But I don't like SPAM!

The Internet Survival Guide "But I don't like SPAM!"

Bulk unsolicited email, otherwise known as SPAM, is becoming more and more prevalent on the internet today. If you have ever posted to a newsgroup or even a listserv, or even if you're the Webmaster of a site on the Web, it's likely your name has been harvested by bulk emailers. Web hosts with search engines or directories may also be selling the email addresses of people who submit their sites, and maybe your ISP is the nasty one giving out your name. It's clear that there isn't much you can do to keep your name off of a spammer's list. You can, however, fight back against companies who use Spam to market their products.

Method 1: Boycott Spammers. This is easy. Don't buy anything advertised on a piece of unsolicited email. Don't even visit the Web site (if there is one) that they reference. If everyone did this, it would work to discourage the use of SPAM as a marketing tool in the future. Unfortunately, as P.T. Barnum once said, there's a sucker born every minute. Some pathetic soul out there is destined to buy something somewhere, giving those who abuse email enough of a reason to continue spamming. Therefore, you may want to try something a little more drastic.

Method 2: Get Nasty (but not destructive). Most ISPs have policies against spamming from accounts that they host. Sending an email to the abuse account at the spammer's domain name can yeild positive results, often with the spammer losing his or her internet access. Email-only accounts like HotMail will not only close the abusers account, but will alert the user's ISP of the abuse as well. You may have to do some real work to find the originating ISP, but taking a good look through the headers of each email will help, or, try one of these anti-spam shareware programs:

Spam Exterminator is a great program that filters out mail from known spammers, lets you filter out messages with messages like, "make money," "$$$," etc in the subject heading. You can also have the program automatically email the abuse account from the sender's ISP telling them how very little you like their spam.

Spam Hater is the program I use to stomp out spam. It integrates well with my email program and newsreader, and takes a more active approach to getting rid of the offending spammers. Spam Hater automatically extracts the addresses from the headers of spam, and sends either a standard anti-spam message or one you write yourself to the postmaster and abuse mailboxes at those domains.

If you're a kinder, gentler sort of net user (don't worry, you'll get over it) you may want to beta test Spam Shot, which merely uploads known spammer information in the the filters of your existing email program, and filters all the unwanted mail into your trash can.

What NOT to do:

Don't respond directly to any spam. Even if they say they will remove you from their list, what could actually happen is you may be placed on a special list of people who read and respond to spam. OUCH!
Don't fill out the member profile on America Online (AOL). Spammers love to access that area for email addresses.
If you are visiting a Web site that requests your email address for registration purposes, resist the temptation to give it unless they have an anti-spam policy clearly stated on the site. Otherwise, you may just end up on another mailing list.
Don't try to flood a spammer's mail box. Chances are they either gave a false email address, or closed the account immediately after sending the mail. The only people you'll hurt are the other innocent users of that domain's mail server.
Don't be part of the problem. No matter how great your product or service is, don't use Spam to promote it.

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