Killing Yahoo email

[Randall]

At Job #1 we have an old ISP email account (via Yahoo) that we don't use for anything -- we even had them change the username so no one would keep mailing us at the old address. Unfortunately, that revised email address has been listed in our Whois record for years, so it's nothing but an annoying spam magnet now.

Changing the name is no longer an option, since it's the login for our DSL account, which also means we can't just delete the mailbox. Does anyone know how to blackhole an address inside Yahoo? I'd rather do that than forward all the junk to an FQ blackhole address (which is what I've been doing with Job #2's vestigial Yahoo mail for a while now). I hate to put more strain on the servers here.

Plus there's always the chance that FQ will start doing what everyone else does, and blacklist Yahoo for sending me spam. :rasberry:

Randall

[Wassercrats]

If it's a paid, business ISP account, I'd ask my ISP or Yahoo. It sounds like the email is part of the business services that you're paying for.

[Melissa]

Does anyone know how to blackhole an address inside Yahoo?Through the regular Yahoo webmail interface, they allow you to set up filters (under Options). Would those work for you?

[Randall]

Through the regular Yahoo webmail interface, they allow you to set up filters (under Options). Would those work for you? I'm not sure yet -- compared to FQ-style filtering they seem pretty limited. I can filter on the To address but don't know if that would catch BCCs.

So far the filter I set up hasn't caught anything, as far as I can tell. :hrmm: If it's a paid, business ISP account, I'd ask my ISP or Yahoo. It sounds like the email is part of the business services that you're paying for. My ISP? AT&T? You're kidding, right? :hahaha:

Randall

[Tom E.]

Since there's no valid email going to that account, why not just let it sit there?

I had only used my Yahoo/DSL address a few times to test stuff I was working on, and I never published it, or gave it out to anyone - yet it still got spammed.

I no longer use that email box for testing, so I just let the spam sit there. Maybe my DSL will stop working when the box fills up...

[Randall]

I no longer use that email box for testing, so I just let the spam sit there. Maybe my DSL will stop working when the box fills up... Letting it pile up in there just feels ... messy.

I'd rather see those bytes get recycled for more important things, like "Extravagant celebrity weddings of 2007." Hey -- it made the front page of Yahoo entertainment news, so it must be important, right? :rasberry:

In other news, the "all-new" Yahoo Mail totally freaks out if I go in with the Firefox 3 beta. ("When betas collide"?) I'll have to content myself with Classic Mail for now.

Randall

[Tom E.]

Letting it pile up in there just feels ... messy.I can appreciate your angst. But, since it's Yahoo's space and their fault that you can't do anything about it, I'd let it go...

[Randall]

I can appreciate your angst. But, since it's Yahoo's space and their fault that you can't do anything about it, I'd let it go... Sigh... you have a point there. :sad:

Why can't Yahoo be as smart as FutureQuest? They're huge -- they could probably clone Terra's brain and plug it into their network with a coat hanger.

Yeah, that's it -- everybody should have a Terra Brain® of their very own. It could be a whole new career for him ... uh, them. :safegrin:

Randall

[Tom E.]

... and if you had a bunch of them clustered together, would it be a Terra Farma?

[Andilinks]

...clone Terra's brain...Yeah, sure, it would probably fit on a hundred million servers. We're not there yet, maybe twenty five more years of uninterrupted Gordon's Law. But when it happens I want one, put me on the list.

[Randall]

Yeah, sure, it would probably fit on a hundred million servers. We're not there yet, maybe twenty five more years of uninterrupted Gordon's Law. Google could afford that many servers. But they probably have enough combined brain power to become Terra.

"I am Terra of Google. Prepare to be reassembled into something that works."

Randall

[Andilinks]

Google could afford that many servers.Even if they do have enough cash to buy that many servers it is doubtful they could allocate those resources to an experiment to replicate human intelligence in that way. OTOH enhancing human intelligence is their core mission, so when this is actually done Google is a likely prospect to be the entity to do it.

Some interesting questions: If Terra's brain were cloned would the clones be conscious, and would they be Terra or be independent entities with Terra's memories? Going forward they would each have unique experiences and so would necessarily be individuals. Would it be murder to destroy one?

Kurzweil explores these questions and others in some detail here (http://www.amazon.com/Age-Spiritual-Machines-Computers-Intelligence/dp/0140282025/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197053014&sr=8-3) with an update and recap here (http://www.amazon.com/Singularity-Near-Humans-Transcend-Biology/dp/0143037889/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197053014&sr=8-1).

[Randall]

Some interesting questions: If Terra's brain were cloned would the clones be conscious, and would they be Terra or be independent entities with Terra's memories? Going forward they would each have unique experiences and so would necessarily be individuals. Would it be murder to destroy one? People have been batting these questions around for at least 20 years -- I remember exploring these issues in both fiction and non-fiction for a college class on AI.

Frankly, I've never seen two copies of Windows that behaved the same way, even cloned ones. But it's gratifying to think that every time I wipe or reclone a hard drive, another spawn of Redmond buys the farm. :EG:

Randall

All your brains are belong to us, loser.

[Andilinks]

...for at least 20 years...Yeah, the first reference I gave is from 1989 and is probably the best discussion I've found. But until they are definitively answered they remain interesting questions, to me anyway. Maybe another 20 years.

[Nyxie]

In an interesting point that allows me to reference Star trek, in the Deep space nine episode "A man alone", it is revealed that in this science fiction future, killing a clone (even your own) is indeed murder.

[Andilinks]

...killing a clone (even your own) is indeed murder.Doesn't that refer to wetware clones? What about a software clone? Wouldn't that be an entirely different bag of fish heads? A software clone isn't living at all unless loaded into ram, and I suspect a true human intelligence would have to be loaded into a very large network before becoming conscious and self aware.

[Terra]

Oh my... :blush:

Thanks for making my day a little brighter! :ytphead:

[Andilinks]

To the extent that I participated you're welcome. But it was all Randall's idea to begin with. :)

[Terra]

I was responding to the whole thread in general - sorry if it somehow was seen as scoped... ;)

Now back to the grindstone for tonight's final preparations with the PHP upgrades... :hammer:

[Randall]

The Yahoo filter I set up does work after all, but since it can only move messages to the Trash folder instead of deleting them altogether, I don't know if I've accomplished much. (Why they won't allow me to move them to the Bulk folder, I just don't know. :hrmm:) Thanks for making my day a little brighter! Hey, any way we can. :winky:

Randall