Spam

is an email message which usually comes from an unfamiliar source and usually is a solicitation for a product or service. Here are a few ways to reduce the quantity of unwanted junk email messages.

1. Disable Catch-All

   To what address was it sent? Was it sent to your address? Let's say that you have one email box with the name, "mail@mydomain.com". The spam in question was sent to "bobby@mydomain.com". You probably have the "Catch-All" feature active in your mail configuration. This feature allows all mail that is addressed to "anything" @mydomain to be sent to your main email box. You should probably disable this feature. It usually is off unless you elect to activate it. Was it sent to "somebody@someotherdomain.com"? If it's not your friend sending out a mass mailing to their friends, then it's probably spam. Delete it without opening the message, or choose the "this is spam" button.

2. Report-Spam Button

   Some mail clients like Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail have a feature called something similar to "Report Spam". Use this only if you are sure that it is spam AND the message was sent directly to your email box. In other words, if you are using AOL, and have your "me@mydomain.com" messages forwarded to Gmail, don't report spam for those forwarded messages. Stupid AOL will report that your own mail server is sending spam to your own AOL account. It was forwarded from your other account, so it must be originating from your other account (so thinks the AOL spam software). Then, your web/mail host will recieve a nasty-gram from AOL saying that you are sending spam to AOL. So, be careful about that "Report Spam" button. Use only if you are sure that it is spam sent directly to that email box.
   
   Another note about the spam button: don't use it for newsletters and the like to which you have subscribed. If you have subscribed to a newsletter, then you should go through the process to desubscribe as dictated by the sender of the newsletter. Keep in mind too that you may have accidently signed up for a newsletter, when you filled in an internet form somewhere. Watch out for the ticked boxes next to "Please sign me up for the newsletter" when you download some free software, or complete some other form. So, if the "from" address looks like it's from a familiar site, then you may have inadvertanly signed up. Don't report spam...desubscribe.
   
   Use the "Report Spam" button for messages like "Sex Sluts delivered to your door" from Russian email address, addressed to your email box where you are reporting spam.

3. Keep Your Email Address Off Of Web Sites

   Spammers have software which scours web sites for email addresses. Don't use your main email address on internet forms, like when you order something, write a comment in a blog, or sign up for a discussion forum. Use a second email address (junkmail1@gmail.com) which you use for potential junk mail. Give your primary address to friends and family, and the other one to those internet forms. One can usually rig an email reader (Outlook, Gmail, etc) to read mail from more then one account. If spam becomes too bad on that junk-mail account, then delete the account, and start another one.
   
   On your web site, there is the email address that people see, and the address that robots see (the HTML code). You need to hide at least the code from the 'bots. Out of the myriad methods, I've found two clever ways. Well, three, but the third doesn't work on the Linux browser, Konqueor, so it will not be mentioned here.
   • Use Captcha to verify that a human wants to see your email address.
   • Use Javascirpt to hide your address from robots.

4. Scold Your Friends For Giving Out Your Address

   Teach your friends about BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) in regards to sending email messages. Those bots that scour web pages looking for addresses have cousins, spyware and virus, which scour your computer, looking for addresses. One place that they can find them is in your internet cache. This is a place where recent web pages are stored on your computer for quick access the next time you use that site. Let's say that friend A sends out a party invitation to 10 email addresses, including your address. When you read that mail, you see all ten addresses up there. Well, friend B, on that list, might have a virus on their computer which sees those 10 addresses, and starts sending mail to those addresses, and even sending mail so that it looks like its FROM those 10 addresses. Rascals. This is one of the reasons that you receive spam or viruses which appear to be comming from friends.
   
   Similarly, those people who forward jokes and chainletters without placing the addresses in BCC may very well be aiding the spammers. Hey...Stop sending joke and chainletters. You know who you are.
   
   So...use BCC when composing mail so that none of the recipients see the other addresses on the list, and tell your friends to use BCC too.

5. Block Images In Mail

   Those jokes and chainletters sometime have photographs of cute little kitties, or something warm and fuzzy. Those cude and cuddly pics can be evil. Also, try not to open messages that appear to be spam. Look at the subject line and From address, and delete or report spam from the summary page. If you open it, and and image appears, the spammer might like it. Here's why images can be dangerous. An image might have code with it which signals the mother ship that someone read that piece of mail. "Oh Goodie, we have a live one", the spammer says, and sends more spam, and tell his spammer friends. Gmail (Google Mail), for example, has a feature which blocks images in mail messages unless you teach Gmail that the sender is safe. Plus, who wants to be subjected to images of cute kittens.

6. Desubscribe

   Be careful again. You should only desubscribe from a mailing list if you actually remember subscribing to it. Spammers often try to mislead you to think that you are on a list. They are so thoughful to put it an "unsubscribe" link, but this is often trickery. By selecting the link to supposedly take your name off of the list, you are actually confirming that your email address is a good, working address which a human reads. You want them to think that your address is bad (see "Bounce Them" later in this ariticle).
   
   Oh yeah....the prefix "un" is supposed to be used with adjectives (like, unhappy), and the prefix "de" is used with verbs (like, denote). Subscribe is a verb.

7. Spam Filter

   Google's mail, Gmail, has a wonderful Spam Filter. I encourage you to use Gmail, either by itself, or in conjunction with your other email accounts. Gmail can go out and grab your mail from your other accounts, like AOL, Yahoo, Road Runner, your work mail, your web site's mail, etc.. It's a fantastic way to send and receive all of your mail in one place. Gmail also has a way to fully integrate your mail experience with your web site's mail. Discover the details at Google.

8. Bounce Them

   Mail Washer is an inexpensive piece of software which you can use to bounce messages back to the spammers. They don't want to send messages to mail boxes which don't exist. They want to sell stuff to real people. Making messages bounce back make it look like your address is invalid. Read more at FireTrust.

9. Stop Sending Spam

   Are you sending it? Check your computer to see if you have a virus or spyware which may be sending or perpetuating spam without your knowledge. You can download free (and good) anti-virus and anti-spyware software from Grisoft.

10. Spam Assassin

    Adjust the Spam Filter in your web site's control panel to a lower score. This will filter out more spam, but you risk non spam becomming tagged as spam and you may never see the message. Experiment...be careful. Control Panel >> Mail >> SpamAssassin >> Configure SpamAssassin ...lower the score from default "5" to "4" at first, then maybe lower. --Thanks to Joey for this suggestion.