FriendshipGarden

GardenTalker · Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:01 pm Post subject: SPAM Prevention techniques

SPAM Prevention techniques

* Minimize the number of people who have your e-mail address. If someone has your address in their address book and they get infected by a virus, then your e-mail address could be all over the Internet in minutes. The fewer people who have your address the less the chance of this happening. The catch is that we all like to get e-mails so this is not a good solution.
* Don’t give your e-mail address to someone who will put it on a web site. Even if there is no virus involved, there are people who “harvest” e-mail addresses by searching web-sites for e-mail addresses. They then collect them and sell them as a mailing list to spammers. Note that this site has been configured to prevent our own e-mail address being harvested. Other web site operators can do the same although this would not be practical if this needs to be done for more than a few addresses.
* If you must do either of the above, then either implement Spam management techniques (below) or use expendable addresses. For example, use a hotmail or Yahoo address and change it every few months. Then give these addresses to everyone except a very few.
* If you get a SPAM message from someone who is not a highly reputable organization, do not reply at all. Do not even click on their link that says “click here to unsubscribe”. If you did not subscribe in the first place, this action will only signal them that you are silly enough to answer so you’ll get more SPAM. Conversely, for organizations like Sears, Staples, Future Shop, Globe and Mail, etc, if you don’t want their e-mail, you should unsubscribe. These and other reputable organizations can be trusted to stop e-mail if requested.