Avoiding Junk Email
Sometimes when you sign up for free offers, you can get
more than you bargained for. Although most of the sites
that I refer you to are unlikely to cause you to receive
unwanted email, if you register for freebies (or use an
email address anywhere on the net) you will eventually
find yourself on unwanted mailing lists.
If, like me, you already get too much unsolicited email,
I have some tips that can help you avoid the hassle.
- Become a Moving Target - This is probably
the one most effective method of warding off the
spammers. If you don't give out your primary email
address except to trusted individuals and
organizations you can keep a nice clean mailbox.
- Avoid giving your email address out online - One way that junk email senders (a.k.a. spammers)
find email addresses is by using programs that
collect e-mail addresses on web pages and in
newsgroup postings. Therefore, avoid putting your
email address on any web pages and avoid using your
real email address when posting to newsgroups.
- Name Rank and Serial Number - If you are
signing up for a freebie or registering for anything
on the Net only give the information that is needed.
If a site is asking for more information than seems
reasonable, leave out the excess info, or just avoid
it. If it looks like they are trying to qualify you
for a targeted mailing list they probably are. Also,
never give out your phone number on the Net unless
there is a very good reason. Junk email is bad
enough, unsolicited phone calls we really don't
need.
- Check that Box - Many registration forms
have a check box that allows you to indicate if you
don't (or do) want email sent to you. If you want to
avoid junk email, be sure to make your wishes known.
In most cases the default is equivalent to saying
"yes I want junk email". Just say no.
- Do not respond to junk email - Delete
junk email messages. Do not reply to them, as this
only confirms that your email address is actively
used, making it even more valuable to spammers.
With a little caution, a little common sense, and a
few tricks, you can avoid a lot of unwanted email.