SPAM HAPPENS.

Why?

It happens because somewhere, somehow a 'spammer' got hold of your email address. But HOW did they get it? After all, You didn't send THEM an email asking for lots of junk mail, did you? So, how could they possibly know your email address?

Because YOU and YOUR FRIENDS told them.

Really?

Yes, I'll explain.

The most common ways to receive lots-and-lots of spam are:

#1. You've signed up for something on a website which has an 'I-can-sell-or-give-away-your-mail-address-to-anyone-I-like' rule. (Most likely an email newsletter, free-download website, file-sharing website, download-photo website, joke-of-the-day, quote-of-the-day, etc.) .

These sites get you to 'register' in order to download/use their product. The best way to avoid this is to check the sites terms and conditions. Look for a term that discusses sharing info with "PARTNERS" ... ie SPAMMERS.

If in doubt, DON'T. SPAMMERS love these sites, because they GET MORE ADDRESSES to send junk to! Which you will notice as your INBOX begins to fill... with junk. [This is not to be confused with websites that have a policy of KEEPING your info private.)

#2. You've 'added your signature' to a petition and forwarded it on to your friend... and eventually the ENTIRE LIST of email addresses arrives back at it's destination with THOUSANDS of addresses.

#3. This is the one is harder to deal with. It is actually your 'fault' - you and your well-meaning friends, of course. It happens when you (or your friends) send an email to MANY PEOPLE at once.

The PROBLEM is that you put the email addresses of your friends into the 'TO:' field or the 'CC' field (carbon-copy) of your email program.

And, OF COURSE you do. The message is 'TO:' all of them, right?

WRONG WRONG WRONG!

Stop and take a look the next time you get a message like this. You will see many other people's addresses listed there along with yours. That means that EVERYONE ON THAT LIST (whether they be a friend of yours or NOT) can SEE, COPY, AND DISTRIBUTE all of those email addresses.

AND AND AND... When one MASS MARKETER gets a copy of this type of email, he simply copies the addresses and adds them to his SPAMMING LIST! ((And can even unscroupously sell your address if he/she wants to.))

That sucks hu? So what can YOU do?

There IS A WAY to send messages to many people without the SPAM by-product. It's called the "BCC:" field.

It's the one below TO: (to) and CC: (carbon copy) spaces on your email program. It may have to be turned on to use it, but a quick search of the Help File should get it sorted easily enough.

BCC stands for BLIND CARBON COPY.

When you use the BCC colunm, the message goes out to all of the friends listed there, but no one gets to SEE the ADDRESSEES (ie: '''BLIND''' CARBON COPY''') Clever, eh?

So take a moment to BCC.
It's the ANTI-SPAM.

***

IMPORTANT ADDITIONS to previous article

#4 - Spam can also be created if your email address is LISTED somewhere on the internet. You may have your email address listed on a club or organisation's website, you may have it listed on YOUR OWN website, but somewhere your email is posted on the net.

There are programs out there on the internet simply SEARCHING FOR EMAIL ADDRESSES. They search web pages, the embeded web page code, newsgroups, and hard-copy internet documents for email addresses for their SPAMMING LISTS.

So if you have your email address on the internet, EXPECT SPAM. There ARE alternatives to having people contact you without having your email address listed. See the 'contact us' page of our website Global Tick It (www.globaltickit.com) for an example. Visit www.uplift.com.au for lots of examples.

#5 You've given your business card to a mass marketer who adds you to his email list without properly asking you. If this happens you CAN ask them to remove you, but this tactic can sometimes 'alert them' to the fact that this address is REAL and LIVE. (Which means that it's worth more money... hmmm.)

I hope this has been enlightening for you.

Namaste.

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

PS: Feel free to send this to to ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES, but remember to BCC it. :)

PSS: If you do NOT see the BCC field in your email program, GO TO the HELP section of your program and look up HOW to turn it ON. If there is NO MENTION of the BCC column in the program's HELP section, my recommendation is to CHANGE EMAIL PROGRAMS. Happy emailing.

IDEA: If you don't have an email program (client) installed on your computer, I suggest trying Mozilla Thunderbird, a secure, adept, and fully free program created by the open-source geniuses of the world, together. ((The really-really-really smart computer people doing it because they CAN do it, together, openly, and for free.)) It also has a BUILT IN adaptive SPAM Filter which is magnificent.

I would also recommend Mozilla Firefox as an alternative internet web browser to Internet Explorer. It's MORE secure, has built in ad-blockers and VERY VERY good security. It is free too. I would agree with them... it is the browser, reloaded.