How can I stop my address getting on spam lists?
Anyone who uses e-mail knows exactly what the term "spam" refers to and has pondered, "How do I stop spam?"
Unwanted unsolicited e-mail has a way of finding all of our email boxes. Not only is it annoying, but it can also be dangerous. Spam often contains viruses, illegal get-rich-quick schemes, pornography, and other undesireable garbage. In fact, in today's e-mail environment, there is more spam than real email being sent. In many cases, there is so much spam coming into your mailbox, that real email is accidentally lost while deleting the junk mail. How can you stop spam?
The Golden Rule in helping to prevent spam e-mails is: never reply to a spam e-mail.
Don't unsubscribe from lists
Spam e-mails will almost always invite you to unsubscribe from their mailing list as this is their way for of confirming that your e-mail address is real. Iit will offer a link, or ask you to 'Reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject', for example. Never do it!. It is the spammers way of confirming that their message has got through and they have found a legitimate e-mail address. If you try these unsubsribe links, you'll find your e-mail address is circulated to even more spammers.Use fake email addresses
On many websites, you are required to enter an email address into a standard form before you can proceed through the website. If you don't feel comfortable giving out your email address to the particular website, leave a fake email address.Some people open one of the many free email accounts (such as those provided by Hotmail, Yahoo or Google) for this purpose. When the spammers eventually catch up with this account (as they will), they open a new one. Whether this is 'environmentally friendly' is another question!
