How to Deal with Spam

If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by unsolicited commercial e-mail, here are some useful tips for avoiding, filtering, and responding to spam.

Avoiding Spam

1. Avoid posting your e-mail address on public message boards or newsgroups.
   Spammers run programs that "harvest" e-mail addresses from these sources. The good news is that many online forums are now designed so that they don't expose e-mail addresses.
2. Disguise your e-mail address on your Web page.
   A recent study showed that one of the main ways spammers collect e-mail addresses is by "scraping" them off of public Web pages. The goods news is that the same study also demonstrated that even simple means of disguising your e-mail address, such as writing "someone at onenw.org" instead of "someone@onenw.org" was effective at keeping spammers at bay.
3. Create a "dummy" e-mail account for public posting.
   If you find that you need to post to newsgroups or other public forums, we suggest creating a secondary "dummy" mail account, either on your mail server or on Yahoo Mail, and use that address when posting to the Web or signing up for online services. You can change dummy addresses when one starts attracting too much spam.
4. Don't use Hotmail/AOL/MSN as your primary mail provider.
   Many spammers just flood all common usernames on widely-used mail systems (e.g. dave23, dave24, etc.) If your main e-mail address is currently on Hotmail, MSN, AOL, Earthlink, or any other major national mail provider, you may want to think about getting a less visible e-mail address to minimize your exposure to spam.

Filtering Spam

1. Just hit delete.
   If you're only getting a few spam messages a day, the best solution is probably to just chill out and hit delete. Yes, it's annoying. And no, it's not right. But it's just not worth the effort to banish spam unless it's really impacting your ability to use e-mail effectively.
2. Use built-in spam filters for Web-based e-mail accounts.
   Many e-mail programs have built-in routines for identifying suspected spam. Hotmail's is particularly useful, probably because Hotmail is such a breeding ground for spam. You'll find Hotmail's Inbox Protector under the Options tab. Yahoo Mail has strong built-in, automatic spam protection.
3. Use third-party spam-killing software.
   If spam is really hitting you hard, there are third-party software products that can "pre-download" your e-mail, attempt to identify spam, and then let you download only your "clean" mail.
   
   

   Windows

   Windows users have a variety of spam-killing products. Some products are specific to one e-mail client, while others support multiple e-mail programs.

   Currently, our favorite spam-fighting software is the SpamBayes Outlook Addin. As the name suggests, it is compatible only with Microsoft Outlook. It's free, Open Source, and has received very good reviews. SpamBayes uses very powerful Bayesian filtering algorithms that can literally learn to recognize spam. This technique can produce very powerful and accurate anti-spam filtering if you're able to put in a bit of effort to train the system.

   We've also heard good things about Spamhilator , which works with any POP e-mail client and is completely free

   Several popular products are based on the widely used SpamAssassin filtering system, an Open Source product originally developed for Unix systems. There are now versions of SpamAssassin for Windows users:

   • Eudora users can use Spamnix ($30, with a 30-day trial license).
   • Microsoft Outlook users can also try Spammunition , a free plug-in for Outlook. It's not incredibly polished, but it is free and works quite well.
   • Another well-regarded product is McAfee SpamKiller . It costs $40, but offers a powerful and easy-to-use set of spam-busting features.
   • More technically-inclined users may want to check out POPfile . It's a powerful free program that uses Bayesian analysis to learn the difference between spam and legitimate e-mail. Because POPfile is a proxy, it works with almost any e-mail program, but does require some effort to set up properly.

   Mac

   • A recommended spam-filtering program for Mac OS 9 and OS X users is SpamFire ($29). SpamFire works with Eudora and most other Mac e-mail programs.
   • Mac OS X users can also use SpamSieve (shareware, $20). Like POPFile (above), SpamSieve implements a Bayesian algorithm to "learn" what spam looks like. It integrates with Eudora and Microsoft's popular Entourage e-mail client, as well as Mailsmith and Powermail.
   • Spamnix ($30), which integrates with Eudora under Mac OS X, is a third reasonable option.
4. Use external mail-filtering services.
   If spam is a big problem for everyone in your organization, it might be easier to use an outside mail filtering solution that can intercept spam BEFORE it even reaches your inbox. The best such service we're aware of is NPOShield, a service offered by ElectricEmbers, a Bay Area nonprofit tech provider. TFP charges sliding scale rates of $1-4 per month per user for NPOShield.
5. Use e-mail software with built-in spam filtering features.
   While it's not yet commonplace, some major e-mail programs are starting to incorporate effective spam filtering features. The two leaders (so far) in this arena are:
   • OS X's built-in mail client, Mail.app: Apple has built in Bayesian spam-filtering technology into the e-mail client that's bundled with its new OS X operating system.
   • Mozilla 1.6.: Mozilla is the Open Source successor to Netscape. While Mozilla is primarily a Web browser, it also includes a full-featured e-mail program that now has a powerful Bayesian spam filtering module.
   • Microsoft's Outlook now has reasonably decent spam filtering built in.

Responding to Spam

1. DON'T follow "remove me" instructions.
   While reputable e-mailers will offer you a way to get off their e-mail lists, spammers just use their "remove me" instructions to validate your e-mail address as "live," thus paving the way for even more spam. Argh! So, no matter how much spam annoys you, don't bother responding -- it just makes the problem worse.
2. DO report spam.
   Spamming is against the rules of most ISPs. And in some places (like Washington State!) it's even against the law. You can help stop spam by reporting spam to the appropriate authorities. One of the easiest ways to do this to use the spam reporting services at SpamCop.net .