Spam email crud

[dagwood]

Ok, I am not sure if this is in the right forum, but here goes. Lately I have been getting tons of porn spam. I have been reporting it as spam but it seems to get worse. Is it better to just delete them? I have heard that when you report it as spam, the blocked email goes back and they just send more from different addresses?

[Marley]

I've heard that it's best to delete it. If the sender finds out that your address is indeed valid, they will send you even more mail. [They are sending spam to random addresses, not knowing if they will even go through]

[nlmcp]

If you are on Yahoo, report it to them and it gets sent to your blocked file and doesn't make it to your inbox. Same with AOL. Don't click on the link in the e-mail as that just confirms you got it and are a functioning address.

Spam just annoys me, it's amazing how much I get every day.

[joeguy]

I have somehow got on the "I live in Africa and need to hide money" spam lists all of a sudden. in the last two weeks I seem to have become popular. I look at the subject line and just delete before i open it.

[Marleybone]

I know for Yahoo and Hotmail you can set it up so anything that is not from one of your contacts already in your address book gets automatically sent either into the Bulk file or just deleted altogether. I have it sent to my Bulk file in Yahoo so I can decide for myself if it's something I want. If it's spam, I move it to my Inbox without opening it and then mark it as spam. Just like nlmcp said, the sender gets added to your blocked list. If it's something you want just mark it as "not spam". The other thing you can do in Yahoo is set it so the HTML graphics are blocked.. that way if you do open the e-mail the sender won't know it and it will still appear that they didn't get an active address. It's true that serious spammers will just keep changing addresses.
I get tons of mail from spammers pretending to be from eBay or Paypal threatening me with suspension unless I verify my password and/or credit card info.. you just have to be really careful and never EVER click on any link sent to you in a spam message.

[katkitty]

Does anyone know if the same spam principle applies to faxes? We get "spam" on our fax at work all the time. I have a co-worker, who everytime receives one, calls the number on the fax that says it will remove it, but I believe it actually adds the number to more spammers... Anyone have a clue? (I think this is the worst! since it uses up our ink and our paper to get this crap).

[Dinahann]

I have somehow got on the "I live in Africa and need to hide money" spam lists all of a sudden. in the last two weeks I seem to have become popular. I look at the subject line and just delete before i open it.

Me, too. If I had a dime for every African that wants to split a million dollars with me I'd be rich by now. The first few times I got those messages I wrote back and told them I was reporting them. *Duh* like they cared. Now I just delete without opening.

[Muduh]

I wondered if others were having this problem. I get several Viagra offers daily. I also get the ones from that poor guy who needs help getting his money out of the country, or whatever the problem is.I just delete them but they multiply like rabbits.

[phat32]

1. If you're using Yahoo!, Hotmail or another reputable Web email service which includes the option of reporting spam from your inbox, then yes, go ahead and report it. It may not help tremendously, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

2. If you did some online shopping at a site you never visited before (and don't plan on visiting again) but now find yourself on their email list, you can usually find a link at the bottom of the email to opt-out of future emails. Go ahead and use it. I do, and I never have to hear from them again.

3. If it's pr0n, get-rich-quick schemes, or unsolicited sales pitches, don't even bother with them. Delete them as soon as they come in. It's possible that even opening some of these can result in bad, bad things happening to your computer.

[dagwood]

1. If you're using Yahoo!, Hotmail or another reputable Web email service which includes the option of reporting spam from your inbox, then yes, go ahead and report it. It may not help tremendously, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

3. If it's pr0n, get-rich-quick schemes, or unsolicited sales pitches, don't even bother with them. Delete them as soon as they come in. It's possible that even opening some of these can result in bad, bad things happening to your computer.

1. I use Yahoo! to register at websites, etc just so the spam goes there. I have reported it as spam and that is when I got more and more.

2. My main problem is pr0n...it is majorly annoying. The other stuff I just ignore....but I get sick of the subject lines. I am far from a prude, but there are just some things I would rather not read, even when just skimming for emails I want to read.