The Letterville BullBoard: OT - Does it do any good to report spam?

This is topic OT - Does it do any good to report spam? in forum Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk at The Letterville BullBoard.

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Posted by Steve Racz (Member # 4376) on :

Hello Letterheads,

I have been using SpamCop to report all spam messages i get.

Does it help to do this or am i just wasting my time?

Thanks,
Steve

Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :

i did it for a little while but then thought..why am i even spending more time other than the delete button. i'm not sure it does any good...they are always changing their addys after they get shut down. i'd just get some kind of filter.
i don't know why someone thinks i need a fake rolex watch or viagra. [I Don t Know]

Posted by Jim Doggett (Member # 1409) on :

Hi Steve,

In my opinion, nope. Spammers keep spamming us because it works. In contrast, the response rates needed to make direct mail (junk mail) pay for itself are pretty high; a half to 1% of recipients need to buy something to make the break even point. And upfront costs are high; 50,000 postcards can cost over 20 grand to print and mail.

Spammers can make money if one or two people in a million respond ... and upfront costs are in the hundreds, not tens of thousands. Thus many people will jump on this bandwagon ... hourly.

And like any businessperson would do, they'll try to stay in business even when the playing field changes. They'll get around new blocking techniques, as they're implemented by the various spam-blocking programs. And they'll switch the IP they're sending from as the old ones get blocked.

So far, the best spam solution I've found is ELLA, which I train as I go. Also, coming to terms with the notion that spam is an inevitable part of the Internet, which even with spam, is still the best thing ever.

Editors note: Summa does not/will never spam. We hate it too.

My $0.02,
Jim

Posted by Randy Campbell (Member # 2675) on :

I don't need the Viagra either Karen but I get propositioned at least 20 times a day.How can I keep up with all that sex?I'm soooo tired. [I Don t Know]

Posted by Steve Racz (Member # 4376) on :

Thanks Guys!

Karen - i think i'm gonna give up reporting too.

Jim - thanks - i'm gonna check out ELLA.

Randy - maybe you will get some other spams for added energy... [Smile]

Thanks again for the replies.

Steve

Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :

I totally agree with Jim, you know the guy that works for the company that sells the **wonderful** Summa equipment. I used to do the "unsubscribe" thing but I found out that it profiled me as an "active" person and was more apt to order online so I ended up getting more spam because of it. I only get about 3 offers a week for Viagra but still that can make you forget who you really ordered it from. [Rolling On The Floor]

Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :

one of my clients is the world famous ron scelson. Google his name and you will see.
He told me there is now way to really stop the spammers. They use software that will make up email addresses by the millions in just a few minutes. Then they will send you an email with a clear pixel GIF in it that signals back when you open it thus comfirming an active email. (those who use outlook with preview are a good target).
They change their email return address via software and spoof. You simply cannot block enough of them.
The answer is to filter every email that does not have a specific code in the "to" section.

For example.. Johny sam @testemail.com .. Any email without the "sam" part in the address will be sent to the trash bin. That way you will not open a clear gif spam by accident.

Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :

Hiya Steve,
Complain to your ISP. That normally helps.
I report the spam that is considered phishing. Since they are linked to a real web site, there may be a chance that the FTC may be able to do something. If nothing else, it makes me feel better. The FTC email for forwarding spam is SPAM@UCE.GOV You can learn more about safe surfing here:
http://ftc.gov/bcp/menu-internet.htm
Outlook also has a feature that disables the loading of images in a message. This includes blocking the clear gif images as Curtis mentioned above. This will help reduce spam with a new email address but if you have an email that's been active for a while, it's pretty much toast.
These days, disposable emails are the way to go. I have several, but still practice safe web surfing with these email addresss too. On a bad week, I may get 2-3 dozen messages.

Havin' fun,

Checkers

Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :

I use www.mail2web.com to preview all the e-mails on my server WITHOUT DOWNLOADING! It's a free site. All you need to know is your address and password.

It will list all your e-mails by date, sender, subject and size. You can select individuals or delete all in one hit. One of my old addresses gets over 100 hits per day. It takes me two minutes to scan it just in case there is something I want then delete all.

The beauty of it is you can do it from any computer anywhere in the world. Great when you are traveling.

Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :

I have Yahoo spam blocker.

I'm gonna delete mail at some point anyway, so I just check what I know is junk as SPAM, without ever opening it...

Hitting the SPAM button then permanently blocks that mailer from mailing me again, without 'verifying' my add.

. . .but this is through Yahoo.
I dunno about other e-mails or blockers.

Also, I realize, they can change one letter of their e-mail name and get through again . . .
but I'll just SPAM them again too. [Wink]

Do you ever stop throwing out paper-junk mail from your home?? Yet it still comes to that box at the street . . .
and I will never stop trashing it . . . . [Big Grin]

PS: For home junk mail, pay attention...sometimes the return envelope is postage paid. Return it using their dime to ask them to remove you from their mailing list.

Also, on an return envelope with no postage but an address, write on, and return form part that has your name, asking them to remove you from their list.
Then mail it with no return address. They will have to pay postage on it when delivered. [Wink]

Too bad ~ so sad for the extra hassle on the P.O. They ought'a be doin' their thing to stop the madness too . . .

Posted by Steve Racz (Member # 4376) on :

Thanks all!

Jim - I did look up ELLA and it only works for Outlook or Outlook Express (i use Thunderbird).

Checkers -Thunderbird does block images which is good. I got my first phish mail the other day from "Paypal".

Jon - mail2web is cool - is this the same as if i check my emails on the "comcast.net" site via the internet?

Sheila - LOL - i remember an old post where you or someone suggested putting junk mail from one vendor in another vendor's envelope... [Smile]

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.

Steve

Posted by coop (Member # 504) on :

I use Mailwasher Pro. Werks fer me.

Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :

Ricky,

They have been reporting that Viagra can make some people permanently blind and/or affect your vision so everything looks "blue-ish."

That's a nice blue shirt you have there......

Doh! Omygosh! I better get to the doc.

Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :

Hey Steve,
Some other things I forgot to mention. An easy way to reduce spam is to use "-" or "_" in your email address too. I have a couple similar addresses where one email has a dash or an underscore and it gets no spam. The one that does not have the dash gets spam.
Alos stay away from simple names like letterhead@..., signs@ or using your full name like brianborn@... My letterhead email address gets the most spam even though it was never listed anywhere on the net.
Another option to use on your web pages is email address encoding. Do a google search to find pages that will encode it for you.

Havin' fun,

Checkers

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