So you're tired of spam?

o get yourself a hot cocoa then make yourself comfortable. Okay, ready to begin?

We all know what spam is. Right? It's unwanted junk email. It's email trying to sell you some scam. It's often rude and offensive. And you're getting so much of it your inbox is full. Judging from all the other people included as addressees, a lot of other people are drowning in it too.

Unsolicited bulk email or unsolicited commercial email is its official name. But we all call it "spam" for short. It almost makes it sound cute. But think about its real names for a moment. It's commerical. It's bulk. And, most of all, it's unsolicited. Keep the points I highlighted in mind.

So you came here to learn how to get rid of spam? Or, perhaps, you came here to learn how to create spam. If you want to create it, click here. Otherwise, please keep reading.

 Spam 101

o what's the easiest way to deal with spam? That's an easy one. Simply delete it. Like you didn't know that already. But, from a practical standpoint, that's how the vast majority of folks on the Internet deal with spam. It's quick, efficient, and takes care of the problem. Well, at least for the moment. As quickly as you delete it more will show up to nag you. I mention this because deleting spam is the best solution for most people. The typical Internet user gets an average of 2 spam messages a day. Is it worth the bother to take the next step?

And what is the next step? Blocking spam from entering your inbox. AOL has its mail controls. Email programs like Outlook, Netscape, and Pegasus have filtering options. There are 3rd party spam filtering software packages like MailWasher available. Okay, this sounds easy. But there's a problems with this approach.

Filtering options vary in sophistication from program to program but I'll generalize by saying there are 3 common areas you can filter on: the sender, the subject, and the body. Most commonly people filter using the first 2, sender and subject. Ever notice how you keep getting the same sales pitch over and over but the sender is always different? It's a common strategy used by spammers to bypass filters. So what about blocking email based upon the subject? Spammers toss a curve ball to frustrate victims here too. Frequently, they use innocuous subjects like "Where have you been?" or "Give me a call." Block all emails with this subject line and, before you know it, your significant other's email is going into the bit bucket. Not too good for the love life.

Is blocking email hopeless? Hardly. In fact, it's the only way to keep your inbox spam free, or nearly so. How do you pull off this miracle? By using a technique called a white list. Rather than use a filter to block spam after the horse is out of the barn, so to speak, use a filter to only allow those emails through that you explicitly allow. So your mom and dad, your kids, your sisters and brothers, your buddies, your coworkers, and even uncle Fred get placed on your personal white list. All their email gets through to your inbox. Nobody else does. For tips on building a white list click here.

 Bump It Up A Notch!

ired of reading? Get up and take a stretch. I'll be here waiting when you're done.

There's more? How can that be? We've taken the rather extreme measure of white listing our mail box. We did such a good job there's only a trickle of spam. For now.

Forcasting the future volume of spam is like predicting where the stock market will be in a few years. Nobody knows. But the current statistics bear out that spam is going through an explosive growth spirt right now. And there is no end in sight. Worse, if you're bothering with reading these pages it's a safe bet you've already reached a threashold greater than 2 spams per day, the current average. Anybody can deal with a couple of junk emails messages a day. But if you're already getting 20, 30, or 40 a day now what will it be like in a couple of years?

But you've got that super duper filter. You don't see it, right? But ISPs are drowning in spam. It's clogging capacity requiring additional bandwidth and server capacity. Naturally, more hardware requires more licensed software and more systems engineers to keep everything running smoothly. I understand, for example, EarthLink spends millions per year managing the deluge of spam. It's estimated that on any given day 10%-30% of their email traffic is spam. In addition to all of this, some ISPs like AT&T have staff who's full time job is to combat spam. Who pays for this? You do. To the tune of $2 to $3 per month in added ISP charges. Follow the trend line. Does it make you a little nervous? If not, go about your business. I hope you've benefited from reading thus far. Otherwise, please read on.

Let me digress for a moment. I used to get a lot of telemarketing calls. Like a lot of people I got fed up so I bought an answering machine. That worked. I'd get a lot of hangups which I deleted each day. It was a hassle to friends and family who were calling me but they eventually got used to me screening my calls. One day I had too much time on my hands so I pondered why I was a prisoner to telemarketers. It didn't make sense. So I changed my strategy. I started answering my phone again. Most of the calls were telemarketers, of course. I'd listen to their spiel then politely tell them to take me off their call list. Within 2 weeks getting a call from telemarketers was a rarity. Going to the source worked like a charm.

So, let's just go straight to the spammers and tell them to take us off their mailing lists. Unfortunately, this doesn't work most of the time. When spammers give you a way to opt out usually it's just a trick to verify your email address is valid. Once they realize they've got a 'live' one, the spam will never stop. Worse, they'll trade their verified list with all their spamming buddies. Bottom line, they'll play you for a sucker.

The source for dealing with spammers are the ISPs supporting them explicity or implicitly. There are ISPs wearing white hats and ISPs wearing black hats. Nonetheless, the strategy is the same: complain to the ISP. This is where the real adventure beings. If, like Alice in Wonderland, you're ready to jump down the rabbit hole click here.