Spam - unsolicited email - is a plague on email infrastructure. By some accounts, perhaps as much as 95% of all email traveling around the internet right now is spam.
One resource to battle the frustration is Randy Cassinghams's Spam Primer.
The Spam Primer has both explanations of just what is and is not spam, how it works, and how you might well be part of the problem.
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The Spam Primer is broken down in to several easily read and understood sections including:
- What is Spam?
- Who Sends Spam?
- How Do Spammers Get Your Address?
- Ways to Keep Your Address from Spammers
- You Can't "Unsubscribe" (Except Under Rare Circumstances)
- Why the CAN-SPAM Law Didn't Help
- Filtering Spam from Your Mail
- How to Get Legit Mail Delivered
- Phishing and Other E-mail Scams
- When YOU Become Part of the Problem
- Urban Legends and Chain Mails
If you find yourself flooded with spam, it's a great resource to learn why that might be happening and what steps you might take to deal with it.
If you find your own email not getting through or the email that you requested not arriving, The Spam Primer also has tips that you can take to address the issue.
As I said, it's an easy and very educational read. As the site says, "The more people that truly understand spam, the harder it will make things for spammers."
If you do nothing else, read The Basics: Executive Summary on Spam, a one-page summary of the issues, the causes, and the solutions.
But I'd encourage you to read the whole thing and take a step in the war against spam. The email that you save may be your own.
The Spam Primer - I recommend it.
