Comments on: Get a Grip on eMail Spam Before It Gets A Grip On You

By: mchlbk

mchlbk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:00:18 +0000

I use Spamfighter.

It does an ok job but I’d really like to find a way to make Windows Mail _not_download_ mails from the isp’s server when they are identified as spam by Spamfighter. Anyone got an idea on how to do that?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:33:18 +0000

Another useful way to publish your email on a web site while avoiding spam is by encrypting the email using hexadecimal notation. Sounds complicated, but you can do it free in about 30 seconds at sites like http://SpamDisappears.com for free. That site has a video tutorial about it.

People do like to see an email contact on a web site, and forms can cause problems with hacking. I’ve found this works very well.

Jeff

By: robh

robh — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:37:29 +0000

try otherinbox.com, you get an account like myaccount.otherinbox.com and can then use anythingyoulike@myaccount.otherinbox.com, just make up a name as you need and maybe identifying where you issued it somewherespammy@myaccount.otherinbox.com

The mail is put into a separate folder for each name. You can set it up to use as webmail, to forward once or forward always to your normal account or to block any more for that address.
Beta and free (at present).

geekblake wrote”…form submission is not a good way of protecting yourself from spam…” yes, but many commercial website will want one or more forms to help solicit and route enquiries. The solution is to put layers of spam protection in the form-to-mail script.
I use a set of ten tests including field lengths, attempted embedding of html or other code, urls or email addreses in fields not designated for that purpose. The only way to spam my forms is for a person at the keyboard to type it in while avoiding the common characteristics of spam. I don’t need captcha, I run over 100 forms for clients and get zero form-spam. I do issue a high visibility “mail not sent, looks like spam” web response page but don’t give indication as to in what way it looks spammy. I do monitor attempted spamming by sending those mails to a separate account, I see brief flurries of activity when spammers probe the system for vulnerabilities but they soon go away in search of an easier target.

By: hell boy

hell boy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:50:25 +0000

I have been using mintemail.com for a while and it works great!

Also, yahoo email has built in disposable email address…

By: Ellie Harrison

Ellie Harrison — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 04:03:13 +0000

I try to avoid putting my email address out on the web, and using Gmail, which has a great spam filter. The disposable email addresses are great for Craigslist and the like.

By: macdet

macdet — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 03:40:54 +0000

Very usefull article. I prefer ispconfig & SpamAssassin. Many hints you can find there: SpamAssassin

By: Ankur

Ankur — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:20:16 +0000

Mailinator.com is best for temp. e-mail ID’s.
You don’t even have to sign up for it, just write anything as your username followed by ‘@mailinator.com’ & it will be your ID. Then you can check the e-mail at their site (no password system).

By: udkl

udkl — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:12:00 +0000

I personally prefer using a popular email service like gmail or yahoo. Of course , you dont get a XXX@yourdomain.com address but the spam filtering , due to many people categorizing the same sender as ‘spam’ improves their spam filtering mechanism.

By: geekblake

geekblake — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:24:49 +0000

The form submission is not a good way of protecting yourself from spam because the bots can still send spam through the form. You’re actually more likely to get the spam in your inbox this way because the address it comes from will be more legit looking, like mailer@yoursite.com and the subject will be something you’re used to seeing like “Form submission from yoursite.com” and you will be more likely to open it.

The only thing form submission is good for is protecting your privacy: nobody, spammer or non-spammer, will know your address, because the email address can be used with some other info (usernames on social networking sites, name, etc) to personally identify you.

Captchas are okay, but even some spam bots can solve them now. And some of them are getting hard to solve even for humans.