If you’re like me, you’ll appreciate some tips on reducing inbox spam.

1. Never post your e-mail address (unprotected) on a website or blog.
   If your e-mail address is plainly visible in the HTML code of a web page, a spam crawler can find it. Google has crawlers to find content to populate the search engine, and spammers have similar crawlers that harvest e-mail addresses.

   Some blog software like Joomla will automatically obscure your e-mail to protect it (note that it looks unprotected on the webpage, but when you view the HTML you see it’s a bunch of complicated Javascript code that crawlers can’t read). Basically you can check by Viewing the Source (in Firefox it’s Ctrl+U) and trying to find your e-mail address in the HTML. If you can’t find it, it’s probably safe.

   If your e-mail address is listed on a site that you don’t have control of, ask the webmaster nicely to change your e-mail to:

   • An image of your e-mail address like so:
   • A textually obscured version like: me [at] hotmail [dot] com
     
2. Never Unsubscribe or Reply to a spam message.
   Even though they provide a link to unsubscribe, this is actually how they get you. Initially they send spam to random e-mail addresses, not knowing if it is actively used. By unsubscribing, you’re validating that this is an active e-mail account, and signing up for more spam.

   Note this tip only applies to illegal spam, meaning spammers who are not trying to send legit newsletters, etc. Proper newsletters will honour your request to unsubscribe, so you first have to figure out whether it’s legit or not. A good rule of thumb is that if you didn’t sign up for it, it’s probably illegal spam.

3. Don’t use your e-mail address on low-quality websites.
   If you have to create an account on a website that isn’t yet established and respected, don’t use your primary e-mail account. Unsavoury sites like to sell your e-mail address to spammers.

   Make a back-up e-mail account that you always use for these types of sites, or make a “disposable e-mail account” using a specialized service like Yopmail which you use to create the account then throw away when you’re done.

4. Don’t opt-in for third-party offers.
   Often when you create an account on a website, it will have a checkbox to opt in to messages from third parties with offers you might be interested in. The fact that the site has this as a checkbox means it’s probably legit, so only opt in if you actually want to.
5. Configure your e-mail client to not load images automatically.
   If you use an e-mail client like Outlook, Thunderbird, or even the webmail services like Gmail and Yahoo Mail, make sure images are not loaded automatically in e-mails. When you open these e-mails, it should ask you whether you want to load the images. When an e-mail contains a image linked from a website (not included as an attachment), the sender can detect when that image gets loaded. Spammers use this technique to know that you have an active e-mail account and will send you more spam.

   If you encounter a suspicious e-mail, don’t load its images.

6. Don’t buy through spam messages.
   This is more of a long-term tip to eradicate spam from existence. If spammers can’t make more than minimum wage sending spam, they’ll eventually start flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Don’t make it profitable. If you really need to, find another source for your Acai berry diet that doesn’t work.

So they you go, employ these tips and save some headaches.