Basically, Spam is unsolicited advertising e-mail messages. It is also a really tasty meat product that goes great with pineapples and sliced jalapenos, but that’s not the kind we’re dealing with here.
My goal for this article is to give you a few pointers on how to reduce the amount of Spam you receive or possibly eliminate it, and some ways to deal with it when you do get it. Before we get started, you should understand that there are two kinds of e-mail advertising.
While this method seems foolproof, I have heard anecdotal evidence that some Spam has slipped through, so I can’t guarantee it. Also, remember that this will not protect you from any virus that an "approved" sender might mail you.
You should also keep in mind that this will prevent you from receiving any mail you have requested, such as newsletters you sign up for, unless you can get their address into your address book first.
This can be very annoying as when your Uncle Finster’s lawyer sends you a message that the old boy is about to croak and you’ll not get a dime of the inheritance unless you show up at his bedside pronto.
There are mail systems out there whose main claim to fame is the near total elimination of Spam, as well as aggressively reporting Spammers. These services use a combination of methods to prevent Spam. I’ll give a quick description of the most famous one, SpamCop (URL listed at end). When you sign up with SpamCop, give them a list of approved sender addresses. Mail from these senders will pass through unimpeded, exactly as in the Hotmail example previously mentioned. Now things get complicated. Any mail from a service provider that is on SpamCop’s approved list, or that SpamCop has never heard of, will be passed through as well. Any mail from a service provider whose name is on the Evil Children of Satan list will be placed into a "holding area." The sender will receive an automated reply explaining that they’ve been blocked because their service provider is in league with the minions of Hades. The sender can then fire back a reply that he or she is not a spammer and this was a legitimate message. The mail will then be sent on to you.
If you do receive Spam, you report it to the mail service and they’ll take care of reporting it. If a provider causes a lot of complaints from members, then that provider will be considered scum of the earth and placed on the bad list.
You don’t totally eliminate the Spam, but you do cut it way down and get the satisfaction that providers who generate a lot of Spam will be inconvenienced.
Fighting back is OK as long as you understand that you will ultimately lose. At best, you may close down a few Spammer’s accounts, but they will just open new ones. At worst, your mail account may become unusable.
But if you want to try...
When you open a message that turns out to be Spam, there will almost certainly be a link at the bottom that you can click on to cancel further messages. This seems pretty easy, just click and end the torment.
Right?
Don’t you believe it!
What you’re really doing is proving to the Spammer that your e-mail account is valid and that you read Spam. The vicious little insect will then sell your address to others of its species and you will be inundated.
You could try reporting the Spammer. This may give you some personal satisfaction, but don’t think for a minute that it’ll accomplish much.
First off, you’ll need to set your e-mail system to "display full header information." What you’re doing here is inserting all of the available routing history into the message when it’s displayed, rather than just who sent it to you and the date of transmission.
This will, hopefully, give enough information to the Spammer’s provider that they can track down the weasel.
The downside is that the full display option takes up more space. It’ll also insert a mountain of text into your mail when you forward messages. You can delete it, but it’s extra work to do so. Sooo, the question is, are you willing to put up with all the extra gobbeldygook just to report a Spammer?
Your email service provider’s Help should tell you where to report Spammers, but usually it will be "abuse@" followed by the provider’s name. For example, abuse@yahoo.com.
You need to forward the Spam message to the "abuse@" address, making sure that you have the full header showing. Now the problem with that is that you had to open the Spam to forward it. Guess what? The Spammer may now know that you read the message and you will again be inundated.
Maybe it’s worth it to you just to report. However, I have reported Spammers numerous times and all it got me was some very nice automatic responses and an increase in Spam mail.
Now, you can use certain tools to try and trace the Spammers yourself and report them.
For example, Whois (http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/spam/whois.htm) from Net Services is supposed to show information on the originator of the mail. You can then send a complaint to their provider.
Another program from Net Services is Spam Hater (http://www.cix.co.uk/~net-services/spam/spam_hater.htm). This program is supposed to help you trace and report Spammers as well.
I haven’t tried either (Whois is freeware by the way), but they may be worth a look.
All I do is delete any and all messages that I do not recognize.
That’s it. The whole Tamale.
Spammers have a way to get notices that you opened their mail. I’ll say it again, whenever you open a Spam message, the Spammer knows it. Now you have just verified that your address is valid. Your address will be sold. You will get more Spam. End of story.
Whenever I forwarded Spam from Hotmail accounts to abuse@hotmail to report them, I got replies that there was nothing that could be done because the addresses in the message were fake. Within days, I was flooded with Spam from hotmail addresses. The same results from Yahoo and Netscape. On and on.
When I started simply deleting the Spam, the volume slowly decreased.
Well, on my Hotmail account there is one other thing I do; perhaps your account has a similar feature. In Options go to Inbox Protector under Mail Handling. In the Level of Protection, select Custom and then check only--Your address appears on the "To:" or "Cc" line and The sender’s address is in your Hotmail Address Book. This seems to have cut down on my Spam somewhat, but it’s not certain.
Well, that’s it. The sites listed next can give you much more information. If you really want to fight, check them out.
Brian has worked in Tech Writing, Training, Quality Testing and Help Desk, as well as some Web Development. He is a regular at the Internet SIG.
For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here