In
this article we discuss why spam
keeps coming even though vitually
everyone wants it to stop
Everything in the world is cause
and effect. Did you ever think what
spam does to the keyboard market?
Obviously the more spam email you
get, you more your delete key gets
used, so the quicker it wears out,
so the sooner you need a new keyboard.
What about the other effects? My
email downloads slowly, so now I
need a faster internet connection.
My machine is running slowly because
of all the Spyware that gets installed
from those ad sites, so now I need
a faster machine. My browser crashes
because of all the add-ins that
get installed, now I need a more
secure, robust browser.
The list goes on seemingly forever,
will there be an end and will it
be during my lifetime? In this,
our last installment in our series
on spam, our focus will be “the
big picture”. In our look
at this (which will be more like
an aerial photo), we will focus
on where you can have a direct impact
on the spam, and hopefully save
you from an early keyboard retirement.
Companies employ numerous marketing
techniques to present their product
to the prospective clients. Millions
of dollars are spent on determining
what entices people, what grabs
their attention and what they ignore.
Oh, if only that money would just
be spent on making a better product
in the first place. Unfortunately
history has taught us that marketing
is what sales the product, not quality.
This is why we are where we are
now with spam. Advertising is a
costly venture; email marketing
has the lowest cost impact of all
marketing media. In an effort to
prevent companies from employing
spammers, many people have begun
boycotting companies that utilize
this media. Although I commend people
for this effort, and I certainly
don’t want to discourage anyone
from and activity that will in anyway
detriment spammers, there are points
of diminished return, this is one
of them. Now, if legal action could
be taken against a company that
used spam for advertising, things
would be different. However email,
faxing, telemarketing and other
forms of unsolicited advertising
have a very strong foothold. Indeed,
these items need to be removed from
the “acceptable means”
column of advertising… but
how? Write a letter, join a group,
and make some noise; these are the
claims of activists, and in unto
themselves seem like reasonable
courses of action. Except for the
fact, that those demanding the rights
to harass you, have spent inordinate
amounts of money establishing and
protecting those rights. By ourselves
and in small groups, our pleas fall
on deaf ears. How do you attack
such an entrenched enemy? The answer
is not clear, but of one thing I
am sure, the internet has yet to
be used as the political vehicle
it could be.
If you can’t stop companies
from spamming can you stop them
spamming you? Yes, depending on
how far you want to go. If you currently
receive tons of spam messages, you
have 2 options. Use an email spam
filter to automatically remove those
emails that you don’t want.
In a previous article we talked
about the various options you should
look for in a spam filter, get one
and watch your inbox shrink. Your
other option is more drastic but
it will at least for the short term
eliminate all spam coming in…
Change your email address, doing
this temporarily takes you off the
radar. Obviously this has a large
impact on the way you use your email,
so if you are not up to the daunting
task of communicating with all the
people that email you legitimately
and supplying them with the new
email address, then this way isn’t
for you.
In the long term, use spam safe
internet behavior. Things like don’t
sign up for freebies, don’t
post your email on websites, don’t
participate in chain letters, (this
includes chastising those that include
you in one) and don’t have
a typical email addresses. An example
of a typical email address would
be [email protected]. If your ISP
has a standard for email addresses
then spammers can easily guess a
large number of email addresses
including yours, see if you can
get your email changed to [email protected].
Lastly, the most important thing
you can do about spam is to report
it. I think it is offensive that
I have to use my valuable time to
react to (and pay for) unsolicited
emails. But since that is the world
we live in today, I do just that.
We are rapidly coming to an apex
with the war on spam. Spammers don’t
realize (or don’t care) but
the war will be over soon one way
or another. Either spam will be
eliminated wholly from our inboxes,
or our email will become so laden
with junk mail that it will not
be useable. Either way, I guess
we win because regardless the outcome,
we won’t be reading their
junk mail anymore.
To sum it all up, I dream of a future
that will be, much like the past
was at one time, simple and spam
free. Because I do not share this
dream alone, I can believe that
it will one day be reality.
Thank you, and remember to have
fun and take care.
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