I use my real address everywhere including newsgroups and I really don't get that much spam. Nothing like I used to get when I was browsing from within AOL.
I also have a web site and it is interesting how they scoop up addresses there. This is the HOA web site, I just manage it. They set up a lot of boiler plate addresses when they got the original site (president@xxx, Treasurer@xxx). Nobody had actually figured out how to use them until I got the job. Some of the mailboxes were empty, some were stuffed. Anything on a "contact" or an "index" page gets spam. I also noticed a bulletin board on the index page and one page down collects spam but if it is 3 levels deep it doesn't.
