I was watching the news the other day and some reporter was doing a story on the way that today's teens use instant and text messaging almost as much as they used to use the telephone. The newsperson claimed that someone predicted text and instant messaging would soon overpass e-mail as the killer app of the century. I don’t know if I believe that prediction but I do think if there’s one force hurting -and perhaps killing- good old email it’s: SPAM.
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"What's even sadder is how the constant endless onslaught of junk email has taken all the fun out of what used to be a useful tool." |
It’s bad enough that we have to fear malicious vandalism from attachment viruses sent by script kiddies. What’s even sadder is how the constant endless onslaught of junk email has taken all the fun out of what used to be a useful tool. Email was easy. It was practically instant. Email was personal, and private and cheap. Now email is a groan.
Our inboxes are violated with SPAM each time they’re opened. The subject lines are sneaky, graphic and the messages are no better. The software that collects our addresses cares not if we have no penis. The spammers don’t care what age the recipients are. These spammers gather up our addresses as if we were fish in a net and reign down upon us nothing but crap.
Naturally we adult webmasters get blamed the most for spam by the press. Personally I receive more spamail concerning home loans and self-employment opportunities than I do porn spam. My business email account however is another story. From that one I get all kinds of porn spam. I also get spam from traffic boosters, webmasters pushing sponsor programs and the occasional virus-sized email.
My spam problem is minimal compared to so many of my adult net peers. Some of these poor folk receive hundreds of spams to their various inboxes a day. It’s not the greatest problem in the world but it sure is a hell of a headache. I can just imagine the poor surfer whose kid gets an email with a subject line that reads: "Watch Tina fuck four guys". No wonder they hate us.
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Well if it’s any consolation to the non-porn world and the moralists, adult webmasters hate spam as much as anyone does. There’s a good many of us who feel it hurts our industry. Whether or not porn spam is the most common doesn’t really matter. All of it is a problem. Junk mail wasted paper. Spam wastes bytes.
If you are ready to move past the simple email reader filter and on to some more serious methods for killing spam here are some great services and software just for you:
SpamArrest.com
(http://spamarrest.com)
For as little as $3.33 a month you can get six months of spam prevention before it comes to your inbox without software! Each email sent to you receives an auto-reply with a special link/password in it. The password is embedded in a graphic image that can't be translated by bots so you know you're receiving email from humans. One a sender clicks that link and types in that password; they are approved for sending/receiving for as long as you choose.
Spam Weasel
(http://www.mailgate.com/download/freedown.asp)
This software is free for individual use and is very easy to configure. It works with almost any email program except AOL mail. You can't beat the features and ease of use for the price and they sell professional version for servers.
MailWasher
(http://www.mailwasher.net)
Delete an email at the server lever or bounce it back to the spammer as not found. This wonderful service has a free and a pro version. The program works independently of your email reader so you can use any program with it. This handy program can sniff out possible virus email as well.
It might take governmental intervention to cure the problem of spam. Lawmakers are already looking into ways to regulate and enforce punishments against email delinquents. If you’re considering jumping on the spam train, don’t. If you get it all the time, do something about it. I like instant messaging like the kids do but I like my email too. I’d hate to see it get so bad nobody wants to use it anymore.
Email is a beautiful thing. It brings friend and families together. It's a great business communications tool. Save email. Kill spam. Spam Sucks!