{"id":88,"date":"2004-06-21T21:22:40","date_gmt":"2004-06-22T02:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/?p=88"},"modified":"2007-01-05T22:53:17","modified_gmt":"2007-01-06T04:53:17","slug":"the-problem-with-spam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cottrillcompass.com\/blog\/2004\/the-problem-with-spam.html","title":{"rendered":"The problem with SPAM…"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you might guess, I’m not talking about the processed meat. I’m talking about those emails that we all get that we didn’t ask for and don’t want!<\/i> Internet service providers (ISPs) are implementing services to help keep some of the spam away from your inbox. Some ISPs (locally, for example, telus<\/a>) are trying to convince you to buy their services for that very reason – they have spam filters, they have virus protection, and so on and so on.<\/p>\n

Although this is probably one of those things that just has<\/i> to be done, there are a couple of problems with this whole thing. First, when your ISP starts filtering mail, that means that they have control, not you. If they think that a certain email is spam, you’ll just never get it, and you’ll never know what you missed.<\/p>\n

The other problem is at the other end. What if you<\/i> are the one getting filtered? Yes, it happened to me. I sent an email to my sister-in-law, and it bounced back. I contacted the ISP, and they said my server was blacklisted. By who? By another company whose spam list they used. So tough luck for me.<\/p>\n

Well, we eventually got that one sorted out. But here’s how it might happen to you: someone sends a spam email, and makes it look like it’s from you. It’s reported, and some company blacklists you. All of a sudden, someone isn’t getting your emails. It may not even bounce back – it may just vanish into oblivion! Nasty! You never know what happened, and suddenly someone never hears from you again.<\/p>\n

So here are some suggestions for you, if you’re at all concerned about this (and if you ever ever send or receive email, you should be concerned):
* Know what filters your ISP has<\/b>, and how they work
* Make sure you know what filters are already in place.<\/b> This is especially if you use a free email service – are your emails being filtered? Where do the filtered emails go? For example, some filters only let you get email addressed to you. But if someone sends an email to 3 friends under ‘BCC’ (blind carbon copy, which is really more secure than showing all the addresses), it will get filtered.
* Filter your own spam as much as possible<\/b>, so you<\/i> have control. Consider anti-spam software such as MailWasher<\/a>, or an email program such as Mozilla<\/a>, and take the time to learn how to use the software properly.
* If you own a small business or organization, or even if you’re a missionary sending out email newsletters, check out this article<\/b><\/a>. It’s a bit long, but it explains exactly what the problem is and what we can do about it. Read it all, it’s worth it.<\/i>
* Do you use Hotmail? Hotmail will delete messages being sent to you if they<\/i> think it’s spam, and won’t notify you or the sender. I know some of you have fierce loyalty to good old Hotmail, but consider switching<\/b> to Yahoo!<\/a> or another provider that is more reliable, at least until Hotmail gets their act together.
* If you send out any type of regular email newsletter, check it first!<\/b> There are free online services that can check your newsletter ahead of time to make sure it won’t get mistaken for spam. I use this one, which uses a major spam filter to check your email.<\/a><\/p>\n

I hope that’s a help! After all, if you use email at all, this is your problem too. Let’s not let spammers ruin it for all of us! \ud83d\ude25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you might guess, I’m not talking about the processed meat. I’m talking about those emails that we all get that we didn’t ask for and don’t want! Internet service providers (ISPs) are implementing services to help keep some of the spam away from your inbox. 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