Handling Spam: Responding

Most spam messages will include a link at the bottom which states something
like "to remove yourself from the list click here ...". On the surface this
seems innocent enough, but if you do respond you are potentially increasing
the amount of spam that you receive by many times.

Wait a minute. You mean you ask to be removed and instead not only are you
not removed but you will get more spam than ever? How can that be so?
To understand why you must first understand how spamming works. You see,
spammers operate by getting zillions and zillions of email addresses however
they can.

Sometimes they purchase CD collections of "15 million clean email addresses"
or "5 million email addresses" for some small amount of money. I've seen
these collections as cheap as $9.95 (one wonders how clean these collections
are).

Another common tactic is to use spiders to scan thousands of web pages for
email addresses. These addresses are then added to a database which is then
sold or used.

And sometimes the spammers just pick a domain and send their spam to a
variety of possible email addresses at that domain. They just pick a domain
and use a dictionary of names and send every one of those names to the
domain. Those that generate a bounced (error) message are deleted from the
list.

So you see, the spammer begins with a list of email addresses which are not
validated. They are simply known to not have returned a bounce message (an
error indicating an email account did not exist). However, what is not known
is that a human being is actually reading the mail from that mailbox.

The problem with responding is that you validate for the spammer that a
human exists at that email address. This increases the value of your email
address by many times. A smart spammer can actually sell these verified
addresses to collections of "clean" lists.

Of course if you actually buy something from the spammer you've increased
the value of your email address to astronomical levels. In this case, you
may find yourself added to countless "sucker" lists, receiving countless
offers from the most obscure places.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet
profits, enjoyment and knowledge.
Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm
Daily Tips: mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com

Avoiding Spam, Scams and Computer Viruses

One of the most popular pages on about-the-web.com is about
avoiding scams, hoaxes and urban legends on the Internet
(http://about-the-web.com/shtml/scams.shtml). Here are a
few ways to avoid some of the perils associated with being
connected to the rest of the world.

As a general rule of thumb, beware of any offer that sounds
too good to be true. This applies to products being offered
on the Internet and especially to any unsolicited offer or
spam you receive in your email. Many of these are scams.

The term "spam", in case you don't know, refers to any
unsolicited bulk email. If it's not addressed to you, or
you don't recognize the sender, or you're being asked to
buy something or pass along questionable information, then
that's spam. My advise is to "can the spam" by immediately
deleting any email you receive from anyone you don't know.

The best way to avoid spam, is to be very careful about who
you give your email address to. My advise here is to set up
a free email account and to give this email address to
anyone you don't absolutely trust with your personal
information. It almost never does any good to fight back
against spam. Your best course of action is just to delete
any unwanted email.

A trick that has been pretty successful for me is to set up
an email rule (or filter) that automatically sends any mail
not addressed to me to a special folder. Most of this is
spam and can be easily disposed of.

In addition to spams and scams, the other thing to watch
out for on the Internet is hoaxes, urban legends and false
information. There are many of these floating around the
Internet these days. Beware of any email that asks you to
send money for any cause, or to forward the email to all
your friends. Almost all of these are hoaxes. An excellent
resource for information on hoaxes, urban legends and false
information is http://urbanlegends.about.com/index.htm

Another category of hoaxes involves virus warnings. If you
receive information that indicates you can get a computer
virus from doing anything except opening an email
attachment or running an application, then this is probably
false information.

Most computer viruses are spread by users opening email
attachments that contain the virus. NEVER OPEN AN EMAIL
ATTACHMENT THAT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING. Even if you know
the sender, make sure the attachment is legitimate before
opening it. It is much safer to delete any questionable
attachments and ask the sender to resend them than to
assume that the sender intended to send that email.

Your best defenses against computer viruses are: 1) caution
in downloading programs from questionable sources,
2) regularly scanning your drive with virus protection
software, and 3) backing up all your important data to a
different drive or media (floppy, Zip or CD-ROM) as soon as
possible. By doing all of these, if your system does get
infected, you can restore it with a minimum of hassle.

Always check out any offer or information you receive
before sending any money or forwarding the information
to someone else. That way you can rest easy knowing you
aren't getting scammed or passing along an urban legend.

Garth Catterall-Heart
About-the-web.com is an Internet Guide for new users to the
Internet. Learn about browsers, e-mail programs, search
engines, making money, avoiding scams, creating and
promoting web sites, and some simple tips for a better web
surfing experience at http://www.about-the-web.com

Spam: Poison Pill

A common way for spammers to create their vast lists of email addresses is to cull web pages for "mailto:" tags. There are many different programs, available for small to huge costs, which will do this automatically, easily and efficiently.

I monitor my web site log files on a regular basis, and I'm always amazed at the vast numbers of spam harvesting programs that regularly scan my pages. Not only do these obnoxious things steal email addresses, they use bandwidth which I pay for without any kind of compensation. I put up my web pages for people to read not for some scumbag spammer to scan them.

There are many ways to combat the spammer. None of these methods are perfect. As in any war, both sides are continually developing new weapons to use against the other. New methods work for a short time until the enemy comes up with countermeasures and overcomes the weapon.

One of the more effective ways to confuse the spammer (not hard because they don't tend to be very bright) is the "poison pill" defense. This consists of handing the spam harvesting robots some pages which appear juicy, full of yummy email addresses ripe for the picking.

The email address on these pages are fake. They have nothing to do with reality and exist only to choke the spam robots, causing them to overflow and possibly even crash.

Here's how a typical poison pill works. A script is created which performs all of these tasks. It is important that the scripting be done on the server, so CGI, ASP, PHP or a similar scripting language must be used. Server side scripting must be used because many spam robots are not smart enough to understand client-side scripting languages such as JavaScript.

The script creates a page which appears in all ways to be a normal document in a web site. The page may include some text informing human visitors of the intention (this is important so any people who see the page are not confused).

It also needs to include a meta tag informing all robots not to index the page. This is critical, as you do not want robots such as googlebot or scooter (the spiders for Google and Altavista, respectively) seeing this stuff. Don't worry, spam harvesters ignore these meta tags.

The script gives the page a name, usually randomly picked from a database or made up somehow, and fills it with a few dozen (at the most) email addresses. These email addresses are cleverly created to appear perfectly valid but actually are useless - they are just made up.

Links to other fake pages are created for the spam harvester to follow. Any robot (or human being, for that matter) that follow these links will find similar pages, full of desirable email addresses.

Depending upon the robot, it's possible the spammer could gather tens of thousands of totally fake, unusable email addresses before his robot blows itself out of the water. It's even better if the robot survives, as the spammer now wastes his time sending messages to nonexistent email addresses.

In the meantime, the harvester has been lured away from valid pages which may or may not contain email addresses.

My site, Internet Tips and Secrets, uses one of these poison pills. It is called wpoison and it really works well. If you want to see it, look at this page.

http://www.internet-tips.net/cgi-bin/guestlist.pl

If you want to get a copy for yourself, check out the wpoison page.

http://www.monkeys.com/wpoison/

This is just another weapon in the war against spam.

Is it effective?

I know from personal experience that it does trap spam robots, and it does seem to lure them away from real, useful email addresses.

Is it ethical?

I believe so, as long as you are careful to include the meta tags to inform "good" robots to leave the pages alone as well as some text to let your visitors know what's going on.

It's not as satisfying as spamcop.net, and there is no where near that pleasant glow of success upon learning that some scum spammer has had his ISP cancel his account, but the poison pill is useful nonetheless. My advice is to include it in your arsenal along with the other weapons and tools at your disposal.

To see a list of article available for reprint, you can send an email to: mailto:article-list@internet-tips.net?subject=send_article_list or visit
http://internet-tips.net/requestarticles.htm

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets athttp://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to readover 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.

Tired of Bogus Spam Complaints? United We Stand ....June Campbell

If you are distributing material to an opt-in email list, you need to know about a fledgling, grassroots organization called e-Crucible. The organization is committed to "opposing by any ethical, political, and legal means available the vigilante activities of "anti-Spam" fanatics and the unfair and unjust handling of 'Spam' complaints by certain Internet Service Providers."

According to the Executive Director, John Botscharow, e-Crucibles is in the process of acquiring non-profit status so it can exist as a legal entity.

But first, a little background.

As an online publisher, you already know what I mean by bogus spam reports. Either in error or with mischievous intent, a subscriber decides your ezine is spam. Quicker than you can say, "Hey, you subscribed!", s/he sends hostile, rude and often abusive emails to every web site or email address listed in your ezine. In some cases, the complainant includes a worm or virus with the email for added impact. Or maybe s/he reports you to SpamCop, CAUSE or a similar vigilante group.

The bad stuff hits the fan. You're deemed guilty and there is no wayto prove your innocence. Without contacting you, SpamCop emails your ISP, your web host, your advertisers and even the writers whose articles you have published. At best, you spend the next few days explaining and pleading your innocence to the people involved. At worst, your website host and your ISP shut you down. Your business is interrupted until you can make other arrangements. If you live in an area of the world where you have only one ISP available, this can mean the end of your Internet business.

This story is but one example of many. Frank Garon is a webmaster who publishes an opt-in ezine with a subscriber base of 12,000 (http://www.InternetCashPlanet.com). His ezine contains clear unsubscribe instructions. Sometime in April, 2001, a subscriber allegedly sent the entire ezine to SpamCop with the instructions to "shut down this American *&%^ spammer."

Garon reported that SpamCop contacted every email address and web host address contained in the ezine. One victim was a writer whose article had been published in the 'zine. She had the usual resource box at the end of her article, including a link to her site. The writer's email account was shut down, and at last report, her web site was in jeopardy. Remember that this writer did not send a single email. Common sense dictates that she could not possibly have been guilty of spam.

Garon and the writer sent an appeal to SpamCop. The response from SpamCop's "deputy" included the following:"..."If the admin of this ezine would like to pursue punitive action against the SpamCop user for filing a false complaint, we will need to see proof of opt-in confirmation. Otherwise, we will simply consider this matter closed..."

Now here's the kicker. SpamCop did not reveal the name and email address of the complainant. Without identification, how can Garon prove that the subscriber had opted-in? Worse, without the email address, how can Garon remove the subscriber from his list? What's to stop the same subscriber from filing the same complaint repeatedly? Again, it defies common sense.

As Garon wrote, 'To have to spend every day wondering if TODAY is the day some creep is going to falsely accuse you of Spam and cost you and your entire family everything you have put years of hard work into is MORE than a little scary."

To make the story even more bizarre, e-Crucible members state that they have reported real spammers to SpamCop with no results.

If you're an email publisher, the shark attacks come from three sources: odious subscribers, vigilante organizations and ISPs and web hosts who shut you down without giving you a chance to defend yourself. As an individual, you can do little to change the situation.

Please consider signing up for the free e-Crucibles mailing list and help strengthen this little organization with the big goals. Sign up at http://www.topica.com/lists/e-Crucible/ or send email to mailto:e-Crucible-subscribe@topica.com

Please note: e-Crucible is NOT pro-spam. They are opposed to spurious spam complaints that put legitimate marketers in jeopardy.

Visit June Campbell on the web for articles, a FREE ebook, or for guides to writing business plans, business proposals, joint venture contracts and more. http://www.nightcats.com

Spam Hysteria

Let me start this article by stating I am vehemently opposed to spam and that it is the worst possible way to get your message out. Various groups have been trying to stop spam since it was first used on the internet. However, how can we stop or outlaw something which has never been clearly defined.

I have been unable to find a universally accepted, fits-all definition of spam. There are many ideas about spam and just what it really is. In my opinion it is receiving unsolicited email (email which you have not opted to receive). Even this definition must be applied judiciously and with a certain amount of common sense.

For example, a dear friend could forward an email which you find offensive. Should you be in a bad mood, you could report your friend for spam (and also the originator of the email your friend forwarded, even though it was not the originator's intent for you to receive this unsolicited email). In this situation the originator (who is innocent of wrongdoing) and your friend will most likely lose their ISP and web host provider simply because you are having a bad day. Is this fair?

More and more ezine publishers and article writers are being accused of spam and forced to fight their ISPs and web host providers. Many of these spam complaints are totally unfounded. In some cases it is because a person forgot they subscribed to the ezine and when they receive it they say they have been spammed. In other cases the person has written an article which was published in an ezine accused of spamming. Here all the advertisers and the article writers are accused of spam and lose their ISPs and web host providers.

These advertisers and article writers did not commit the offense of spamming. They were accused by association. Most articles written for the internet are free for publication, which means anyone can use them as long as the articles and resource boxes remain intact. Unless the writer is being paid for the article, there is no way of knowing when, how or by whom the article will be published.

The truly unfair method currently used to fight spam considers everyone accused of spam to be automatically guilty. The great majority of ISPs and web host providers shut you down without a second thought when you are accused of spam.

You are not given a chance to prove your innocence. Guilty or not, you are shut down. For most of those trying to make a profit on the internet, this is a sword hanging over their heads. Every time they write an article for publication or send out an ezine they are taking the chance of being unfairly accused of spamming.

No ezine publisher or writer in their right mind would ever consider the use of spam. Their livelihood depends on their ezines and articles, so why would they use something which would destroy that source of income?

Those who use spam as the method of getting their advertisements out should be stopped. But not by taking all the innocent people down with them.

True spam is usually fairly easy to spot. There is a bogus return address consisting of nonsensical numbers and letters, either no way is provided to remove yourself from the list or a bogus address is provided as a means of removing yourself from the list, there is a footer in the message which contains a supposed act of the United States Congress defining spam, or other such obvious items.

99.9% of the ezines I have read have a clear and easy way to unsubscribe. Should you use the link and find you have not been unsubscribed, it is possible you subscribed using another email address which is being forwarded to your current address. The ezine publisher cannot unsubscribe you without the original address from which you subscribed.

If you are really upset by spam, why not concentrate on those who are truly guilty of spamming, and not the innocents. Use your efforts to punish the guilty instead of indiscriminately crying spam every time a piece of email hits your inbox.

As an ezine publisher I get a great deal of spam in my inboxes. Rather than waste my precious time trying to track spammers down or reporting them to Spam Cop, I use my delete button. It is efficient and deadly. The spam is gone as soon as I hit delete.

One of the truly great characteristics of the internet is its use for the free exchange of information. This freedom is being seriously challenged by those who believe in the indiscriminate use of Spam Cop or other such anti-spam organizations.

I can't speak for you, but I get a great deal of information, education and entertainment from the many ezines to which I subscribe. It would be a severe loss if they all quit publishing because of the fear of false spam accusals shutting them down.

In conclusion, spam should be stopped. However, it must be stopped with common sense and discrimination, not with a vigilante mentality. Being accused of spamming is one of the rare instances in current human history where you are considered guilty until proven innocent.

Whatever happened to the concept of innocent until proven guilty?

Should anyone out there in cyberspace have a universally acceptable definition of spam and a means of fairly and judiciously enforcing it, I am extremely interested in your viewpoints.

Robert Taylor
Subscribe to the Key To Success And Wealth ezine. All new subscribers receive a fantastic ebook valued at $38.50. Subscribe by mailto:subscribe@keytosuccessandwealth.com Please place first name in body of email. Send comments to mailto:info@incomesolved.com

SPAM Laws of 2001A.T.Rendon

For a law to take effect on the U.S. federal level, both the House and the Senate must pass the bill and then the President of the United States must sign the bill into law.

Last year we almost got a SPAM law on the books when House legislators approved their version of the SPAM bill, H. R. 3113, the "The Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2000", with a vote of 427-1.

However, it never came close to becoming law because the Senate never even voted on it.

This year, there are already several attempts being made to place SPAM under the law.

The most recognized is known as bill HR 95, which is a re-introduction of H. R. 3113 from last year and is named: "To protect individuals, families, and Internet service providers from unsolicited and unwanted electronic mail." http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.00095:

A SUMMARY AS OF:
1/3/2001--Introduced.

"Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal criminal code to provide criminal penalties for intentionally initiating the transmission of any unsolicited commercial electronic mail message (message) to a protected computer in the United States with the knowledge that any domain name or other initiator identifying information contained in or accompanying such message is false or inaccurate.

Prohibits any person from sending such a message unless the message contains a valid e-mail address, conspicuously displayed, to which a recipient may send notice of a desire not to receive further messages.

Makes it unlawful for a person to initiate the transmission of such a message in violation of a policy regarding unsolicited commercial e-mail messages that complies with specified requirements, including requirements for notice and public availability of such policy and for an opportunity for subscribers to opt not receive such messages.

Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to notify violators under this Act, to prohibit further initiation of such messages, and to require the initiator to delete the names and e-mail addresses of the recipients and providers from all mailing lists.

Provides a right of action by a recipient or provider against e-mail initiators who violate the above requirements. "

As bill HR 95 stands right now, it is not expected to pass vote in the House for two reasons, even though the language of the bill is exactly the same as that passed last year in a vote of 427-1:

First, because of the language that allows for a one-time email to be sent so long as a valid return email address is provided by the sender and the sender removes anyone the so requests to be removed from that mailing list.

Although this is the same exact language that was included in the bill that passed the House last year, many SPAM fanatics are raising objections to its' inclusion in the bill this year.

Second, is the language in the last paragraph that would allow a "right of action by a recipient or provider", the problem being that the law would allow Internet Service Providers, ISP's, to file for monetary damages against spammers to the tune of $500 per email sent or $50,000 per mailing incident.

Opponents argue that ISP's would be filing against anyone that might be accused of SPAM, guilty or not, in hopes of reaping big financial gains.

Considering how SPAM compalints are often handled these days with innocent people having their services terminated or web site shut down without even having allegations of SPAM investigated, perhaps there is reason for such fears of abuse.

A search of both the Senate, http://www.senate.gov/ and the House, http://thomas.loc.gov/ found only the following under The keyword "Spam":

Two other bills introduced in the House are:

1. Wireless Telephone Spam Protection Act - H.R.113 : http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:1:./temp/~c107WLOF59::

2. Anti-Spamming Act of 2001 - H.R. 1017: This Act may be cited as the `Anti-Spamming Act of 2001' http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c107:2:./temp/~c107WLOF59::

Rep. Gene Green, from the 29th District in Texas and is the sponsor of HR 95, so if you wish to make any suggestions or comments on the proposed Spam Law, he can be reached by any of the following:

HON. GENE GREEN
2335 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-1688
Fax: (202) 225-9903

HON. GENE GREEN
256 N. Sam Houston Pkwy. E., Suite 29 Houston, TX 77060
(281) 999-5879
Fax: (281) 999-5716

If you would like to send him an email, you may do so by visiting his official web site at: http://www.house.gov/green/ and filling out the supplied form.

A.T.Rendon is an entrepreneur and published writer. Subscribe to FREE Business Classifieds Newsletter & receive FREE online access to our Password Protected "FREE Submit To Over 1 MILLION FREE Ad Sites!" mailto:subscribe_fbcn9@emailexchange.org Visit us at: http://emailexchange.org/?articles

Spam Cop... Public Servant Or Self- Proclaimed GOD!!

Everyone on the internet is concerned about the prevalence
of unsolicited email, AKA spam.

I understand their concern, but there has to be a better way
to handle the situation than through the bully tactics of
elitist groups such as Spam Cop.

I've been a target of their guilty until innocent tactics
and no matter how many times I prove that I've spammed no
one they twist the situation into it being my fault.

They remind me of the Spanish Inquisitors torturing
"heretics"
at the stake, the truth be damned. They twist the wording of
emails to make any answer wrong.

I don't know how in a country like America where we're
innocent until proven guilty, it is just the opposite with
the IRS and Spam Cop.

It's like an analyst asking a patient if they still hate
their mother. There is no possible way to answer correctly.

It's time for marketers to wake up to the fact that anyone
is their target. They can cause you more hassles and affect
your business for any reason or no reason.

Where are the advocates of free speech? Where are the
advocates of free enterprise?

Wake up marketers, you could be next. You could be the next
one attacked by the Spam Cop McCarthyism. Don't take your
liberty for granted.

The internet is still experiencing growing pains and for
some reason these individuals have appointed themselves as
the internets version of Hitler's Brown Shirts.

I refuse to cave in to these elitists who feel it's their
duty to tell me how I'm in the wrong no matter what the
proof
to the contrary.

The media already controls the air waves. The internet is
one of the only bastions of free expression left for the
average person.

Don't let freedom of speech and free enterprise go onto the
endangered species list because of these self - appointed
censors.

I will not go quietly and I hope you feel the same way.

If I wanted to be controlled by a dictator I'd move to Iraq.

Since I live in America, I still expect due process and I
refuse to cave in to faceless terrorists.

Let freedom ring.

Wishing You Success,
John

John publishes the "Street Smart Marketing" newsletter.
To subscribe mailto:ezmailer-subscribe@listbot.com
If you want to cash in with your own direct response
web site visit: http://www.internet-profits4u.com

Have The Anti Spam Groups Lost Touch With Reality?

Every time I think the anti spam hysteria has gone as far as they can to make marketer's lives miserable, they prove me wrong and push the envelope even further.

The sad part of this problem is there are so many marketers that sympathize with them. One well know marketer has even gone so far as to compare myself, and other marketers who feel this situation has gotten out of hand, to the X-Files.

I really have to laugh at the pot calling the kettle black.

Here are two incidents from one day that will show how absurd this situation has become.

I received an email from one of my subscribers complaining they were unable to remove themselves from my list. I emailed them and let them know I would contact my list provider and do my best to have the situation corrected as quickly as humanly possible.

I also asked them to please let me know if they received future mailings so I could find out why support hadn't corrected the problem.

What was their response?

I received an email two days later. You are still sending me emails and if it keeps up I'll have to report you as a spammer.

Amazing! How understanding, how charitable.

Imagine the rush it must give someone to be able to hold a sword over my head. Imagine their feeling of power.

Well I'm sorry to disappoint everyone, but I wouldn't care if they held a gun to my head, the situation was beyond my control and their efforts would be better served making their business grow.

Ah! The X-Files get even thicker!!

On that same day I receive an email to my abuse department.

I don't have an abuse department, but nobody said these groups were populated by geniuses.

The story even gets better. They were emailing me to report a spam complaint against a fellow publisher.

Maybe it's me, but it seems slightly foolish to send a complaint to:

1. A Non existent spam department.

2. Asking a board member of E-crucible to reprimand a fellow publisher.

Wait here's the kicker!!

I should punish him because one of my articles was in his newsletter.

I must be dumb as a stump. I never considered punishing a publisher for running my articles.

Whoa Daddy!! I'm an X-Filer and they're the politically correct, sane, rational masters of the internet.

If these are the geniuses ruling the web, I'm more than satisfied being the dullest ax in the shed.

I owe them a debt of gratitude. Every time I find myself becoming too complacent, they send one of these foolish threats and get my blood flowing.

In the words of Pat Benatar, "Hit me with your best shot, fire away."

I'm content being the "Unforgiven,"

Wishing You Success,
John Colanzi

John Colanzi.
Does Internet marketing drive you crazy? Tired of wasting your money and/or time on programs that don't work? Visit our Free Online Marketing Library where marketer's reveal their most important, time- proven, and successful methods. http://johncolanzi.com/freeware.html

Spam: Where it Came From, and How to Escape It

In 1936, long before the rise of the personal computer, Hormel Foods created SPAM. In 2002, the company will produce it's six billionth can of the processed food product. But that mark was passed long ago in the world of Internet spam.

---------------------------------- WHO COOKED THIS!?
(HOW DID IT ALL START?)
----------------------------------

The modern meaning of the word "spam" has nothing to do with spiced ham. In the early 1990's, a skit by British comedy group Monty Python led to the word's common usage. "The SPAM Skit" follows a couple struggling to order dinner from a menu consisting entirely of Hormel's canned ham.

Repetition is key to the skit's hilarity. The actors cram the word "SPAM" into the 2.5 minute skit more than 104 times! This flood prompted Usenet readers to call unwanted newsgroup postings "spam." The name stuck.

Spammers soon focused on e-mail, and the terminology moved with them. Today, the word has come out of technical obscurity. Now, "spam" is the common term for "Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail", or "UCE."

---------------------------------- WHY DOES BAD SPAM
HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?
----------------------------------

Chances are, you've been spammed before. Somehow, your e-mail address has found it's way into the hands of a spammer, and your inbox is suffering the consequences. How does this happen? There are several possibilities.

BACKSTABBING BUSINESSES - Businesses often keep lists of their customers' e-mail addresses. This is a completely legitimate practice and, usually, nothing bad comes of it. Sometimes though, the temptation to make a quick buck is too great, and these lists are sold or rented to outside advertisers. The result? A lot of unsolicited e-mail, and a serious breach of trust.

RANDOM ADDRESS GENERATION - Computer programs called random address generators simply "guess" e-mail addresses. Over 100 million hotmail addresses exist how hard could it be to guess some of them? Unfortunately for many unsuspecting netizens not too hard. Many spammers also guess at "standard" addresses, like "support@yourdomain.com", "info@yourdomain.com", and "billing@yourdomain.com."

WEB SPIDERS -
Today's most insidious list-gathering tools are web spiders. All of the major search engines spider the web, saving information about each page. Spammers use tools that also spider the web, but save any *e-mail address* they come across. Your personal web page lists your e-mail address? Prepare for an onslaught!

CHAT ROOM HARVESTING -
ISP's offer vastly popular chat rooms where users are known only by their screen names. Of course, spammers know that your screen name is the first part of your e-mail address. Why waste time guessing e-mail addresses when a few hours of lurking in a chat room can net a list of actively-used addresses?

THE POOR MAN'S BAD MARKETING IDEA - It didn't work for the phone companies, and it won't work for e-mail marketers. But, some spammers still keep their own friends-and-family- style e-mail lists. Compiled from the addresses of other known spammers, and people or buisnesses that the owner has come across in the past, these lists are still illegitimate. Why? Only you can give someone permission to send you e-mail. A friend-of-a-friend's permission won't cut it.

---------------------------------- STOP THE FLOOD TO YOUR INBOX ----------------------------------

Already drowning in spam? Try using your e-mail client's filters - many provide a way to block specific e-mail addresses. Each time you're spammed, block the sender's address. Spammers skip from address to address, and you may be on many lists, but this method will at least slow the flow.

Also, use more than one e-mail address, and keep one "clean." Many netizens find that this technique turns the spam flood into a trickle. Use one address for only spam-safe activities like e-mailing your friends, or signing on with trustworthy businesses. Never use your clean address on the web! Get a free address to use on the web and in chat rooms.

If nothing else helps, consider changing screen names, or opening an entirely new e-mail account. When you do, you'll start with a clean, spam-free slate. This time, protect your e-mail address!

---------------------------------- STAY OFF SPAMMED LISTS
IN THE FUTURE
----------------------------------

Want to surf the web without getting sucked into the spam-flood? Prevention is your best policy. Don't use an easy-to-guess e-mail address. Keep your address clean by not using it for spam-centric activities. Don't post it on any web pages, and don't use it in chat rooms or newsgroups.

Before giving your clean e-mail address to a business, check the company out. Are sections of its user agreement dedicated to anti-spam rules? Does a privacy policy explain exactly what will be done with your address? The most considerate companies also post an anti-spam policy written in plain English, so you can be absolutely sure of what you're getting into.

---------------------------------- THINK YOU'RE NOT A SPAMMER? BE SURE.
----------------------------------

Many a first-time marketer has inadvertently spammed his audience. The first several hundred complaints and some nasty phone messages usually stop him in his tracks. But by then, the spammer may be faced with cleanup bills from his ISP, and a bad reputation that it's not easy to overcome.

The best way to avoid this situation is to have a clear understanding of what spam is: If anyone who receives your mass e-mails did not specifically ask to hear from you, then you are spamming them.

Stick with your gut. Don't buy a million addresses for $10, no matter how much the seller swears by them! If something sounds fishy, just say no. You'll save yourself a lot in the end.

---------------------------------- THE FINAL BLOW
----------------------------------

The online world is turning the tide on spam. In the end, people will stop sending spam because it stops working. Do your part: never buy from a spammer. When your business seeks out technology companies with which to work, only choose those with a staunch anti-spam stance.

Spam has a long history in both the food and e-mail sectors. This year, Hormel Foods opened a real-world museum dedicated to SPAM. While the museum does feature the Monty Python SPAM Skit, there's no word yet on an unsolicited commercial e-mail exhibit. But, if all upstanding netizens work together, Hormel's ham in a can will far outlive the Internet plague that is UCE.

References:
Hormel Foods, Virtual Press Kit, hormelfoods.com Microsoft Corporation, MSN Hotmail Fun Facts, microsoft.co

WANT TO HIT A SPAMCOP HARD?

In the film, "Cool Hand Luke," the vicious, sadistic prison warden was fond of saying, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." In the end, prisoner Paul Newman came to "understand" the true meaning of this comment.

A while back, a friend of mine copied a message to me that had been sent to a list of SpamCops and others. I was the object of the exercise to come. The subject line was, "We have another list owner here that [sic] needs to be educated."

Not much difference in the two statements, actually, for "educated" in this context means "business destroyed."

The Source Of This "Complaint"

I had distributed a brief article advising against requiring confirmation of subscription requests. In it, I described the results of two attempts at using them. In the first trial, 40% of new subscribers did not confirm. In the second, a longer trial, 37% failed to confirm.

I can't be certain this article triggered action, for I was never informed. But it was appended to the message received as mentioned above. It appears I was added to the "get-him" list because I recommend against requesting confirmation.

Radicalism Is Rising In Popularity

Sure, we've had some bad times in this country. When Senator Joe McCarthy got you up to the stand, you were guilty before you sat down. Since the early 80s, there has been an awesome increase in small, organized, targeted extremist groups which cram their views right down your throat.

Never mind they ignore your rights in doing so. Never mind you may be seriously hurt, even destroyed, by their unilateral actions. Never mind they make the judgement of your guilt in a manner you can not contest. You are guilty. Period.

In "True Believer," Eric Hoffer years back clearly pointed out the dangers of such groups to democracy as we know it. His concerns have proved to be justified, as have his predictions about such groups significantly reducing individual freedom over time.

SpamCops In Perspective

To put SpamCops into this category is absurd. They are trivial. They hide behind false names, as others have done for centuries behind masks and robes. They violate the very rules they claim to espouse. Compared to other forces at work in this country, SpamCops and like minded people offer only a gnat sized threat in a hawk-filled sky.

With one real exception. On a single unjustified and unsupported claim, a webmaster can find his ISP and website shut down without prior notice. And without recourse. For a small business just making it, this can amount to the "straw" that brings total collapse.

Small business people are the target. And SpamCops have been effective at doing vicious damage to many. The nature of the vicarious thrill they get in doing so escapes me.

This is real power. And it appears to be used for its own sake. In all else, SpamCops are utter failures.

Impotent Phonies

They are powerless to prevent real spam. The junk overflows our mailboxes, and we stand helpless before it. So do SpamCops. They can't shut down an ISP or a host owned by spammers. Or those they sell their lists and services to.

So they've taken a giant step and essentially redefined spam as anything received you did not request. A target-rich environment. Requests made, then forgotten, bring messages called spam.

I was pounded by SpamCops regards an article sent with my name on it. I pointed out the only way to get that article was to send an email to an autoresponder address. I was ignored, of course. Their continuing innuendos and implied threats were disturbing.

Two Giant Leaps

They took a giant step by taking advantage of specialized software now available. It scans any document and automatically sends their "spam" to every URL and email address found. Fascinating. I'm now a spammer because my work appears in an ezine they have defined as spam. Nuts. This usually amounts to someone forgetting they subscribed.

Their latest step is even more absurd. You are now "spamming"
with a 100% opt-in list if no confirmation is required. What in the world does confirmation have to do with unsolicited bulk email?

My thanks-for-subscribing message includes URLs to the goodies. And a URL that can be clicked to automatically unsubscribe.

When you open your front door to a knock, do you close it and require another?

Facts About Subscriber Counts.

You're bound to lose a few list members along the way. Some choose to unsubscribe. More make a change in their email address and do not think to subscribe again. Thus you will inevitably lose membership each month. Possibly 2% of your list.

So long as the number of new subscribers exceeds the number lost each month, your list will continue to grow. But try a confirmation request, and you may find the number of new members does not replace those lost.

Now explain to me how I'm going to grow a business in such fashion. And further, explain how SpamCops can decide that a list that doesn't require confirmation is sending spam. Then go on and make it clear just what SpamCops intends to accomplish with this demand. I don't think they know. They simply delight in hurting people.

So What's Next On The Agenda

Right. You guessed it. Content. If SpamCops can make confirmation indirectly the "law," what's to prevent them from judging the content of a given newsletter as unsuitable, and thus spam? Maybe a piece such as this one directed at the evil done by such a rag-tag bunch of low-lifes.

A scary thought to me. This would open a whole new world of opportunity to destroy helpless individuals.

Fighting Back

Don't even think about it. If you are attacked by SpamCops, respond minimally and politely as required, and get on with your business.

These people absolutely thrive on conflict. They glow with inner "strength" in the heat of battle. They can amass an array of other right-thinkers against you.

Forget it, for it's a battle you can not win. It is impossible to reason with irrationality.

Hitting Where It Hurts

However, you can now hit back. And in the right place. Their pocket book.

In a recent issue of her ezine, "The iCop Whistle Blower," jl scott offered a neat piece about the absurdities of SpamCops. She wrapped with a positive and powerful suggestion. I want to do the same here.

Serious minded people are joining in a class action suit against these people. You can contribute information or choose to participate. Here are some key links.

Victim Form - Explain How You've Been Hurt

Notes about how this all got started

Keep up on what is happening

In Closing ...

Here's a comment from jl scott. "I salute the people who are determined to organize this class action suit. Clearly, if we don't do it ourselves, these wild-eyed lunatics will continue to hurt decent and ethical businesses."

I applaud her stand. Come join in; the water's fine.

Bob McElwain, author of "Your Path To Success." How to build ANY business you want, just the way you want it, with only pocket money.

"SPAM And The Art Of Marketing Maintenance..."Roger J. Burke

Here is my latest article. It may be freely used in ezines, on websites or in e-books, as long as the Resource Box is left intact.

I would appreciate notification of where it was used, and if possible, a copy of the ezine or newsletter that it was used in. Please send notification mailto:webmaster@online-wealth.com

--------------------------

I detest SPAM, but there's an awful lot of it going around the Net, as you know. Co-incidentally, there's an awful lot of another-four-letter-word-that-starts-with-S going around with it (just so there's no mis-understandings, I'm talking about porn)!

If you don't know what SPAM is, most Netizens would maybe say "any unsolicited commercial email". Others, more strident, would say "any email I didn't want", which sort of begs the question, doesn't it?

Now, it (almost) goes with saying that unsolicited, bulk, commercial email is - to put it delicately - a pain in the posterior. We've all been getting a lot of it already through our regular, bricks-and-mortar mailbox for years, so why should we have to put up with it over the Net?

Well, the short answer is, of course, we don't! What do you do now with the SPAM in your real mail-box? So...do likewise with the electronic variety and leave it at that: problem gone.

Not "solved" of course, just gone - until next time. And, that gets pretty tedious and annoying, right? Right...

Enter the anti-SPAM legislators.

And, quite properly too. However, granted that there should be, and must be, some form of penalties applied to repeated offenders (offline and online), still I think we have to be careful - to use a fractured phrase - not to crack the egg that the golden goose laid!

Picture this: You operate a successful bakery and are doing alright. You don't have a website yet, your profits are good and you're holding your own against the competition in town. There you are, busily getting the next batch of muffins into the oven and this guy walks into your store. Happily, you put down baking tray, take off your baker's hat, and turn to what you think is the next customer.

Only, he isn't.

Instead, after politely introducing himself and establishing his credentials as the new kid on the block from the Better Baking Soda Company, he then calmly tells you that he can improve your profits by 25% if you use his fantastic new baking soda.

Are you going to start throwing week-old muffins at him, for having the audacity to interrupt your work? Or, knowing what your costs are, vis-a-vis the whole baking process, are you going to stop and think for a bit - and then start throwing the muffins, but only maybe? ;-) On the other hand, maybe your business isn't doing too well, or you want to do better. Instead of throwing those muffins, maybe you should think about how you can make them last longer?

That's a very simple scenario, but one that is repeated thousands of time, every day, in all forms of business. Indeed, it's how many businesses must operate, being those types that sell only to other businesses. And, one of the most important tools of business is marketing, its proper operation and its effective maintenance.

With apologies to Robert Pirsig, I have slavishly copied the style of his very famous book - "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" - into the title of this article. That, of course, is where any further comparison stops.

I do, however, have a good reason for concocting my title.

I recall that Mr Pirsig's book explored themes for an improvement in self (in particular) and society (by inference), and one of those themes was QUALITY. Applied to every aspect of our existence, the quality of what we do can have a profound effect, from highly positive to lowly negative. Whatever we say and do, write and send, can have those effects, obviously.

So, maybe it's not so much the quantity of SPAM that we all get that is the problem (although, there are limits, right!). Maybe, we should be concerned more with the quality - in the broadest sense - of the message? In particular, I'm thinking of messages that are relevant, appropriate, targeted and - dare I say it - even helpful!

However, the SPAM we all love to hate - shot-gun style, bulk commercial email, splattering all through the system - would obviously rate very low in the quality stakes, for most people (although, just quietly, I understand there is a secret network of SPAMmers who simply delight in sending each other into lowly orbit every day?), but business-to-business email must surely have its proper place. And, that would include all businesses, of course, not just Blue Chip and Silicon Valley...

Which, very soon (if not already), will begin to trouble the strident anti-spammers even more: as more and more people set up their own online e-businesses all over the world, there may come a time when there are more businesses online than there are mere consumers.

Hmmm...now, there's a thought! ;-(o)

You are no doubt aware that many agencies - government and private - continue to grapple with the SPAM genie, but ultimately it is, I think, impossible to "get it back in the bottle".

In that regard, I have read a number of articles - and have even received an unsolicited email about "permission marketing"! I have responded to some but, try as I might, none have returned with an unequivocal, "dyed-in-the-wool", "shake-it-till-it-breaks" definition for permission marketing. I suspect it will be a while before I do.

But, I would be eternally grateful to anybody who can supply it!

Somebody once said, "Nothing happens until somebody sells something." Well...fatuous as that may sound, we are all trying to "sell" something to somebody. Right?

By all means protect the consumer to a reasonable and effective degree, with appropriate legislation and penalties. But, it would be shooting ourselves in the foot (or worse) to burden e-business with self-destructive restrictions and penalties.

Roger Burke has been involved with computers since 1967, and has managed to break quite a few, over the years. He, and his wife Sherry, are now actively engaged in online self-publishing and promoting specific affiliate programs at http://online-wealth.com . If you have any comments or questions about this article, please send emails to mailto:webmaster@online-wealth.com .
Online-Wealth. All rights reserved

Caught In the Cross-Fire of the Spam War

LET THERE BE LIGHT: To understand this story, we must return to the beginning --- September 5th, 2001. One of my associates had placed a free ad in a newsletter that she had just subscribed to. For that effort, she was accused of spam! Mind you the person filing the complaint was not the editor of the newsletter, but rather a subscriber of the newsletter.

The man was frustrated because he was having difficulty getting unsubscribed from the newsletter, so he filed a complaint against everyone who was listed in the body of the message, rather than just the list owner. It was his frustration, anger and ignorance that fueled this nasty little affair.

My friend lives in a very small town in Canada that has only one ISP. The Upline Provider for the local ISP was demanding her account to be turned off permanently because of this accusation which was later dropped. The local ISP stood their ground on behalf of their customer --- my friend --- though this action could have seriously hampered their ability to provide their customers with Internet access.

Even in dropping his claim against my friend, the person who filed the complaint insisted that my friend was somehow still responsible for his inability to unsubscribe from the newsletter in question!

The person who filed this complaint was using a system designed by programmer Julian Haight to combat spam email called SpamCops.net.

INTO THE PIT: In my original copy written September 10th, I had compared the tactics of the few diehard SpamCop anti-spammers to the tactics of a terrorist.

In the wake of September 11th, it did not seem appropriate to refer to the SpamCop fanatics as terrorists. However closely the tactics used by the SpamCop fanatics coincides with the tactics used by the al-Qaida terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden, SpamCop does not resort to murder.

Due to SpamCop.net's unwillingness to provide a real person contact for the resolution of complaints, I was forced to turn to their discussion board to find the resolution I was seeking --- a resolution, which by the way, was never found.

My major complaint was that for someone to file against another simply because their email address or website appeared in someone else's ezine was improper.

Many members had knee jerk reactions to my questioning their system from within their inner sanctum. Many resorted to name calling and angry retort until a list administrator called them down. After the list administrator directly addressed their inappropriate comments, I received three open apologies from members of the group.

PUBLISHERS BEWARE. Over the course of the next few days, I watched their discussions. I was appalled to learn that many of them put email addresses in circulation just so that they can torment others with spam accusations.

As an owner of several discussion lists and newsletters, I now make it a standard policy to bar participation in my groups by someone sporting a SpamCop.net email address.

I had tried to observe their group with an open mind, as I too find spam mail to be annoying. I receive nearly 50 pieces a day from four to five people, who send me the same ads day after day. What is really annoying is they send the spam to my autoresponders with a fake address, so I get another 50 messages a day telling me that I used an invalid email address in my autoresponder message. All have spidered my website to get the email addresses.

A SPAMCOP SPEAKS. In all fairness, I was leaning towards a semi-favorable opinion of the SpamCop program until "Jerry" lashed out.

In his message, Jerry told me things which will just make you want to explode in frustration.

He said of the innocent who get caught in the cross-fire of the spam wars: "They should stay home."

He went on to say, "it is far better for thousands of innocents to burn in Hell than one spammer prevail."

And, "Truth, Justice, and the American Way - or lack thereof - is irrelevant. Spammers must believe there are no loopholes, no gray areas, that the righteous will be sacrificed (in vast numbers if need be) in order to expunge the evildoers."

In conclusion, it was stated, "Spam, like the one true faith, is in the eye of the beholder. Again, if it looks like a bird, it might be a duck. Better the condor dies than risk a quack."

These of course are just excerpts. If you would care to read his entire message to me, you may do so at the bottom of this page:

http://shopmystate.com/niba/BillP.html

NO SAFE HAVEN: On two occasions, I have found myself squarely in the cross-hairs of the radicals or the angry that wear the shield of SpamCop. I publish articles for free-reprint on the web --- much as this article has come to you today.

The SpamCop's suggested that I was hiding behind the free- reprint rights connected to my articles. They suggested that I was encouraging spam by making my work available to be published by anyone. In response to their suggestions that I am the enemy, I have added one term to my Terms of Reprint:

* You may not use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email). Email distribution of this article must be opt-in email only.

Despite this step, I have been accused of spam twice because my article appeared in a newsletter that a complaint was lodged against. In both cases, the SpamCop member did not file a complaint against the person who was responsible for the newsletter --- they filed against everyone who was in the body of the email.

Their complaint was received by the editor of the newsletter, the article writers, the advertisers, and anyone who was fortunate enough to be mentioned in the resources section or the Letters to the Editor. We each had our ISP and Upline Providers contacted if our email address appeared in the body of the newsletter and our webhosts contacted if our domain appeared within the body of the newsletter.

The only way I can completely avoid spam complaints against my domains is to stop writing altogether. I am a writer. That is what writers do, we write. To please the SpamCop's, I must quit being a writer or just "stay home."

POLICING THE POLICE. This is silly. If we cannot trust the cops to make sure they nab the right person, who can we trust?

There is in fact a movement afoot to bring SpamCop down called "Arresting SpamCop":

http://www.niba.shopmystate.com/

While some of the SpamCop members are simply tired of the same kinds of spam that irritates us, there are others within the movement who have an axe to grind with everyone who crosses their path.

To suggest to a SpamCop member that folks should be trained in the nuances of who to complain against in a complaint, you can expect a reply like this. "Jerry" answered my suggestion precisely this way:

"SpamCop users are literate, intelligent, virtually all college educated, well-versed in spam, and are more computer-savvy than 99% of the world's population. It is presumptuous and arrogant in the extreme to imply they need a Learning Annex class to detect spam."

The question I have is to whom the term "arrogant" should be applied?

This is what my webhost said about my last SpamCop spam complaint, "As far as I know spam is generally considered to be high volume unsolicited email. So, as long as you are not doing that then I am not sure why it would be called spam."

CONCLUSION: While the anti-spammers rail on the ugliness of spam, it seems they are perfectly willing and likely prefer that the only people permitted to send email should be those they directly give permission to.

Personally, I find the practices of the radicals of SpamCop to be more offensive than the activities of the spammers. It is a terrible thing to say, I know, but the spammers simply irritate me and the SpamCop fanatics try to oppress my activities.

Osama bin Laden brought external terrorism to the United States on September 11th, 2001. But the truth is that terrorists have long existed in our country on our own soil, and great numbers of them proudly were the shield of SpamCop.

We all must make a choice, do we "stay home" or do we fight the oppressors who seek to diminish our freedom.

Bill Platt is the owner of http://ThePhantomWriters.com . Consider employing our team of professional wordsmiths to weave articles developed to reach your target market. We can help put your business on the road to Internet success, with custom, ghosted articles that will drive targeted and motivated buyers to your domain for years to come.

What Happens To The Spammer?

Sometimes it's difficult to understand why spamming is considered
one of the most vile sins on the internet. After all, what harm
does an extra email or two cause? And even if the spammer is
reported or caught, who cares? I mean, what happens to a spammer
anyway?

We've all heard people say, "well, why not just hit the delete
key?" I used to take the time to try and explain the problem to
these people, but I've since realized that there is a brand of
ignorance which cannot be penetrated by reason or logic. Now I
just nod and smile, and change the subject.

Spam would not be so bad if it was just one or two emails now and
then. Unfortunately, it's not just one person sending an
unsolicited advertisement once a month - it's hundreds or even
thousands. And the emails are virtually always regarding some
scam, a useless product or, very often, some pornographic or
money making scheme. I've received tens of thousands of spam
emails over the years, and not once has any of them ever been of
value.

I don't understand why spammers don't get the message that their
emails are unwanted. Why do they keep sending out their useless
advertisements? Do people actually purchase anything from them?
Do these people really make money?

Okay, so what happens to spammers anyway?

Your amateur spammer must feel very much like a criminal does.
You see, they must hide their identities in any number of devious
ways to prevent their ISP and web hosts from shutting them down.
New laws are being passed which make these people into real
criminals, making it even more important that they remain hidden.

1) When an ISP or web host begins receiving dozens of spam reports
on someone using their services, they will typically cancel first
and ask questions later. Thus, your average spammer is constantly
losing his hosting services and always searching for another ISP.
He has to - he keeps getting kicked out when his misdeeds is
discovered.

2) Spammers, if they can be identified, can be sued. This is
fairly rare, as it is difficult to prove actual damage, but you
can sue them and win. And if you are an ISP or host, you can
definitely get them to dig into their pockets for the resources
they wasted.

3) If a spammer annoys the wrong person, he could find himself
harassed. For example, people have been known to send back email
bombs, perform denial of service attacks or simply get phone
lines canceled.

4) If a spammer gets his domain added to any of the various
"black holes", then he may find that he cannot send email at all.

5) Depending upon how vile the material, the law can come down
upon a spammer. This is especially true with scams and
pornography of the most degraded kind.

6) Most spammers do not realize there is always a way to find out
where the email came from. It does not matter how well they
attempt to cover their tracks - they do need to make it possible
to order something and thus they can be tracked - even if it
means physically visiting their business with a search warrant.

I hope that helps clarify what happens to the spammer in the
short or long run. Spam does cause damage, and spammers,
especially the largest and worst offenders, should be prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the law.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets
at http://www.internet-tips.net - Visit our website any time to
read over 1,000 complete FREE articles about how to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge.

Spamming The Internet ...

Debbie Solomon

When you hear the word SPAM, what comes to your mind? Is the term worse then the meaning? This word SPAM has been blown out of proportion. It is causing unbelievable hysteria on the internet.

Many businesses are spending more and more time each day getting frustrated, yelling at the spammers, and reporting the spammers.
-Is it really worth it?
-Is there a way OUT?

Unfortunately we will never get rid of spam. It is like getting rid of the junk mail in your mailbox. It is always there. You can bank on it almost everyday. It is the same way with SPAM. As long as you have any kind of existence online, your email box will be littered with SPAM.

There is a way to cut a lot of it out though. Ever since I got my new email server, I have had very little spam in my email box. Sure I get one or two a day, but it is not like it used to be.

So, HOW do we get rid of SO MUCH spam mail?

The BIGGEST CULPRIT of Spam is FFA LINK pages. Now, I know many people feel that since they agreed to receive this junk mail in exchange for placing their link that it is not spam. Well, SPAM is basically unwanted EMAIL. Do you WANT to receive all these emails?

Many business who host an FFA LINK page do it for one reason and one reason only - FOR YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS! I am not saying ALL FFA Link pages do this, but MOST of them do. If you submit to FFA LINK pages, you can be guaranteed at least 100 emails a day. And then all the follow-up emails after that, so it is never-ending. You will be automatically subscribed to ezines and newsletters, which you never personally subscribed to. But somewhere on the FFA page in real small writing is your agreement. In fact, a lot of these newsletters even put on top of their publication that you have agreed to receive this newsletter by subscribing, corresponding with them, or placing your LINK on their FFA page.

Of course the owners of FFA Pages will not agree with me. But, if you want complete honesty- -you will not increase traffic to your site. -you will not reach thousands and millions of people to view your ad. -you will not even be able to keep your link there for more than one day.
(and that is good for FFA pages. Normally you are off within hours).

-So WHY post to FFA sites when you are off of them in hours or a day? -So WHY post to FFA sites when your email box is flooded with Emails? -So WHY post to FFA sites to gain exposure when all you get is hundreds of emails selling their product?

-Don't you want people to read about YOUR product? -Don't you want people to see YOUR link? -Don't you want people emailing you about YOUR product?

FFA LINK pages do you more harm than good. The time and energy you spend at posting to these links, could be time and energy spent on doing something productive for your business. These pages are there only to get your email address. Many of these pages have members who pay to get your email address and spam you. These are called, "Opt-In email Lists for SALE, or for RENT". That is where many of these companies get their addresses. Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are legit ones out there, but they are few and far between.

People who do post to FFA LINKS will never read all the junk mail in their in-box, they just delete it. So what is the point?
It is like a cat and mouse game that will never end. So, is that what you really want? Because it does not stop there. Your email address is added to spam databases, and posted to opt-in mailing lists (real "opt-in", huh?). NOW, your email address is a pawn for spammers. Every piece of software for harvesting email addresses will grab yours, and now your email address is for sale everywhere.

Do yourself a favor....
There are so many ways to do productive advertising. Stay away from FFA LINKS. You will make NO money, and you will be a VICTIM of constant SPAM. You will NEVER see a successful business entrepreneur posting to FFA Sites. Ask them where to advertise, they will tell you.

When I was a newbie, I submitted to every FFA link I could find. Gee, submitting your link to hundreds of thousands of possible clients? And for FREE? How could you go wrong? It was SO easy!

I would wake up the next morning with hundreds of emails in my box. In my opinion, YES< it is SPAM! Because I DO NOT WANT THEM! I posted to an FFA LINK page, that is all. I HAD to agree to receive some emails, but not HUNDREDS!!! That was the only way to get my link on the page! I was in for a rude awakening. Not one thread of business came through and I could not decipher what was JUNK MAIL, and what was business.

I literally had to get another email account. I do not touch FFA Pages, and I get an average of a few spam mails a day.
Everything else is business. I love it! I will never totally get rid of spam. In fact, now it is a pleasure, because I just reply with my AD. Anyone who does business online is guaranteed to receive some. But if you want to get rid of the hundreds of emails in your box, then STOP POSTING TO FFA Pages! They are, in fact, the biggest culprit of SPAM.

Most successful businesses have learned to stay away from FFA Pages. These practices are not part of a successful business. They are part of a desperate ploy to make money without spending any.

Now, not everyone will agree with what I am saying, however, the facts are in front of you. You decide whether you want to deal with all the junk mail. I, for one, can say that it is a pleasure doing business online, now that I do not have to wake up to hundreds of spammers.

You can save yourself a lot of headaches by NOT falling VICTIM to SPAMMERS!

Debbie is the Creator of The HomeSource Arena, which is The Leading Source in Certified Home Employment, and owner of The Online Exchange Ezine, a Top Rated, world renowned Ezine.
Please visit her site at: http://www.marketingtrendz.com editor@marketingtrendz.com

Spam - Is there Anything

Spam - love it or hate it, it's here to stay. We all receive
it, some more than others. One way to keep from being too
annoyed is to get a free web based email account. There are
many free ones available on the Internet. I try to keep one
personal email address that is private, but sometimes I start
receiving spam at that one, too!

Of course, for legitimate business email correspondence I use
my website associated email address. And yes, I receive spam
at that address daily!

So what can you do? Well, you can turn on your email filters.
Most email programs have filters you can set up. But unless
I'm completely overwhelmed with spam, I don't like to use
filters. There's just too much chance of something important
getting sent to a junk folder.

I've come to the conclusion that since I'm going to receive
it, I might as well enjoy it. Yep, that's right - enjoy it!
Hey, it's free entertainment. Have you ever read some of that
junk? "Receive $20,000 in 7 days!" I really did receive an
email with that subject line 2 days ago. If these people were
really making that kind of money, wouldn't we all be doing it?

Or how about the ones that say, "Thank you Dennis for requesting
information on our..." Whatever it is they're selling, they want
you to believe you requested that information. Now, I sign up
for ezines all the time, but not about some of the subjects they
come up with!

Or the subject lines that say, "About your account" or "Order
Confirmation". Do they think that after trying to trick me
with the subject line, I would then turn around and buy from
them? Come on!

So, I've decided that since I'm going to receive spam, I might
as well get a laugh out of it. We all receive it, and I guess
we always will.

Dennis Eppestine operates 3 of his own websites at:
http://www.products4profits.com
http://www.1stmarketingtool.com
http://www.onestopguidetointernetmarketing.com

Un-Due Process - Part 1Elena Fawkner

"Automatic complaints are sent when a filter whose action is set to Kill after complaining is triggered. For each filter, you can configure who the complaint should be sent to. ... The message body is also scanned for e-mail and website addresses. If any addresses are found, they're added to the lists mentioned above."
Source: http://www.spamkiller.com/Features.html

SpamKiller is spam filtering software. Its purpose is to scan incoming email for spam and take appropriate action in response to those messages that are identified as spam, such as automatic deletion. Another handy function is that the software allows the user to generate automatic and manual complaint emails which the user then sends to the webmaster of the offending domain as well as any number of other recipients such as spam-reporting "authorities" and the webhost and/or ISP of the person sending the offending mail.

Good idea, you say? Fair enough, you say? Well ... maybe. Note the quote above: "... The message body is also scanned for e-mail and website addresses ... [and] added to the lists mentioned above", i.e. the list of recipients of the complaint.

Now, imagine this. Let's say you're a paying advertiser in my ezine. Your ad contains your URL and email address. I spam mail my ezine or send it to someone who forgets they subscribed and they think it's spam.

Imagine further that the recipient of my so-called spam uses SpamKiller software (or some similar program). The software scans the message header and extracts the relevant information about the person who sent the email (me). Fair enough. Assuming that it IS spam, of course.

But the capability of the software doesn't stop there. As mentioned in the above quote, it also scans the message BODY, which contains your ad, and adds your URL and email address to the list of recipients of the complaint. The ever-diligent big-spam-hunter also makes sure that one or more spam-reporting "authorities" is copied on the complaint.

WeStopSpam.net*, diligent, professional organization that it is, immediately and automatically forwards the complaint to abuse@yourdomain.com and your webhost, an equally diligent, professional organization shuts your site down for three days for spamming.

You, of course, learn about all of this AFTER the event.

Think it can't happen to you? Think again. It happened to me. This week. Except I wasn't a paying advertiser in the offending ezine. The publisher of the ezine reprinted one of my articles. The article contained my resource box. The resource box contained my website URL. SpamKiller added my URL to the list of recipients of the email complaining of the "spam", copied WeStopSpam.net and WeStopSpam.net forwarded the email to abuse@ahbbo.com with the result that my webhost, DumbHost*, shut down my site for what was to be three days.

The actual downtime was two hours. By that time I had threatened to sue and they finally got around to actually READING the offending email and realizing that I, in fact, was just an innocent bystander.

There is so much that is wrong in this whole scenario that it's hard to know where to begin.

THE PERSON WHO GENERATED THE COMPLAINT

Let's start with the individual who generated the complaint in the first place. This is the person using the SpamKiller software. His email to me (which was auto-generated by SpamKiller) contained the following subject line:

"UCE Complaint (So-and-So Newsletter*)"

The body started out:

"I have received the attached unsolicited e-mail from someone at your domain. [He had not.]

"I do not wish to receive such messages in the future, so please take the appropriate measures to ensure that this unsolicited e-mail is not repeated.

"--- This message was intercepted by SpamKiller (www.spamkiller.com) ---"

The full text of the intercepted message followed.

The header of the offending email clearly showed that the sender of the email was someone from so-and-so.com*. Unfortunately, the newsletter concerned contained virtually nothing but my article interrupted by what I assume were paid ads.

I'm sure that the paid advertisers in this particular ezine also received a complaint and that WeStopSpam.net received a copy and automatically forwarded it to the advertiser's ISP and/or webhost who may or may not have shut them down, at least temporarily. (Hopefully not all webhosts are of the calibre of DumbHost when it comes to this sort of thing.)

So, this individual, in his zealousness to rid the Internet of spam, blithely dragged the names and reputations of at least half a dozen perfectly innocent bystanders through the mud.

The moral of the story? If you use spam-filtering software and the complaint-generating function that comes with it, have the common decency and responsibility to stop and think about who you're adding to your hitlist. If you don't, and you get it wrong, don't be surprised to find a process- server on your doorstep.

SPAM FILTERING SOFTWARE

To give SpamKiller its due, it appears to be an excellent product. There's a free 30 day download available at http://www.spamkiller.com . I downloaded it myself to see what, if any, cautions are given to users about the need to make sure that the recipient of the complaint is, in fact, responsible for the email concerned.

Well, there is such a caution but it took me a good 45 minutes to find it. The software comes with an excellent, comprehensive built-in help facility. Tucked away at the end of the page on "Sending manual complaints" is the caution:

I would respectfully suggest that this warning be displayed in a more prominent position, coupled with warnings about what can happen to those who use the software in an irresponsible manner so as to ensnare innocent parties.

WESTOPSPAM.NET

Now, let's take a look at WeStopSpam.net's role in all of this. In my case, "all" they did was forward a complaint they had received from our friend in the previous section to my webhost. Here's what they sent:

"From: 17846286@reports.westopspam.net To: abuse@dumbhost.com
X-Loop: one
Subject: [WeStopSpam (http://www.ahbbo.com) id:17846286] So-and-So Newsletter
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 23:14:50 -0700 (MST) X-Mailer: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.5; Windows 98) via http://westopspam.net/ v1.3.1 - WeStopSpam V1.3.1 -
This message is brief for your comfort. ... Spamvertised website: http://www.ahbbo.com > http://www.ahbbo.com is 63.249.189.106; Tue, 27 Feb 2001 02:56:58 GMT
Offending message: ..."

So, my website was reported for spamming because it was "spamvertised" - lovely butchering of the English language, I must say. This appears to be a coined term for a website that is advertised by means of spam. This means that any paying advertiser in the ezine itself is treated as a spammer, merely because spam was used to send the ezine.

I checked out the website of the ezine concerned. It proclaimed that its 85,000 subscribers were all "opt-in" i.e. that the subscribers each took some positive step to have their email address added to the ezine's mailing list.

Any reputable advertiser is going to be concerned that the recipients of the ezine are opt-in, so this would have been of comfort to the advertisers concerned in this instance.

Mind you, when I sent an email to the address displayed at the publisher's site, it bounced. Maybe this person IS a spammer. I don't know. And that's the point. How are you supposed to know that if you're just the advertiser or article author?

But, as far as WeStopSpam.net is concerned, that doesn't matter. The mere fact that the advertiser's opportunity was advertised in the allegedly spam email is sufficient to make the advertiser a legitimate target. In my case, I didn't even advertise! The publisher of the ezine ran my article. How many of you out there make your articles freely available for reprint?

WeStopSpam.net would presumably have you restrict the reprint rights to your articles to only those publishers who you know for a FACT are sending to a 100% guaranteed opt-in list. How do you do that? Quite simply, you can't. To expect any such thing is just unreal and smacks of an appalling lack of understanding about how the online world works.

A reasonable compromise would be if reprint rights were granted to publishers who send their ezine to an opt-in list. I would have no objection to that. Of course, that wouldn't help you with WeStopSpam.org because their policy is to shoot first and ask questions later ... but wait, on second thought, they don't even ask questions later. They just shoot.

You don't get a "please explain" or anything else. You're convicted first and then it's up to you to prove that you're innocent. Of course, by then, the damage is done. But WeStopSpam.org doesn't care. I'm sure they see it as just a casualty of war.

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online .... practical home business ideas, resources and strategies for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com

Un-Due Process - Part 2Elena Fawkner

DUMB HOST

OK, now let's turn to the real bad guy in all of this. The webhost who shuts down a website on the grounds of nothing more than the say-so of an unverified spam complaint. In my case, it's DumbHost but I know there are many other webhosts and ISPs out there who are just as irresponsible.

Here's the email I received from DumbHost informing me my site had been shut down:

"To whom it may concern,

"We recieved [sic] the following spam complaint regarding ahbbo.com. Your domain will be temporarily disabled for 3 days. You can have your domain re-enabled at the end of this 3 day period by requesting so at enable@unsupportteam.net. If we continue to recieve [sic] complaints, action may be taken to disable your domain.

"Regards,
Abuse Response Team"

Regards!

The email that followed was the one from WeStopSpam.net.

An appropriate response would have been: "We've received a complaint of spamming against you. We take all complaints of spamming very seriously. Please let us have your response to this complaint so we may take appropriate action". But I guess that would have been too much like due process for DumbHost to want to bother with.

Here's what followed:

From me to DumbHost:

"If you even bothered to read the "offending email" you will see that it came from so-and-so.com, NOT ahbbo.com. The publisher of the email in question reprinted one of my articles in his newsletter. That article contained a resource box which contained a link to my domain.

"If my site is shut down for ANY length of time as a result of this complaint, expect a lawsuit without further notice."

Their reply (from "Level II Customer Care Representative" - ha!):

"Was this bulk mail authorized by you? This is considered an offense of our terms of service no matter where it originates as long as the email is sent or authorized by you. The email advertises your website, that is why your domain has been disabled for 3 days.

Regards,
Abuse Response Team"

Me again:

"No! I've never heard of these people before. It is common practice for newsletter publishers to publish articles written by other people. The author's resource box is always included at the end of the article. If this person's newsletter went to someone who wasn't subscribed, then it's the newsletter publisher who should be reported for spamming, not the innocent author who is unfortunate enough to have their work reprinted.

"Did anyone even read the email concerned before shutting my site down? It's obvious what happened. If my site is not reinstated today, I will be issuing legal proceedings tomorrow. "By the way, don't you think your question should have been asked BEFORE shutting me down, not after?"

Them again:

"Okay, I was asked to take a look at your account, I will forward this information to abuse and they should get back to you shortly...

"Best regards,

Jordan M.
Level II Customer Care"

(They apparently don't use full names at Level II Customer Care. Can't imagine why.)

Finally, this one from the "Abuse Response Team" at DumbHost:

"In light of this new information, I have gone ahead and re-enabled your domain. Be advised that any mass emails such as this will be considered a violation of our terms of service. You may want to take steps to ensure that services such as this are not sending out this kind of advertisement for your site.

Regards,
Abuse Response Team"

Me:

"They did not send an advertisement for my site. My articles are publicly available for reprint, as are thousands of other authors'. It is usual practice for authors to give permission for reprinting provided the newsletter publisher publishes the author's resource box at the end of the article. It's a way of generating traffic to the author's website.

"The author has no control over who uses the article in this way. Is a paying advertiser in an ezine shut down if the publisher of the ezine sends a spam email (assuming that it was spam in the first place)? ... That policy makes no sense whatsoever."

Them:

Nothing. Zip. Nada. No apology, no nothing.

Nice going DumbHost. You must be proud.

PLAN OF ACTION

My experience was pretty trivial in the scheme of things. I was able to get my site restored in just a couple of hours. Consider the damage that could be done to your business if that didn't happen though. What would be the impact on YOUR bottom line if your site was shut down for 3 days? Or a week? Or for good?

So, what's the innocent party to do in a situation like this?

Here's one plan of action:

1. SUE irresponsible complainer for defamation. 2. SUE irresponsible spam police for defamation. 3. FIRE webhost.
4. SUE fired webhost for lost profits.

THE SOLUTION

I for one am not generally in favor of government regulation when it comes to the Internet. This is one area, however, in which I must say some form of governmental control should be taken. Where else but online can you have a situation where it's commonplace for someone to take punitive action against an innocent bystander BEFORE giving them a fair hearing? Where else but online can ignorant and/or malicious individuals be allowed to cause such injury to someone else's livelihood without being called to account? Try that in the real world and you'll be answering a charge of vandalism, defamation and trespass to goods just to start.

It's high time someone took a balanced approach to the issue of spam and recognized that, although spam is an undeniable problem, so too are anti-spam zealots and plain malicious types who think it's sport to trash some innocent person's business and reputation. They should be held to account for the damage they cause.

In addition, in recognition of this unfortunate fact of online life, a fact, I might add, of which webhosts are only too well aware, webhosts should also be held accountable for shutting down livelihoods based only on the prosecution's case in chief. The defense is entitled to be heard and any conviction that results from a one-sided hearing is nothing short of an abject denial of due process. The legal profession can't get away with that. Why the hell should webhosts?

* Fictionalized names.

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online .... practical home business ideas, resources and strategies for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com

Spam Not

"Spam not, lest ye be spammed." ~Mari Peckham

Just yesterday, I received over 40,000 emails from a person who had harvested a contact email address from one of my websites. The person may or may not have personally secured my email address, but since I use it only to receive email feedback from my website and never to send mail, I know that it was a harvested address. Because of the nature of my use of this email address, I also have a "Thank you for contacting us." autoresponder message in place there.

My server was mad at me. My entire system was mad at me. I couldn't conduct my normal business and send out email that needed to be sent out, because my computer was hard at work downloading email upon email.

How can something like this happen?

Simple enough, really. My email was picked up off of my website and added to an autoresponder. If it had been a regular email account, I would have received an unsolicited message that I would have easily deleted, no big deal. But since my email address was attached to an autoresponder, it started a vicious cycle of email autoresponse.

The person who had sent me the email - well, they ended up with 40,000 "Thank you for contacting us." emails in their box from me.

I'm sure that that wasn't very pleasant for them, either. And the fact of the matter is that they may have not even realized that they had done anything wrong.

Spam is bad. Not all spammers are bad people, though. Some of them are just misinformed or inexperienced Internet marketers.

I'm the first to admit that marketing can be frustrating. Just when you've hit the wall and can't think of another fresh marketing idea to get new people to your site, along comes a company that offers you a list of 100,000 email addresses for just $24.95 or some other unbelievable deal. Wow! What an opportunity! Affordable, even! It's hard not to jump all over an offer like that.

But beware! It's hard to say where those email addresses are coming from.

Many unscrupulous companies use "harvesting" software that spiders the Internet and lifts email address off of websites. They then compile lists of these email addresses and sell them as "opt-in safelists" for profit.

As a marketer, using these lists can get you in tons of trouble. Once labeled as a Spammer, it is hard to rid yourself of that reputation, whether you were spamming on purpose, or you were a victim of a bad "list". You can be dropped from your hosting service or ISP. Companies that you are promoting using Spam will cancel your accounts.

Bottom line: If you are not sure that it is NOT Spam, then don't do it. Develop your own list of opt-in subscribers by offering a newsletter, free information, or something else that will get people to take notice of you. Both YahooGroups (http://groups.yahoo.com/) and Topica (http://www.topica.com) offer free, easy-to-use service that will manage your subscribers for you. You can find other similar services on the Internet. This is one of the most responsive forms of advertising, because you have the opportunity to develop a relationship with your list members.

You can also use a mailing list building service, such as Free Mailer 2000 (http://www.freemailer2000.com), although you will need to advertise your mailing list builder site in order to build your mailing list.

Safelists can be another safe way to get the word out about your business, but vary in responsiveness. I recommend the services of SafeListBoys (http://www.safelistboys.com) to help you find lists and easily manage your safelist activity for a small monthly fee. You can also find new safelists by entering "safelists" in any search engine, but watch out for those "BULK" mailing list services that may fall in the unscrupulous SPAM category. Rule of thumb, if you aren't a member yourself and know for a fact that the list is opt-in, don't use it!

If you are choosing to spam, stop immediately. It may be getting you a handful of responses right now, but the painful consequences of your actions can cancel out any benefits that you may find.

If we, as an Internet marketing community, would all agree to market responsibly, the Internet would soon be a better place to work and live. What comes around goes around. Spam not, lest ye be spammed.

Mari is the author of MarketingPitbull, a truly step-by-step guide to creating exponential traffic flow and a residual income online, with or without your own product. Find out more about MarketingPitbull at: http://www.marketingpitbull.com

Good Spam or Bad Spam - What's the Difference?

"Are you good spam or bad spam?" This is the question I find echoing in my head sometimes when I am going through my email, as if it is part of some electronic Wizard of Oz. Have you ever given any thought to the fact that there really is a difference in spam? Not that I am defending anyone, but let me make my point and then you can decide for yourself.

Spam is such a hot issue and no one knows the "right" view of spam that fits everyone. You either: - will take all measures to prevent people from sending it to you - don't mind it at all and happily delete, delete, delete every day - OR hate it sometimes and ignore it other times.

I think I fall in the last category, which is what started me thinking about good and bad spam. My point of view has now developed into this:

BAD Spam-
-It is bad spam when you reply to it to be removed and it is returned to you because the address is made up. -It is bad spam when the removal link does not open a real url. -It is bad spam when you paste the message source into Spam Cop and the info you get back before clicking the "Send spam report" shows tons of dead ends and made up domains, etc.

This means that this "Cowardly Lion" harvested your address, and went to great lengths to cover their tracks in order not to get caught sending spam.

GOOD Spam-
-It is good spam when there is an actual person on the other end, apologizing for inconveniencing you.

What made it good spam? Because here is spam that you most likely will not get again, because it is more legit then the bad spam. These people are not out to break any rules, upset anyone, or ruin your day. 9 times out of 10 they really don't know any better and will learn, very quickly I might add.

Also, keep in mind that the Scarecrow in us does not ALWAYS remember every email we sign up for. It is possible to have signed up for something and a week later be flipping out because you are getting email from some unknown. If we only had a brain sometimes (Speaking for myself, of course).

It is also highly possible that someone is having fun subscribing you to things. Never count that one out, it happens all of the time.

GOOD vs BAD
Personally, I would much rather get NO spam, however if I had to choose, I would have to go with good spam. Bad spam demonstrates that the sender KNOWS what is NOT acceptable and went to all of this trouble and expense to hide behind this long trail of fake addresses. These are malicious acts, and down right dirty. Do they really think that what they are trying to sell in this manner is actually worth it? These are the people we should be upset with. These are the people that we need to be telling, "I'll get you my pretty, and your little server too!"

So, whether you agree or disagree, just try to keep in mind that -1. The whole world is not out to get you. -2. Not every piece of spam is sent with the same intent. And... -3. As the world around us continues to change, we will be seeing more and more companies resorting to sending their junk mail through email rather then the post office. (I think this is becoming a more desirable thing to us all, as it would be much safer, take less effort to get rid of, & is better for the environment.)

Now is the time to try to adjust our view and approach the issue with a level head. If we don't we will drive ourselves mad, and for what purpose? The changes in our world cause the internet to change. Soon you probably will find yourself saying, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore".

Sara Hardy
Publisher of The OnLine Exchange Ezine. We have been in circulation for over 3 years, with over 28,000 faithful subscribers. Go here to subscribe: http://marketingtrendz.com and start your FREE Membership to our Profit Zone, giving you unlimited access to FREE marketing tools, ebooks, resources and more!

"Where is My Spam"Wonder Wyant

Boy, I must be really new to the Internet! Everyone keeps talking about all the canned meat they're getting and I'm hardly getting fed over here.

I do get some, but I'm sure not getting fat on it. I receive a couple of hundred or so emails a day so I'm not surprised that I get a few offers for credit cards I don't need and junk I'm not going to buy.

Although I probably average only a dozen or so letters a day in the big metal box at the end of the drive,some days more that half of that mail is junkmail.

While I find basically none of this junkmail useful to me, the electronic spam is much easier to deal with. I'm brand new to email and I still know at least three ways to hit delete! And, if need be, I can let my ISP gobble it up.

Since I live in the country and I no longer have to pay the garbage man to haul away the paper junkmail, I don't even resent that as I once did. In fact, I hear that I have a neighbor who actually solicits the stuff as he heats his house with it. An idea, I suppose?

I can almost hear you saying "Wait a minute! You said you get hundreds of emails a day." Yes, indeed I do. I would say that 96% of them are from ezines that I've subcribed to, offers I asked for more information about or email courses I wanted.

In my 3 months on the Internet, I've subscribed to over 400 ezines. Am I nuts, as an ezine editor friend of mine implied? No, I'm out here to get information. The only way to do that is to go to where the source is. Many ezines are wonderful sources of a wide variety of information.

Unfortunately, I've found that not all ezines are entertaining or informative. Do I read them all? Yes, I do, to a point. I use an automatic 'shelving' system in Outlook Express for my ezines.

I have a folder named 'Ezines' and inside that I have many subfolders.

When I read my first issue of an ezine, if I am instantly totally impressed, I set up a subfolder for that ezine and a message rule that puts every issue in that folder. I generally eagerly read them as soon as I see I have unopened mail in that folder. If I find later that I am not enjoying that ezine as much, I move the whole folder to another catagory or I unsubscribe and delete the folder.

I also have a subfolder called 'Checking Out'. If I am not totally enamored with the ezine, it goes into a subfolder in that file. I have these labeled: 'Daily's", 'Weekly's' and 'Monthly's. I add the from address to the appropriate message rule and those ezines go to their folders.

I read the 'Checking Out' ezines as time allows. Very often, by the second or third issue, the ezine has graduated it its own folder. I sort by name and read the 'Daily's' more often that the others but I do at least scan them all.

If I have received 5 or 6 issues of an ezine and it still remains in my just looking folder, I am not very interested in that ezine. I unsubscribe. Ezine editors might want to note that, when they send me 4 or more 'solos' in a day, I am probably only seeing one real issue of their ezine when I'm trying to decide if I want to remain subscribed.

I have to admit that I've recently added a new subfolder called 'Free Ad Subs'. Yep, you guessed it, stuff I don't read unless have extra time or I need an ad code. I will stay subscribed though until I figure out a better way to market.

I don't know, maybe I'm just too new out here to know what canned meat is.

If you'd like some helpful hints on how to manage 400+ ezines in your mailbox, send for my free helpful article "Manage Your E-mail" mailto:wonderclass1@GetResponse.com.

Wonder Wyant is a retired carny and the editor of "Geeks, Freaks and Bamboozles" a new ezine about both the carnival she retired from and the one she retired to. To get in prelaunch, mailto:wonderwyant@hotmail.com. You can check out her newest 'teddybear' at http://100PercentProfit.cjb.net.