Tech Tips - Avoiding SPAM

SPAM is a growing problem. Recent statistics show that SPAM now accounts for more than half of all e-mail traffic. Many people I talk to are overwhelmed by it, and some have given in to the idea that it's an unavoidable problem that we just have to live with.

I disagree.

In over 5 years, I have never gotten a single piece of junk e-mail at my personal e-mail address (which you will not find on this site), because I have followed a few simple rules, which I will gladly share with you.

First, I want to list some common ways that people get on to spammers e-mail lists.

Any time you give your e-mail address to a person or organization you do not know and trust, you are taking the risk that your address will be sold to spammers. Many on-line contests, subscriptions, greeting cards, "tell a friend" links, etc., are nothing more than a way to harvest e-mail address.
Any time you forward an e-mail joke, story, warning, chain letter, etc., you are sending your address to masses of people, and asking them to pass it along to even greater masses. Eventually, the whole lump of forwarded mail, with all the addresses, is bound to end up in the mailbox of a happy spammer, who just got a new set of verified e-mail addresses for free...
Any time you publish your e-mail address in a public directory, newsgroup, message board, web site, etc.... well, you get the idea.

So, what can you do? It's probably impossible to completely avoid the above scenarios, but there are several things you do that will help you stay off those SPAM lists.

Tip #1 - Get a second e-mail address

I have a personal e-mail address (which you will not find on this site), which is what I use to communicate with friends and family. I check that address several times a day, and as mentioned before, have never gotten any SPAM there.

I also have another address, set up through HotMail, that I use whenever I MUST sign up for something. This address is used for eBay, Amazon.com, PayPal, etc., as well as any on-line memberships and subscriptions that require one. This address will get some SPAM, but services like HotMail have strong filtering tools, and can even block any e-mail that is NOT from one of these companies or groups. Additionally, I don't have to check this account every day, so I can deal with the SPAM when I have time, not when I'm looking for an important e-mail from my family or friends.

(Actually, I have about a dozen e-mail addresses, for various purposes, but that is another story.)

Tip #2 - Don't use "Tell a friend" links

Want to send a link to a great article you found to a friend of yours? That "Tell a Friend" link is very convenient, but you are exposing your address and your friends address to possible harvesting. It's not much more difficult to just copy the address from your web browser, and e-mail the address to your friend yourself. You will be saving both of you from a lot of junk mail in the long run.

Tip #3 - Don't send on-line greeting cards

Ever wonder about those free on-line greeting card companies - how do they stay in business? Aside from the advertisements, they are probably selling the e-mail addresses they collect, or they could be set up by the SPAM organizations themselves. Any time you think you are getting something for free, you are probably wrong. It just may cost you in different ways than you expect, like weeding through junk mail for years on end...

Tip #4 - Don't sign up for every last offer you see

So many times, people trade their e-mail address for next to nothing. Access to a website they will only look at once... Free coupons that they could have found elsewhere... Just don't be so willing to give it out. You wouldn't walk around downtown and give your home address to everyone that offered to send you some little worthless item, would you? Ok, maybe some of you would.

Tip #5 - Don't forward hoaxes, jokes, and other stories

As mentioned before, you are just passing along your e-mail address to hundreds and even thousands of people you don't know. That's just asking for it... If you really must think something is worth forwarding, don't just forward the e-mail and all the addresses and headers with it. Copy the meaningful content into a new e-mail, and then use BCC to send it to a select few people that you think will really be interested. Any time you are sending something to your entire address book, it will probably not be read by most of them anyway. Can you imagine what would happen if every person forwarded every joke to everyone they knew???