3 Ways To Keep Spam Out Of Your Inbox

December 22, 2008 by dashaver

Spam is unwanted email that is sent to you by someone with whom you have not done business. This email can offer pornographic, bogus or illegal products. Legitimate products, which actually work, do not need to be advertised in this way. Contests winnings, lotteries and grants are not awarded in this way. Money is never given away by email.

Never Respond To Any Spam

Absolutely never respond to any Spam email. Absolutely never respond to any Spam email. If you do nothing else this is the one thing you should do. Responding only confirms your email address as valid. Sometimes completely normal looking email may be sent just to gather valid email addresses. If there is some doubt instead of responding just visit their web site (not by clicking on a link in that email) or their store. If they are a legitimate business sending email they will have either a web site or a physical address. Do not use the unsubscribe link unless it is someone you could call on the phone such as a your local bank or you are positive who they are. It is much better to blacklist them instead using the unsubscribe link. Banks, foundations or businesses do not use hotmail or other free email to do business. Once your email address is confirmed these low life spammers then sell these lists and otherwise pass them around to each other for years. Responding to Spam promotes Spam and only benefits spammers. Never buy anything from someone who contacted you by email, you can go to their store or web site and make your purchase then.
Read Your Email With A Text Only Reader

Read your email with a text only reader. Images that you see in email are hosted on the server, which sent the email, and when those images are requested, to display them on your computer, it indicates that yours is a good email address. Then they and all their friends will keep sending you Spam emails. Some senders have tried to get around this by sending an image only 1 x 1 pixel. It is too small too see but in all other ways it is the same. Some fancy email reading programs will only show images from senders you have responded to. This is great if you have never responded only to find out later it was Spam. The safe option is always use text only readers.
Do Not Publish Your Email Address On The Internet

Do not publish your email address on the Internet. This includes web pages, chat rooms and emails. Free email accounts seem to become inundated with Spam notably hotmail. When you fill out applications for free things such as email accounts, special offers or newsletters there is often a pre-checked box that might say “Can we share your information with specially selected, strategic partners?” Translate this to mean everyone who pays for it. Always read the entire page. If you must publish your email address translate the @ to at and dot com instead of .com then people can change it back. The automated programs, which gather email addresses, will not understand this. Your webmaster can insert the ASCII translation for the @ sign with @ the @ will appear to humans but email gathering programs will not be able to use it. Your webmaster can also create a web form for you that will not display your email address.

The Biggest Problem With Spam

The biggest problem with Spam, besides time, which can be substantial, is that the recipient pays for the advertisement. U.S. Mail is the only method where the sender pays for the costs of that advertisement. A business that markets by email is expecting recipients to pay those advertising costs.