Observation
If you, in any way, when “visiting” a website, involve the .biz or .info TLDs, for instance in your referer header, you are much more likely to be among the scum of the Internet.
Apologies to the two legitimate .info-based sites who have ever sent visitors my way.
Update: I am apparently not the only .info-sceptic out there. I received a mail that SpamAssasin had flagged as potentially being spam (which it was). SpamAssasin had attached the following information to the message:
0.5 INFO_TLD URI: Contains an URL in the INFO top-level domain
So, sending mail from .info domains, or with URLs with the .info TLD in the mail body puts you at risk as being flagged as a spammer.
Comments
Comment from Moose on 2004-11-15 10:05
I presume I am one of the two innocents…
I like the INFO domain type. To my mind, it should have been one of the originals! If an individuum attempts to start a website now, a.d. 2004, and it is a personal, informational site, would he choose COM or NET or ORG? Why would he. INFO is the only logical choice. Whilst it is true that scammers got there first, this doesn’t reduce the TLD’s potential. BIZ, on the other hand, I don’t know…
Comment from Arve on 2004-11-15 13:55
The intent of the .info TLD may be the best, but it, like .biz has been hijacked by spammers. Until I started a rather draconian blocking of referrals from the .info TLD, I saw hundreds of referrer-spams every day, and a shitload of trackback spam attempts.
Since I implemented my blocking policy, I haven’t seen either.
I suspect I’m not the only one doing this, and as spammers get more aggressive, I presume people will start using even more draconian referrer blocking than I am. I’d suggest getting a .org or .com domain instead.
Comment from Andy on 2004-12-01 12:45
As opposed to all the crap that comes from .com and the other more established TLDs? 95% of my spam comes from .com (or is spoofed as) - I’ve never seen .info or .biz used in this way.
Comment from Arve on 2004-12-01 13:30
Andy: Spam with .com may be a larger overall problem - but the percentage of spam with .info may be higher.
This discussion has been closed. No further comments may be added.