SPAM.....what is it, and how can you help stop it?

SPAM is unwanted, unsolicited advertising, usually sent by total strangers in large mass mailings, similar to your post office "junk mail". SPAM can be selling something, offering shady 'come-ons', advertising a website (often a business or porn site), or just simply annoying junk.

HOW DO THEY GET MY E-MAIL ADDRESS?
There are numerous ways for a spammer to get your e-mail addy. Guestbooks you've signed, mailing lists you've joined, web pages you may have......some of the more sophisticated spammers have spiders that can go out and find your addy on their own. Some simply SPAM at random, knowing for sure there has to be a "bsmith@yourdomain.com" or a "tjones@yourdomain.com" out there in every domain......
Also, some information I have read advises you NOT to use the "mailto:" e-mail link on your pages, as the spiders look specifically for that tag.....on these pages, however, I hope they do pick up that tag.....and send me a spam.....so I can take them off the net !

HOW CAN I MAKE THEM STOP?
This is where it gets fun.....there actually is a LOT you can do.

First, forward the message, IN ITS ENTIRETY to both abuse@domain.com and postmaster@domain.com, replacing "domain" with the actual addy of the sender. By ICC rules, ALL domains must have a postmaster@domain.com e-mail address. Most also have abuse@domain.com, but some don't, so to be sure, forward the offending message to both.

If your forwarded message bounces to postmaster@domain.com, then you can be pretty sure you are dealing with a FORGED header....(see below)....and the domain doesn't even exist.

You will most likely first get an automated message back from the domain acknowledging receipt of your complaint, and a promise to check into the matter. Hopefully, if the domain really cares about stopping such nonsense, they will follow up in a day or so, with the results of their investigation.

SOME spammers send to ficticious recipients, and then BCC (blind carbon copy) to YOU, and the actual e-mail addy of the sender is not revealed. Sometimes there may be a different 'reply to' address in the letter. Send your complaint to ALL domain names mentioned......that is important.

Also, some spammers FORGE the "FROM" headers on their messages, to make it look like the mail came from someone or somewhere else ! I don't quite understand how, but those who know say it isn't hard to do.
When I learned that, it set me to thinking--what if someone I BUST sets up a new account & uses MY e-mail addy as the "from" ? Then I would lose MY e-mail account, if my server ever thought it might have been ME !
Knowing that, I have taken a precaution to prevent that from happening.....and if a spammer tries to use my addy as a "from", and I lose that account, then I will just have to go to the old GeoCities 'mail form', which is a pain, but I still want all my visitors to have a way to get in touch with me, and share their thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

DO NOT EVER REPLY TO SPAM, NOR GO TO ANY WEBSITES MENTIONED WITHIN THEM. All you will be doing is confirming to the spammer that yours is a valid e-mail address, and they will continue to send you junk mail after junk mail, instead of removing you from the mailing list, as some do.

Second, if they list an 800 or 888 telephone number.....feel free to call it.....BUT NOT FROM YOUR HOME PHONE, unless you want to give them that info too !

Use a pay phone or your work phone, if you like, as the call will cost you NOTHING.......but costs them every time the number is dialed !! Maybe when their phone bills begin to exceed their actual profits, they may soon go out of business !! However, I read a warning somewhere not to "war-dial" (call repeatedly) these numbers, as that is illegal. I'd call once or twice, anyway, LOL*

The following is an excerpt from a page by: Andrew C. Bulhak, Copyright 1996. It says to "Distribute freely."
So I am. Thank you for this wonderful info, Andrew, since I had no e-mail addy to contact you by to ask.

He suggests this wording in the body of your e-mail complaint to domains:
"The following unsolicited commercial message was sent to me by one of your users; it is a waste of my time and disk space and the University's (or whoever's) money. Please ensure that this does not happen again.
Sincerely,
(forwarded copy of spam)
If you like, you can Cc: it to the spammer, though; although this is more a matter of personal style than anything else. "

His entire page can be found HERE: and I found it well worded, and very interesting reading !

I'm open to any suggestions for OTHER fun ways to get even with spammers, so please feel free to share them, and I'll post them here !

:

"Take The Junk Out Of Your E-mail"
SPAM FAQ's
"Figuring Out Where The Spam Came From"
A BIGGER SPAM Blacklist
"The Netizen's Guide to Spam, Abuse, and Internet Advertising"

If you would like to join in this fight against spam and abuse, and porn, feel free to foward to me any spam mails you have received, with the "headers" INTACT. After I have verified them, the addresses of the spammers AND the responses of their hosts will be posted here.

Also, please feel free to save this banner to your hard drive and link it back here, to help spread the word about our fight.