Sometimes the spammers use a certain VPN zone as well. Which can blocked by a firewall and they tends to stop them in their tracks. They usually also use throwaway emails.
Two faced people don't exact care about others. They're only it for themselves and they'll break anyone's trust. I'd trust certain things with them with a grain of salt.
That's pretty cool. How big did it end up getting? I didn't start my online career till a year later. It's always nice to hear the journey from other webmasters.