I spent some time this morning signing up a few clients’ blogs for the Askimet spam service. It seems that the more hits the blogs get, the more spam they get.
I have spent numerous, unpaid, hours trying to do everything I can to combat the spam that is inundating our server and continues to do whatever it can to block our e-mails from coming and going.
It used to be a problem with making an e-mail address automatically work with the mailto: when so many people used AOL, because it would not automatically open the mail client, so we used to just put the e-mail on the site, or in an image and not worry about it.
Then we started making it convenient for web surfers to click on the e-mail address using the mailto: attribute, but then the spammers decided they liked that too.
Then the spammers decided that everyone has an info@, webmaster@, support@, customerservice@, etc., and the spam just started to automatically be sent to these e-mail addresses.
So, we ditched those e-mail addresses and coded the e-mails on the website using Javascript. Yes, spammers figured that out; coded them in ASCII and they figured those out too.
Took all e-mails off of the site and put online forms using a Perl script to HIDE e-mail addresses. Spam those too.
I read the other day that there is a workaround for CAPTCHA, whereby people are earning money to sit around and type in the CAPTCHA in order to be able to send spam.
Our children cannot be innocent anymore and stand behind your shoulder when you are checking your e-mail.
I can’t send e-mails to some people because, although they send me an e-mail, they forget to add my e-mail address to their “approved” list.
So, I am going on 10 years as a web developer and at least 17 years as a web surfer and the spam continues and continues. I have clients who complain that they are getting so much spam and what can I do to stop it? I ask them how many a day? They say, “Oh, at least 20.” And, I have to try not to laugh when I tell them that is nothing, I get hundreds a day. I have aliases set up for e-mail addresses when I have to register online so I can track who is trying to spam me and then delete the alias.
My only sanity is using my Mailwasher. It at least presents my email to me in a logical format where I can quickly glance at senders and subjects, and with a few quick clicks, I can wash my spam away. It is one of the few software programs I can say is worth the $10 I sent as a “donation” when I tried it several years ago and it was free. FireTrust now offers the program and at $37 it is still worth the price.
I have two suggestions:
1. Either don’t give anyone your e-mail address, period.
2. Or download Mailwasher.
