Help with control of spam

I hate melodrama, but for purposes of this discussion, let us think of Spam as a cancer. There certainly are similarities we can draw between the two.

1. Once it starts, it grows quickly if unchecked.

2. It can begin through bad lifestyle habits.

3. Its probably easier to avoid than to cure.

4. There are treatments, but some of them may do harm.

In this blog we will discuss briefly one form of cure, known as Spam Filters, and the avoidance, often in the form of abstinence or Disposable Emails.

Lets begin with the lifestyle change. Most of us finally know that smoking, asbestos and gasoline fumes, are sources of health issues. So the smart ones among us, avoid them. There are still a host of other things, not the least of which include luck of the draw, that can give us dreaded diseases.

So it is with email. Clearly we know which sites are less reputable than others, or which stores or organizations, but most of us need to use email sometime! And because you are reading this, I assume you are amongst those who do.  So abstinence is not an answer, but you can still avoid the smoking. Be careful where you use your address. 

Once you get the Spam, you will notice it grows. Wildly! That is because once the spammers realize your email is not bouncing back, they send more. And they give (read that "sell") it to others who then use it. And should you ever, heaven forfend, respond to one of these, the deluge will begin.

There are many types of filters that can be used. Two basic kinds are either

1) based on words or word patterns, or 

2) based on where the email comes from, that is, an IP address.

The problem with the first type, is that it guesses wrong some times, and puts good emails into your junk folder. For example, and this happened to me, Outlook used to classify as junk, any subject line containing "$$$". Well I used that in an email once and my friend never got it.

So you are still left with checking your Junk Mail all the time for errors, so what have you solved?

The other problem is that these emails still "hit" you server, and take up processing and bandwidth resources, until they are identified as Spam.

The IP address approach is based on a list maintained by the spam service. It also can fail by omitting an IP address from their list, or getting over zealous with their rating (as happened to a local reputable service provider who was declared as a spam service).

Disposable Email addresses are part of the healthy email life style. They give you the closest to complete protection (IMHO).

Why?

Because you never use your email address. You use an Alias address. That is, one that "forwards" you email to your real address. The advantages are:

1. You still use the same email address where you wish which to receive your mail, and the same inbox.

2. If spam does arrive, you can shut down the alias, and thats the end of that!

3. You can create an Alias for each correspondent, allowing you complete control over what you shut down, and also informing you of who the "bad guys" are.

4. You never waste computer resources on the spam, because its filtered out before it reaches your inbox.

disposable emails need to meet the following criteria in order to be effective.

1. You should be able to create new ones at will, with no effort (i.e.: just the act of using them!).

2. They should be trashable, with a click or two.

3. I t should be easy to determine which of the disposable emails is the culprit

4. There must be a registration process which provides security to you. 

5. And the emails need to be "live for as little or as long as you like"e

I look forward to hearing your experiences.