Like most netizens, I've been getting quite a bit of SPAM lately. For those who have been living in caves for the past few years, "spam" is junk e-mail. If you post messages to newsgroups on Usenet on a regular basis, or even a few times, your name and e-mail address was most likely harvested by several companies who spit out millions of spams a day. Your address is also used by companies who ask you to give out your e-mail address before downloading software or receiving e-mail newsletters, etc.
The spams on this page are not typical spams, however...these are the dumbest of the dumb, the lowest of the low that I've seen slurping into my mailbox. And if you've read much of my homepage, you'll know that I have little pity for marketers. :) I'm sure you'll get a laugh or two out of these... Here are the different flavors of spam I've come across:
Evil spam - I've been getting some spam that is just so bad, it actually smacks of outright evil. Usually these spams are advertising ways to create MORE spam, but some of them are products that qualify as "evil" just because they're so stupid.Anything for a sale - These people will say anything to get your attention. They'll make up stories about how they found your address, they'll try to make their ads sound like "accidental" e-mails, they'll include phony conversations as if you're "eavesdropping" on a really hot deal...whatever gets you to read and buy.
Bonehead products - Some of these products are so stupid, the only way they can sell 'em is through spam!
What's the simplest way to avoid being spammed in the future? This one's easy: NEVER use your real e-mail address! This goes for posting to Usenet newsgroups or any website which requires you to enter your e-mail address before downloading software. (Some sites offer some kind of "Reply to unsubscribe" option, but DON'T trust any of them.) Get a free account at Hotmail, Rocketmail, Yahoo, etc. and use that address instead--make it your "spam address", and once a month just go in and clean out any spams (or whatever) have been accumulating there. Your real e-mail address should remain totally private when dealing with online companies. Even if you're ordering a product, use your "spam address" because you can bet that it will be used for some kind of marketing in the future.
What do I do about my existing spam problem? Well,
that's a little more complicated. The best thing is probably to use filters, but
for info on this and other tactics, see the websites in the webring below, or just
go to Yahoo and do a search on "spam"...you'll quickly find a wealth of
information on blocking this stuff.
Internet Spam Foundation
Award!
I'm still
wondering when my can of Spam will arrive! :-)
Opposing
pro-spam legislation
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