Eliminating Spam

Eliminating Spam

Spam is aptly named after the puzzling, unwanted meat product, spam (as in “scam” or “sham”) is Net-speak for unsolicited junk email. Spammers love email because it costs next to nothing to send so they can harass the world with limitless buy-this-stuff email (usually selling smut or a program that generates more spam). Spammers will often offer you the option of removing yourself from their emailing list. But more often than not they use non-functioning return email addresses or anonymous remailers so it’s difficult to staunch their ever-steady flow.  Tools like spam-filter programs and websites such as spam.abuse.net  and spamlaws.com   do provide help for getting rid of spam.  

You can also go to download.cnet.com and search for “free spam filter” to find a list of free spam filter programs.  Be sure to read the reviews before choosing any. 

When you have been spammed…..

Never respond to a spam e-mail.
For a spammer, one “hit” among thousands of mailings is enough to justify the practice. Instead, if you want a product that is advertised in a spam e-mail, go to a Web site that also carries the product, inquire there, and tell them you do not approve of spam methods and will not patronize a company that uses spammers.

Never respond to the spam e-mail’s instructions to reply with the word “remove.”
This is just a trick to get you to react to the e-mail — it alerts the sender that a human is at your address, which greatly increases its value. If you reply, your address is placed on more lists and you receive more spam.

Never sign up with sites that promise to remove your name from spam lists.
These sites are of two kinds: (1) sincere, and (2) spam address collectors. The first kind of site is ignored (or exploited) by the spammers, the second is owned by them — in both cases your address is recorded and valued more highly because you have just identified it as read by a human.

NFN Premium Account holders may take advantage of a server based SpamFilter.  Easy to set up and tweak through your NFN account access at:
http://home.naples.net/members/
Click on the ‘SpamFilter Activation/Setup’ link.  Proper setup of your NFN SpamFilter will usually eliminate spam problems.