spamblock /spam'blok/ n. [poss. by analogy to sunblock] Text inserted in an email address to render it invalid and thus useless to spammers.

spamblock /spam'blok/ n.

[poss. by analogy to
sunblock] Text inserted in an email address to render it invalid
and thus useless to spammers. For example, the address
`jrandom@hacker.org' might be transformed to
`jrandom@NOSPAM.hacker.org'. Adding spamblock to an address is
often referred to as `munging' it (see munge)-. This evasion
tactic depends on the fact that most spammers collect names with
some sort of address harvester on volumes too high to de-mung
by hand, but individual humans reading an email message can readily
spot and remove a spamblock in the from address.

Note: This is not actually a very effective tactic, and may already
be passing out of use in early 1999 after about two years of life.
In both mail and news, it's essentially impossible to keep a smart
address harvester from mining out the addresses in the message
header and trace lines. Therefore the only people who can be
protected are third parties mentioned by email address in the
message - not a common enough case to interest spammers.