Spam

There are two kinds of spam. Some messages whisked off to the masses are legitimate promotions from merchants or other organizations. They're touting low airline fares, flower delivery services, new home gym equipment, and so on. Your old alma mater might send you a note every week requesting donations. You may have signed up for "special offers," only to get junk mail about all kinds of things you're not interested in buying.

The second type of spam, though, is more illicit--and in some states, illegal. This kind of junk mail arrives unsolicited and often points you to porn sites, phony get-rich-quick schemes, bogus mortgage services, and the like. Your e-mail address was tracked down by "harvesters" and probably sold to professional spammers several times over.

But buck up: Although spam seems here to stay, you can reduce it to a minor annoyance. Depending on how badly you're being spammed, you may need to take some drastic action--and of course, that comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. So read on for the ten best ways to manage your e-mail and stamp out spam.

10. Never, ever bite.

You should never respond to spam. Why? Well, if you do, you're simply letting the advertiser know that you are a prime target for even more spam. Advertisers who send spam in text format have no way of knowing whether or not you open and read their messages, unless you actually respond.

When you open a message that was sent in HTML format, however, the message pulls code from the spammer's server, indicating that your address is a live one. So if you're sure that certain messages (with giveaway subject lines like "Earn $10,000 Your First Week") are junk, delete them without opening them.

9. Unsubscribe with caution.

You'll often find details about how to remove your name from a mailing list in the body of an e-mail message. This can involve replying to the sender with "unsubscribe" in the subject line or going to a Web site. The genuine marketers will usually honor your request and take your name off their mailing lists. In that case, you'll be happy to see the end of some junk e-mail.

However, in the case of illicit spam, when you try to unsubscribe, you simply end up confirming your e-mail address. If anything, you're likely to wind up on more spammers' lists of valid accounts. Don't be surprised if you get pelted with more unsolicited mail after that. So use your judgment. Think twice before pursuing the "remove" option.

8. The real Slim Shady.

If you can handle maintaining multiple e-mail accounts--and remembering new passwords--you might consider using extra addresses to keep spam out of your main in-box (more on this in Nom de Spam below). In general, most ISPs include five to seven free e-mail accounts with their basic service. Just sign up for extra addresses at your ISP's Web site, then tell your e-mail program to download the mail in all of your accounts at once.

7. Nom de spam.

If you decide to use extra addresses, that means you can keep your main address--the one you check several times each day and use for important correspondence--almost completely spam-free. Keep it close to the vest, sharing it only with people you know, such as friends, business associates, and your family.

Avoid using your main e-mail address or screen name in a chat room or other public places. Offer alternate e-mail addresses on shopping sites and survey forms, for instance. If you reserve your main address for personal and business correspondence, it's much less likely to fall into the hands of spammers.

6. Variety is the spicy ham of life.

If the spam in your in-box is out of control, and it's really getting you down, think about starting afresh with a brand new e-mail address. If you or your family members haven't used up your quota of extra AOL screen names, you can start there.

That might sound like a good plan to people who aren't particularly attached to their e-mail addresses or screen names. But other folks will have a harder time letting go. You may have used a really cool handle like IronLiver for the past eight years, and it would break your heart to stop using it. But if your e-mail address happens to be your AOL Primary Screen Name, it can't be deleted--it can't belong to anyone else anyway.

Sure, it can be a hassle to start all over and inform everyone about your new address. But consider the benefits of a new e-mail address: If you give your new address only to the chosen few, your in-box might stay uncluttered--as long as you keep your new address mum.

5. Names and numbers.

Whether you're setting up a new e-mail account to be your main address or just a repository for newsletters, you can sometimes reduce spam if your e-mail address has a combination of letters and numbers. Take, for example, "your777name@gmail.com." Adding numbers to your address--preferably between your first name and last name--can sometimes foil spammers who use auto-generators to try to guess every combination of common names, like "Jim," "Jimmy," "James," "Jamie," "JimWelp101," "JimWelp102," and so on.

The drawback? Having an address that includes a string of numbers is more impersonal--so it may not be for everyone.

4. If you can't beat it, eat it.

Set up an address exclusively for spam. It sounds crazy at first, but there are some very fun and worthwhile activities online that are, unfortunately, total spam magnets--such as discussion boards. If you set up an address just for spam, you can then give out that address--instead of your main address--any time you expect spam to follow.

Use it when you register at Web sites, enter a chat room, or post messages to discussion lists or newsgroups. If you faithfully keep this address just for junk mail, you'll only have to check the mail there occasionally, to delete all the spam (with glee)

3. Filter and organize.

Now that you've got your slew of addresses set up, you need a system to manage them. There are several great e-mail programs out there one that's free and very good is Mozilla Thunderbird. http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/

2. Snitch therapy.

For most people, spam is mildly annoying, but to ISPs and network administrators, it's a major problem. All that spam hogs a tremendous amount of bandwidth, hardware resources, and labor hours. If you'd like to help stop spam at its source, you can take action in various ways. Before you do anything else, report spammers to your ISP.

Second, report the spammers to the ISP that generated the spam. To do this, you need to examine the junk mail's header information to determine the ISP domain name from which the spam originated. Then you should contact the postmaster and ask the ISP to restrict the spammer's access to the servers. This can be a complicated process. For the nitty gritty, check out "Tracking Spammers."

Last, you can get in touch with organizations like the Mail Abuse Prevention System and SpamCop to reduce your spam.

And finally, the Number One way to manage spam:

1. Don't let spam get you down.

Stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Perhaps the single best way to deal with spam is to put it in perspective. By its nature, e-mail feels deeply personal; it's intrusive and irritating to get junk mail in your in-box. But how many pieces of spam do you get each day, anyway? Is it really so terrible?

When you compare spam with telemarketing, AM radio ads, junk postal mail, newspaper advertising, and TV advertising, e-mail spam seems less invasive. It doesn't require killing trees, you don't have to sit patiently while it screams at you until West Wing comes back on, and it doesn't interrupt your dinner. When it comes right down to it, spam probably isn't worth getting your blood pressure up.

Here's your mantra:

Click. Delete.

To view the laws on spam for your state or country visit www.spamlaws.com  

Ed's Bandwagon assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the linked content. The end user is solely responsible for the interpretation and use of the information and should consult with additional parties as required.

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