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Stop the Spam!

Emails arrive daily asking how one can minimize getting so much Spam and if having their email addresses/links on their sites (I've had requests for both business and personal sites.) can contribute to the amount of Spam they get. Yes and yes!

Offensive junk mail, in particular that of an adult nature has become increasingly an issue to all of us onliners and site owners alike. Unfortunately, we are forced to deal with Spam - whether we like it or not. And for the record - we don't like it! Until which time a law is passed or ISPs become less greedy, there are steps you can take to minimize your exposure to these type of email.

1. Get to know how to use your email program's filter features - filters are your friend! Set up email filters for the terms that you find offensive, directing the emails in question be delivered right to your trash on the download. Use variations of these terms even using small and large case combinations of the terms you simply do not want to see. Every email program has the ability to set filters based on variables (To:, From: Subject:, text within the Body) found within an email. Learn how to use your program's filtering options so you are not exposed to these emails again. By filtering based on offensive terms this Spam goes right to trash!
2. I do not recommend you have your email address on the bottom of every page of your Web site as was common for years - this goes for personal and/or business pages. Spammers have sophisticated software that farms any email address it can find on a Web site by looking for the code that produces the email link. You can use ASCII coding to deter these efforts. All you need to do is replace all the characters within your email address with the alternative ASCII character. My experiments show this slows your email getting farmed dramatically. Here is a great resource for ASCII codes:

   http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm

   Farming software is running 24/7 scanning every computer file online that it runs across collecting these email addresses for the sole purpose of selling mailing lists. And, adult sites buy those lists. Nothing illegal going on here - maybe unethical as the adult site owners are not ensuring their email is received by those who have a true interest in what they have to offer - but nothing we can do to stop this part of the process.

   Another option is to remove the active email addresses from every page and point visitors to your site's contact form, you will again avoid being "farmed" as often. There are all kinds of sites that offer free forms scripts that are easy to use for a novice and most hosting companies offer these kind of scripts with support too.

   Now, don't panic! Some are concerned that folks won't contact them at all if they remove those links. This is simply not based on fact or pattern, or my experience in the 10 years running my business. So for a personal site I don't think you have to worry.

   That said, when it comes to a business site, statistics that study how to qualify potential customers or leads based on site contact reflect, that the type of "customer" that would not contact you because they have to give you some basic information tend to not be those you can turn into a profitable customer. Qualifying potential customers is core to all successful businesses.

   If you have a form that is user friendly and makes sense to the requests that would be initiated by your site, folks will complete the form. And, you get the valuable information you need to provide a prompt and efficient reply. Just don't go overboard asking for everything including their shoe size when all they want to do is ask you about something on your site.

3. Unless you know for a fact you have subscribed to receive email or offers from a specific company, it is best to not respond to their unsubscribe instructions by hitting reply. Yes, you should not have to unsub from something you didn't ask to get in the first place - but here again we have no choice.

   For those low-end Spammers who instruct you to hit reply and type "unsubscribe", you may have just confirmed your address to be "fresh". Understand these folks send out to 10s of thousands if not 100s of thousands of email at a time. By emailing them back - they /know/ your address is a live one to be kept on the lists to be sold again, and again, and again.

   I am not saying all companies work like this. You can tell the cheeseball gimmick emails from those legitimate (and I use that term loosely for those who Spam) businesses trying to get exposure in your inbox. As with most issues online, use your common sense!

   PLEASE NOTE: There are unsub procedures from mailing lists or companies that you DID sign up for that are valid and effective procedures. This recommendation only applies to those that are sending to you without your previous permission.

4. Use a Yahoo!, Hotmail or other free Web based email account to subscribe to mailing lists and public discussion groups. These areas are where a great deal of email address farming is accomplished. If you find you are getting too much Spam to that address, shut it down and create a new address.

Spamming is never going to cease until the Internet community makes it clear to ISPs and hosting companies that this type of activity is not acceptable. Did you know that AOL sells their member's email addresses and information all day long? I used to have to log into my AOL account just to delete the Spam in my inbox. See, I never used my AOL email address - not once - I only had an account to test Web sites that I developed to see how they were viewed in AOL's browser of the day. So, how did that address get out? I was receiving tons of Spam - including those of an adult nature, sent to my screen name that had never been used publicly! When I recently cancelled and AOL asked why - I told AOL why - because they had been providing my email address and info, most likely for a cost to Spammers, the customer service rep. couldn't dispute this. Shame on you AOL!

"YIKES!" - yes, I meant to scream that!! I get on average close to 300 Spams each day from adult sites to get rich quick to how to loose weight and every MLM or scheme in between. This makes me ask two things:

• Are there really that many folks who think I will believe this junk?
• Are there really that many folks that believe this junk?

Unfortunately, the answer to both of those questions is "yes" as well. So when you get approached remember that saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it is!". Don't believe everything you read. With any email you receive that interests you, do your due diligence - check them out, ask for references. Look at the quality of their Web site and search out a guarantee and privacy statement while also looking for what reliable associations they belong to so as to boost their credibility. If they don't have a Web site, that's a big clue!

If you are sick of Spam, do what I do - report them and get their accounts cancelled. As mentioned in previous Spam articles, I use a great service called SpamCop that is free. I subscribed because I felt I used the service enough to help support their efforts. The paid service gives you a SpamCop email address so you can filter all your emails through their site to alleviate some of the Spam from ever making it to your inbox.

With this service, accounts can be cancelled due to my complaints. I know I am not making a dent in the Spam out there - but there is nothing like getting that email with the words:

"Thank you for making us aware of these activities. This user's account has been cancelled."

Cheap thrills - get them where you can! ;-)

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