[kjcharles]

Hey InboxReads creator here. I've been facing the same problem with other newsletters submitted to the site so I think you're right that spammers are scraping directories.

I've added a bunch of mitigations but found that they're faking the referrer when subscribing to newsletters and not even going through the site anymore.

Captchas do solve it though!

But I'm just as baffled at their endgame as you are.

[Curiositry]

Ah, thanks for chiming in Keenen! Interesting, are they just faking the referrer in an attempt to look legitimate? This also explains why there's a captcha on InboxReads outlinks, which I'd been puzzled by before.

Though I didn't mention it in the article, InboxReads has been also sending a consistent stream of quality subscribers my way -- much more so than other directories. Thanks!