Kill the Spam

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I've been spammed, what should I do?

If you've been spammed:

1. DO NOT respond to the spam. By this, I mean don't reply to it. if you have an auto-reply action or filter set up, spammers can bounce an email off of your account and get a confirmation of a live address. You may wish to disable this feature of your emailer, despite how useful it really is for REAL business.
   
   
2. DO NOT respond to "remove" requests. It is a well known fact that remove functions are nothing more than address harvesting ploys. Requesting removal only leads to your address being harvested and confirmed as a "live" address, and you'll get more spam. This is perhaps one of the biggest mistakes you can make.
   
   
3. IGNORE any opening lines that suggest that you are on a targetting mailing list, or signed up for this list, or some other excuse as to why you are getting this spam. These are lies designed to make the spammer appear responsible in the eyes of the law.
   
   
4. DO learn to read headers. This is your most valuable tool in fighting spam. This is a skill that normally nobody other than system administrators need to know, but these days it is necessary for everyone to know how to read headers. By learning to read headers, you'll know who to complain to. Do not trust the headers, investigate the lines and make qualified complaints.
   
   
5. DO learn to use common tools in fighting spam. Such tools include and are not limited to: whois, traceroute and nslookup. There are also variants on "whois". A normal "whois", traceroute and nslookup are all available for your usage on this web site.
   
   
6. DO complain about every single spam you receive. Once you've learned to read headers, you will need to complain to the originating site and the relaying site as a minimum. This may be the same service provider. Next, complain to the drop-box administration, especially to the free email services. This is a judgement call on your behalf. The drop box is typically the "from" email address. Finally, if the spam is advertising an email address and/or web site, complain to the folks running those services.
   
   
7. When complaining, send your complaints to "postmaster@" and "abuse@" at the domains being complained to. Unless otherwise instructed, do not email additional addresses.
   
   
8. If the spam includes an address and the spam contains postal fraud information, please report this to your postmaster general. Go to the post office and ask one of the desk clerks what you'll need to file a complaint.
   
   
9. If the spam includes a toll-free number, you are allowed to call it only as many times as you receive the spam. The spam, although unsoliticited, is soliticing you to call the number. If you choose to leave a message, be firm, tough and CLEAN.
   
   
10. When calling a toll-free number, it is best to call from a pay phone for reasons I have already described.
    
    
11. DO NOT simply "hit delete". By deleting the spam, the spammer assumes that this behavior is acceptable. Unfortunately, even getting the spammer's account/service/website/access/email terminated, they still assume this behavior is acceptable. Complaining leads to action, and this action costs the spammer time and money. They may eventually learn, but don't count on it.

If you are one of the dilweeds who sent me unsolicited email or are someone thinking about it, drop dead.
Also, if you've got a complaint about my anti-spam feelings or want to scold me for being justifiably sick of spam, I have the following words of wisdom for you:

YOU'VE COME TO THE WRONG PLACE!