If you’ve ever wondered if there was a way to globally unsubscribe to spammers and spam list, you’re out of luck. There is no such thing. I was researching this topic today and found a fairly authoritative answer at SpamHaus (SpamHaus is one of the “Big-Guns” working to reduce email spam) .
SpamHaus points out a number of so-called “spam removal” services being run by seemingly would-be do-gooders are, in fact, SPAM or Email Collectors themselves. They state that “Any system that wants money in exchange for removing your address from a spammer’s list is a scam”. ~Seems logical to me.
The biggest con of them all seems to be the Direct Marketing Associations “spam opt-out service”. SpamHaus states that the very mission of the group is to “advance the interest of junk-email senders.” They go on to state that some sites literally “spray” hundreds of millions of emails out per day.
What about sending a “Remove Me” from your list” back to the spammers? Unless you are SURE that you are receiving a legitimate email from someone YOU DID subscribe to (E.G. JC Penney, Buy.com, FTD, etc.). NEVER unsubscribe to a would-be spammer. It only confirms your email address a working, legitimate, valid address. By sending the “Remove Me”, you are actually setting yourself up for even more unwanted emails.
To read the article I found from SmapHaus about remove lists, click here:
http://www.spamhaus.org/removelists.html
To read about more about sending a “Remove Request” back to a potential Spammer, click here:
http://www.spamhaus.org/removeisformugs.html
Best wishes for a SPAM free Summer!
Thank goodness for Gmail which keeps almost all of the spam out of my actual inbox.
This is a very touchy subject, especially for me lately.
SPAM companies have become so good at getting their e-mails past the filters, that many of today’s legitimate business E-mails are getting caught in even the simplest of SPAM filters. This is creating a large divide in the business to business world, where legitimate companies with legitimate messages get lost in the shuffle.
There are many websites, however, that aid senders and receivers to both maximize their legitimate inbox, while minimizing their SPAM content.
Just a few pieces of thought.
Good post, hope tons of people read it to get the info. I recently had a twitter friend try to unsubscribe from all his spam (didn’t see it before he did it to warn him otherwise) only to see his spam increase.