Question about websites in relation to SPAM...

I would like to know more about how Spammers troll the internet for email addresses.

First, a little about my situation. I have 3 small websites and 2 different hosting providers.

I have one website on Godaddy. I basically just have a link using the “mailto:” function if someone wants to contact me on this website. This contact email address is a “info@xxxxxxx.com” address. I currently receive no Spam on this address.

The other two sites are hosted on Bluehost. One is using a link with the mailto: function and a info@xxxxxxx.com address. This site also currently gets no spam.

The other, as of 3 days ago, is using a contact form using a php script to submit the form and a simple “what is 2+2?” for simple spam protection. It is this site that I am getting a lot of SPAM. Before I made the contact form it was also using the simple “mailto” function, but the difference was that it has Josh@xxxxx.com address.

The reason I implemented a “contact form” for this website is that I thought it might help protect me for SPAM. At that time I was getting about 25 SPAM email each day. Ever since implementing the form (2-3 days ago) I have been getting 100 spam emails each day.

Of the three websites, I give out the info@xxxx.com” email addresses a lot more. In fact, I rarely give out my “josh@xxxx.com” address at all, however this is the only one I get SPAM on.

Are some hosting providers targeted by SPAMMERS more than other providers? Also, would having an actual name in my email address make me more attractive to spammers? My “info” based email addresses get no Spam.

I haven’t used any SPAM filters. I have gotten by a long time not using them. I am paranoid that I will not get important emails. I am looking into Spam Assassin, which comes with Bluehost. However, if I am receiving 100 Spam emails each day, that’s a lot of Spam to sort to make sure I am not missing important emails.

Any other thoughts on this are appreciated.

Thanks!