[USS Vanguard] Re: OoC: Bad, Bad Spam
- From: "Alexa Bauer" <alexstrpg@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 07 May 2004 18:05:14 -0500
Thanks! The spam is pretty bad lately, but as I only utilize this email for
the Vanguard and Menelaus it is easy to delete junk.
Alex
>From: "andywoho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <andywoho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: ncv80221@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [USS Vanguard] OoC: Bad, Bad Spam
>Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 13:34:31 -0500
>
>Thanks for the email, Angus, and welcome home!
>
>Angus had some very good thoughts about the nature of spam and of avoiding
>spam.
>
>If there's one thing I've learned it's that there's no perfect way to deal
>with spam, unfortunately. It just seems like the new way of life for this
>technology that we like so much.
>
>Having said that, here are a few other tricks I've picked up along the way:
>
>1) Limit how often you give out your email address.
>
>This includes sites that require an email address if you are required to
>register to see their content.
>
>This tactic is certainly not foolproof since you can end up on a list for
>spam through absolutely no fault of your own. For example: Well-meaning
>friends who enter your email address to send you "jokes" from some Web
>site. Congratulations, because now you've ended up on an email list for
>spam through entirely no fault of your own.
>
>The only thing I can think of to do in a situation like this is to be harsh
>about it. Make it clear to your friends directly that you don't wish to end
>up on some joke list, or take the passive-aggressive approach and mention
>something about this in your signature. Make it clear why you won't receive
>any more jokes. Threaten to blacklist your friends, if you have to. (Don't
>think I haven't.)
>
>2) Consequently, set up a second email account to handle your memberships.
>
>Something like andy-general@xxxxxxxxx or andy-general@xxxxxxxxxxx can
>handle those times you want to sign up at iVillage or webmd.com or
>whatever.
>
>A lot of sites that ask for your email address need to send you an email
>for you to confirm who you are or for you to receive your membership
>information.
>
>Two problems I have here: (1) Sometimes, on rare occasions, these sites
>won't accept an email address from a freebie site. (2) If this email
>address is clogged with spam, it's hard to find an important email, like
>the kind you need to respond to in order to confirm your membership.
>
>3) Be aggressive about your filters, turn on spam protection (if it's
>available), and never respond to spam.
>
>If you don't know much about filters, here's a pretty good primer:
>
>http://www.uic.edu/depts/accc/ecomm/mailfilters_help.html
>
>It's just something I found doing a quick search on Google. If you want to
>know more, I encourage you to read up on email filters by doing a search on
>Google.
>
>Spam protection is available at a site like Yahoo!. Most of the time, you
>can turn it on and off. Turn it on. If you use a POP3 account (like the
>kind available from your ISP), ask their technical support if they use spam
>filters. If they don't, encourage them to.
>
>Finally, don't respond to spam. Here's a caveat, though. If it's something
>that I know I wasn't looking for (like sales pitches and pornographic
>sites), then I don't respond, even if they have a note like "To stop
>receiving emails from us, reply to this email. That's a surefire way to let
>them know your email address belongs to a breathing human being.
>
>If, however, I start receiving emails like the kind from "Christmas Depot,"
>from whom I bought a Christmas ornament for my girlfriend but wanted
>nothing further from, then yes, I respond to their "To stop receiving
>emails..." message. And it works, too.
>
>4) Finally, if all else fails, start taking very aggressive measures, like
>Angus suggested, and start looking into third-party anti-spam tools.
>
>I read about, downloaded, and use MailWasher. MailWasher queries your POP3
>mail and returns a list of subject lines. You can choose to "blacklist" the
>sender, whereby MailWasher returns a message to them that your email
>address bounced their message. Has it been working? The account I've been
>working on has gotten maybe 25 percent less spam. Agreeably, that's a lot
>of intervention on my part for a 25 percent reduction, but as they say
>around the World Wide Web, your mileage may vary.
>
>I've heard nothing but great things about the SpamBayes system. Spam Bayes
>applications "learn" what you consider spam and what you don't. So far,
>I've downloaded an application, but I've been too busy to work with it. If
>you're interested, try a Google search on "spam bayes" or "spambayes."
>Other sites that are good for free or trial downloads: www.tucows.com,
>www.download.com, www.nonags.com, or pcworld.com's Downloads.
>
>If anyone else has any suggestions, please feel free to post them.
>Otherwise, if you have any questions, send them to me privately.
>
>=================
>Please continue to send all email to andywoho@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>This is an email account I use from my workplace.
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