Spammers get email addresses from web pages using programs called spiders which tour the internet capturing letter strings with the "@" character in it.
Signing up for extra information at some sites and giving your email address can also get you a flood of unwanted mail, but although it feels like spam, it is, or started as, "Opt-in" email.
However, recent legislation in some countries can redefine this as spam if it fails to have certain features, like return address and physical address (of course, just what is required depends on country).
Overcoming that kind of spam is a challenge after you have signed up in a weak moment, although there are a number of programs that attempt to solve the problem. Just one is K9 from http://keir.net/k9.html
But consider this situation: you have a web page and you expect a flood of visitors, and need to put your email address there.
But how do you keep it clean?
Well remember the spiders look for an @ in the string.
We can put an alternate symbol in its place. So meandherATthere.com sits on my web page. With that particular one, we assume that the visitor has the nouse to preplace the AT with an @ and not think it is a new way to write email addresses, and the program would take care of it, and they needent do anything!
Rather than go through all the alternatives here, you will find a list of different methods and some comments about each one, on the site www.takeyoursiteup.com.
May your site not send you any more unwanted visitors!
David is a former Medial Scientist who got into programming and web development and lives in South Australia. His yahoo box gets a regular stream of spam, and doesn't want any more!
shuttle from O'Hare Brocton .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareWhy do so many people think I need to take... Read More
Microsoft scores one for the good guysScott Richter, the self-proclaimed... Read More
... and you'd better sit up and take notice! Customers... Read More
Spam. You've all heard of the crazy pink meat in... Read More
Marketers usually think of anti-spam tactics as 'how to prevent'... Read More
As the flood of spam increases end users are looking... Read More
A friend of mine received a chilling email message from... Read More
Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone... Read More
I. BACKGROUNDThe CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
Phishing is rapidly becoming on the largest threats to your... Read More
Spammers get email addresses from web pages using programs called... Read More
We all hate spam and get way too much of... Read More
Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More
Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it... Read More
When you go to your mailbox and find pieces of... Read More
Google is engaged in a war. It is a war... Read More
Are you tired of spam stealing your time, your money,... Read More
They're sneaky. And stealthy. They're quiet and mostly unobtrusive, but... Read More
Block Spam and Other Email Threats From Entering Your Gateway... Read More
Even being as careful as possible with my email address,... Read More
The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to... Read More
Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load... Read More
RSS is the answer to the Spam epidemic of the... Read More
Stop intrusive pop-up ads and regain control of your online... Read More
Chicago charter limousine service Hickory Hills ..Like everybody who will ever read this, I get spam... Read More
In a word Bayesian spam filters are "intelligent". Bayesian spam... Read More
There are hundreds of thousands of people who are trying... Read More
Q: I am so sick of all the spam that... Read More
Microsoft scores one for the good guysScott Richter, the self-proclaimed... Read More
When you go to your mailbox and find pieces of... Read More
Do you like spam? No, I'm not kidding. Everybody knows... Read More
A friend asked me: I don't get it. Why do... Read More
About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More
What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More
When you receive an email telling you about a virus,... Read More
News last week that Internet service provider Verizon settled its... Read More
Although there still seem to be some differences among the... Read More
The harmful affects of pornography use and addiction are well... Read More
With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week... Read More
Google is engaged in a war. It is a war... Read More
You just sat at your desk, opened your email account... Read More
Even being as careful as possible with my email address,... Read More
1. Ignore Spam EmailDo not open an unsolicited email. Spammers... Read More
It's no secret that the US economy has slowed down,... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
While we all admit that unsolicited commercial email is a... Read More
For years I didn't worry much about spam.But lately it's... Read More
Spam can be a lot more damaging than you might... Read More
Why do so many people think I need to take... Read More
Spam Blocking |