Because we list our email address on our GenWeb pages, we are very prown
to getting SPAM. There are programs that simply go out and take email
addresses off of a servers web pages, and Rootsweb is a large web site
with lots of email addresses to "pluck". I've been asked many times
before how to best stop this, and because the rules have changed, I
thought I'd update everyone on the best way to stop SPAM right now.
I pay a site to filter my spam.
www.spamcop.net does this for me. It
allows me to report the SPAM'ers. If that is what you want to do, then
I suggest you go to their site and look into signing up.
If you don't care, and you never want to see the SPAM, then I suggest
you go to
www.bigfoot.com and sign up for Email Address For Life. Using
the same technology as spamcop, bigfoot simply deletes the SPAM and you
never have to worry about it. Bigfoot is free!
Here is how both of these services work. You sign up and are given an
email address (ingelsp(a)bigfoot.com). You take this address and use it
on all your web pages and tell all your friends that this is your email
address. You then go into your email program (usually Netscape or
Outlook) and tell it that your REPLY TO address is your bigfoot address
(ingelsp(a)bigfoot.com). Now, you go to
www.bigfoot.com and you tell it
to forward all your email to your "real" address, that would be the
address you use now. If you even move, you simply tell
bigfoot.com your
new address....you're friends still send to your
bigfoot.com address and
you don't have to change your web pages either.
To show you how well this works, my email is sent to
bigfoot.com,
forwarded to
spamcop.net, and then forwarded to me real address. I used
to sign on to
spamcop.net every day and report 5-15 SPAMS a day. Now
that
bigfoot.com has started using the ORB's database (the same one as
spamcop) I get probably one to two SPAM's a week.
Bigfoot.com will also do limited virus checking for you. Any help you
can get in this category is a good thing, especially if you use Outlook
or Outlook Express.
Note that you have already advertised your real address, so it could
take some time before the SPAM's stop. Most address lists are thrown
away after a year by these SPAMMERS.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me.
Paul