Need E-Mail Spam Control

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 10 Feb 2001 11:30 am

This is getting ridiculous. I just ignore them - I never reply - but they are coming faster than I can delete. Virtually 99% of the crap I'm getting these days is from these rinky dink mortagage or credit card companies trying to help me 'manage my life' (by getting into debt...).

What's a girl to do?

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 10 Feb 2001 1:43 pm

NoNoNo Steve----you're missing a great opportunity. You see? if they ask for your credit card number then you send it to them, you see? and then if they say that your number is a winning number, you see? then they'll send you a prize. Bless them.
Right now they are also using my credit card to consolidate my debts, I think, and I think they are going to buy me some guaranteed stocks and I seem to recall something about sending me some viagra. Bless them. It's so good that they care. They seem like such nice people.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 10 Feb 2001 5:35 pm

Jon - Turn OFF the '65 Showman amp and go get some rest. I repeat: PUT DOWN THE AMP AND GO GET SOME REST....

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 10 Feb 2001 9:21 pm

Steve -- I not only agree with your post but am additionally PO'd that 9 out of 10 of those junk emails won't 'remove from the list' by replying and requesting it. Seems like most of the addresses are randomly assigned on some hosting site. My replies to remove get returned because of 'unknown addressee'. Thought they HAD to remove upon request. I get about 30 a night. Used to be only 3 or 5 untill b0b's forum was down and we used ezboard for a while. -- Everett

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 11 Feb 2001 3:04 am

Don't reply to the ones that have the option to "reply to xxx to be taken off the mailing list". When you reply (if it is a valid address) they know that your address is valid and it can generate more spam.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 11 Feb 2001 8:40 am

I get about a dozen spam emails a day, and I take an extra few seconds to "create a rule" on Outlook Express for each one of them. I click on the "Do not download from server" option. I now have over 400 blocked addresses... but new ones come through every day

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www.dougbsteel.com

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 11 Feb 2001 10:42 am

Ah Ha! Thanks, Doug. That's tangible info. I'll give it a shot. BTW - I may be moving up to your neck-of-the-woods fairly soon. I may be in touch.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 11 Feb 2001 12:37 pm

OK - Experiment in Progress:

I just created a 'Message Rule' that anything with the words debt, consolidation, free, mortgage, merchant, credit, money, Attention, (or Viagra, for that matter...) NOT be downloaded from the server. I tested it out with a message sent to myself using the word 'debt' in the title, and it worked!

I also added all the SOBs who have been sending me this stuff to my 'blocked list'. Seems like there were a lot of multiple messages from the same bozos.

I wish I thought of trying this ~6 months ago. Hope it works.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 12 Feb 2001 6:20 pm

Day 1: No spam...nada, nil, nothing. So far, so good.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 14 Feb 2001 6:01 pm

Day Three: Not one spam to date, and I checked the server and found out that I have had many messages that were blocked. This is great!

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 23 Feb 2001 11:37 am

Final update: I'm working on almost 2 weeks now, and I have had Spam Nadda since blocking all this stuff. It's on my ISP's server, but it don't come in h'yea!

Finally, a little justice in the world!

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 23 Feb 2001 12:59 pm

It's funny--I put up some blocking rules too and whenever an eligible spam came thru it would show that I had incoming, then it would vaporize and there would be nothing. It was sort of unnerving. Like, before answering machines to screen calls, did you have the discipline to say 'screw it--let it ring'? After how many rings would you dive for the phone and pick up? Same with the email--so I deactivated the block.
I mean--what if a beautiful lady I've never met is emailing me and she has the word 'free' in the title! And the email block spaces her message before I get to read it!
Think about it!

Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 27 Feb 2001 11:29 am

I don't get a whole lot of spam (my parents do), but I get about 15 forwarded items a day.

Let alone I am too busy to read any of them, as that same mailbox has to be sorted through to some more critical e-mails regarding a Website I am designing--and more. It is rediculous. That is why I have blocked my e-mail address. There are a few people that send me all of this forwarded stuff that I will never read. I have a filter to permanently delete these, but still, it hogs up my time just to retrieve them.

I am looking into developing a piece of software that will check your e-mail periodocally and if a message is forwarded (has fw in the subject line), an "address unavailable" message is sent back, as though the messages are bounced. That will probabvly cut back on a lot of the e-mails, as people get tired of getting these Not Found errors and they stop sending you their e-mails.

Anyone interested?

Jonathan

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www.cullifer.com[This message was edited by Jonathan Cullifer on 27 February 2001 at 06:00 PM.][This message was edited by Jonathan Cullifer on 05 March 2001 at 06:14 PM.]

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 28 Feb 2001 5:57 pm

Doug or Steve,
Could one of you guys run thru the
steps to set-up that spam blocking.
I use Outlook Express.

Thanks fellas,
chipsahoy

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 28 Feb 2001 8:49 pm

Hi Chip,

When you're in Outlook Express, highlight the unwanted email and then click on "Message" up above. From that menu click on "Create Rule From Message". Then check the box that says "Where the Subject Line Contains Specific Words". Down in section 3 click on the blue line that says "Specific Words" and when a box comes up, enter the specific words that you want to block in Subject lines. Words like... mortgage, sex, sexy, FREE, viagra, debt, etc. Then click on OK. Do the same for the third box of section 1 (Where the Message body contains the Specific Words). Finally, you have to select an "action" for your rule. You do that in section 2. I usually choose the next to last option "Do not download from server"

I have over 350 rules, but some garbage still gets through every day. I guess it's because I have a website with my email address on it.

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www.dougbsteel.com

John Steele (deceased) · Post by **John Steele (deceased)** » 5 Mar 2001 9:45 am

Doug and Steve, this is GREAT! Thanks. I wasn't aware that existed.
I use Outlook Express, and on my program, I clicked on "Tools", the "Inbox Assistant".
Up pops a screen where you can specify certain addresses to be blocked, etc. By clicking on "Add" you can enter subject words like the forementioned.
Thanks again guys, I can see this will make life easier. I really can't understand how it happens, as this is virtually the only place on the net I hang out... despite that, I get an armload of offensive spam everyday. Hope this helps. Thanks a million!
-John