam drastically./quote]