Ways to Avoid Spam
Ever since the invention of the Electronic Mail or E-mail, our life became more convenient. We never have to wait for a long time for our mail to arrive even if our friends and family members are located at the other end of the Earth. Like all other things in life, nothing is perfect. Just like the traditional mail or as we refer to it now as ‘snail mail’, we can also receive junk mail called ‘Spam’, not the Spam by Hormel, maker of canned luncheon meat.
Then what is a Spam? Spam is an unsolicited bulk email sent by an anonymous sender. According to Webster online dictionary, the origin of the word ‘Spam’ came from the skit in Monty Python’s Flying Circus were most of the dialog are Spam. Now the questions are: Why are Spammers doing this? Are they profiting from it? The answer is ‘yes’. The spammer sends bulk email to all contacts that they harvested in the net, and if the recipients reply, the spammer earns a small percentage from them. Now, how can we protect our email addresses from being a target of spammers? These are some simple ways to do it:
1. Never post your email addresses in forums, chat rooms, mailing lists or any publicly accessible resources.
2. When creating email address, don’t limit it to your name only. Use combination of numbers and letters that make it harder for the spammer to spell it. Usually spammer guesses the email address by using combination of names.
3. If you’re going to post your email in public, mask or disguise your email address for example: joesmith@yahoo.com you can type it like joesmith(at)yahoo(dot)com or better yet post it as an image rather than text. There are sites that provide this service for free or you can manually do it in any photo editing software.
4. Create multiple email addresses. One for your private and business, and the other for registering in forum or other site. In this way, you will not worry about your private email being flooded by spam.
5. Never respond to spam. If you do, the spammer will know that your email is active and most likely they will send you more junk mails.
6. Tell your friends and family members not to post your private email in any site or to be use in registering in sites.
7. Use anti-spam solution or spam filter.
The tips I’ve mentioned are not 100 percent solutions. Spammers will always create new and better ways to get your e-mail and spam you. In case your email had been discovered by a spammer, be ready to change your email address.
