The amount of spam continues to rise. What can you do – or not do – to keep spam to a minimum?
Never never never respond to spam. When you respond, you’ve just told the spammers that your address is a “good” address. Your address has just been elevated on their priority lists, and yes, they sell those lists to other spammers.
Never open any attachments in spam. The same problem that we shared in #1 applies.
Never click on any graphics in spam. Same reason. The graphics can have “hidden” code that will tell the spammers you’re real when you click on the graphic.
Avoid putting your email address as a clickable link on your website. Spammers “spider” the web looking for addresses, and when you put a clickable link on your website, you’ve just helped them find your address. Instead, either encrypt your address, create a form that enables interested parties to email you, or make your link unclickable, by putting spaces in it like this: marsha @ marshaegan.com.
Manage your junk mail. As you receive spam, use your email program to categorize the address as spam or place it on a “blocked senders” list. By doing this, these spam emails will go directly into your junk mail, thereby minimizing how much you must touch it.
Report spam. This recommendation is a bit dicey. You could spend all day reporting spam. However, when the spam is particularly annoying or repetitive, it may be appropriate to take the time to report it.
Use the spam features of your mail service. Many email systems have levels of spam filters. Make sure yours are as tight as you can bear.
Let us know if these work for you…and how about sharing some more ideas!!!
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