Can the Spam!
Tips to Control Unsolicited E-Mail Messages
jennifer@drakehs.com

Reports from large e-mail providers indicate that over 80% of all e-mail sent is actually 'spam:' unsolicited and unwanted mass-mailings that most Internet-savvy people know all too well. Is your e-mail inbox overwhelmed? While unfortunately, unsolicited e-mail messages and promotions are an evil that affects almost everyone with an e-mail address, there are a few precautions you can take to help lessen the risks of your e-mail address being snapped up by unscrupulous address lists.

Stop Spam with Disposable E-mail Addresses

As soon as your e-mail address is posted online - either by itself or in a mailto link, it is at risk of receiving spam. Whenever posting on newsgroups, forums, blogs, or other web sites, use a temporary 'disposable' e-mail address (via hotmail, yahoo, and other free mail services) that will forward all mail to your real address. Then, whenever you wish, or as soon as you begin to receive spam, you can disable the account. After disabling the account, messages and spam sent to this disposable address will bounce back to the sender instead of your inbox. Turning off a disposable address has no impact on all the other mail you receive through your real address and (preferably) other disposable e-mail addresses. You merely stop the spam.

Disguise Your E-mail Address in Newsgroups, Forums, and Blogs

Make it more difficult for spammers to get your address by camouflaging it when you use it in newsgroups, forums and the like. Disguise your e-mail address by inserting something obvious into it. If my e-mail address is email@drakehs.com, I can modify it to read email@DRAKEdelete_thisHS.com, for example. I will not get spam at that e-mail address since all messages to it will bounce, but people who want to send me an e-mail can still do so after they remove "delete_this" from the address. One disadvantage to this option is that adding extra characters to the e-mail address will make sending mail more difficult. Then again, making your e-mail address less accessible in an online forum isn't always a disadvantage.

Domain Owners: Set up Throwaway Addresses to Fight Spam

If your website includes online forms that users can fill out and send with a click of the 'submit' button, you may wish to create e-mail addresses to use for each one. For example, if you have a customer survey form on your website where online users may rate your performance, direct the mail form to send completed form results to 'survey@yourdomain.com' rather than someone's personal e-mail address. This way, you can easily identify where your spam is coming from, and if need be you may disable the address receiving the unwanted volume of mail without losing your main address.

Use Disposable E-mail Addresses at Your Web Site

Disposable e-mail addresses can put an end to the spam you get from mentioning your e-mail address on your home page.

Invest In Anti-Spam Software

Many companies offer anti-spam software that works with your e-mail client to filter and dispose of unwanted messages. There will always be at least a small risk of losing mail that isn't spam, as software can't evaluate messages with total accuracy, so make sure that spam is at least temporarily filtered to a folder within your mail client that you can check from time to time.

Ignore Delivery Failures of Messages You Did Not Send

Sometimes you may receive failure messages in your e-mail inbox - but you didn't send the e-mail that failed! Disregard these messages unless you have other issues with your e-mail, as they were probably not caused by you or your computer. Never reply to delivery failure messages - it is innefectual and may simply signal to spammers that your e-mail address is active.

Watch Out for 'Opt In' Checkboxes

Many registration sites for free things on the web - game accounts, blog and forum sites, etc. - as well as many online shopping centers include a sponsored or site-specific listing of e-mail newsletters and promotionals you may sign up for. Many times, these boxes are already selected when you access the page. Make sure you don't opt in for e-mails you don't want, and watch out for checkboxes when you submit any form on a Web site.