Just to explain how things work with the e-mail address that is posted to the newsgroups alongside your post and how this fits in with the privacy policy.

Firstly, the address that you have used to register with this site does not appear anywhere - ever. Unless you deliberately include it in the body of your message, your e-mail address is totally secure, and no spam is generated as a result of posting via this site.

What does appear is an address like this: (your_nick _name)+(one-time group of random letters and

This only appears in the newsgroups (you would need to check with a newsreader to see what I mean - you can't see this on this web site).

Now, if somebody wanted to reply privately to your post using that address you would receive it in the form of a 'private message'.

You would know if you had a private message, as at the bottom of the 'home' page when you log in, it clearly tells you how many private messages you have, and you can then view them.

You can also elect not to receive 'private messages' (the option is in 'user controls' and then 'edit options'). If this is the case then any messages sent to you will be discarded.

The advantages of this system a

1) Pretty much all the spam is filtered out before it gets to you through the filters I use. (I reckon this is over 99% successful)

2) You still get your messages and maintain the privacy of your e-mail address

3) You maintain control

The disadvantages a

1) You need to return to this site to pick up any private messages

2) It can take anywhere up to 12 hours to process the e-mails and convert them into private messages for the individual users.

I'm still working on the disadvantages, but believe the current set-up offers a pretty decent compromise in the privacy / contactability / spam control triangle.