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How I Keep Spam Out of My Inbox

My Personal Habits for Creating E-Mail Accounts
My Personal Habits for My Domain Name Account Settings
Email Obfuscator
The Enkoder Form
Using Javascript
An Example of The Javascript Code in Use
The Actual Javascript Code Being Used

If you need assistance figuring out how to use any of these techniques,
please feel free to with any questions you may have and I'll do my best to help out in any way that I can.

Sincerely,

Bill Ford




My Personal Habits for Creating E-Mail Accounts

With awesome instructions provided by both rharmelink and Grue22!! Thanks fer yer help and permission to use yer info guys!!

I learned a few years ago that if I really wanted to keep spam outta my mailbox, I should learn a coupla "simple habits" first.

1) Create Explicitly Named E-Mail Addys To Begin With, such as; Use an Explicit Category/Personal Name/Company Name/Web Site URL so that that particular e-mail addy is specifically personalized for that Category/Person/Company Name/Web Site URL. Then, at least if that one particular e-mail addy ever starts getting spammed, y'all'll probably be able to figure out where it came from and then all y'all gots to do is just delete that one e-mail addy....And no more spam. ;-)

Personal@Example.com - For Family & Friends Only

  • Mom@Example.com
  • Dad@Example.com
  • Bob@Example.com
  • Susie@Example.com

  • Forum@Example.com - For Forum Use Only (Online Posting)
  • TMF@Example.com
  • YahooGroups@Example.com

  • Newsletter@Example.com - For Newsletter Use Only
  • LockerGnome@Example.com
  • SpywareInfo@Example.com

  • OnlinePurchase@Example.com - For Online Purchase Only
  • Amazon@Example.com
  • eBay@Example.com


  • Now, this may be difficult to do if you're using Freebie E-Mail Accounts such as those provided by AOL, Google, Yahoo, MSN, or any other since you'll likely be limited to how many accounts you can setup. However, there are ways to use disposal e-mail addys with Fastmail, Google and Yahoo, and possibly others as well.

    And rharmelink Says, "Another option is to use Yahoo "disposable addresses". They use a "base name" that you can append more information to. All of the disposable addresses have their mail delivered to your main Yahoo email address. When you create a disposable address, you indicate whether anything sent to that address should be placed in a Yahoo folder or delivered to your InBox. If you choose InBox, it goes to your "joeblow@yahoo.com" InBox. When you set up Outlook to retrieve your email, it gets everything in the "joeblow@yahoo.com" InBox. So, adding or deleting disposable addresses requires no additional setup in Outlook -- because anything sent to those disposable addresses just goes into your normal InBox on Yahoo, which is retrieved normally by Outlook.

    For example, if your "base name" is xyz123, you could have:

    xyz123-tmf@yahoo.com
    xyz123-pizzahut@yahoo.com
    xyz123-reuters@yahoo.com

    ...and so forth. And they will all be delivered to your "joeblow@yahoo.com" InBox. Then, you can also filter your emails into folders based on those addresses. If one of them starts to receive a lot of spam, you can dispose of it and create a new one -- plus you have some idea where the spammer got your email address.

    I do use Yahoo Mail Plus ($19.95 per year?). I'm not sure if AddressGuard and POP3 retrieval are part of the free Yahoo email service?

    Here is a link to the Yahoo Q&A area of AddressGuard (disposable addresses): http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/mail/plus/addressguard/index.html

    Gmail has a similar scheme, except that they use your normal Gmail name as the base -- which means anyone could figure out your true Gmail address. For example:

    joeblow+tmf@gmail.com
    joeblow+pizzahut@gmail.com
    joeblow+reuters@yahoo.com

    ...all end up having mail delivered to "joeblow@gmail.com". One drawback I've had with this technique is that some websites have an edit on email addresses that won't allow the "+" to be in there, even though it's a valid address for delivery of email.
    "

    And Grue22 Says, "I do something very similar. I'm using www.fastmail.fm as my email provider. It costs me $20 a year. I'm using them as an IMAP provider, since that's a lot more convenient for me than using POP servers. They even go out an pick up my emails from hotmail and two domains in Austria where I'm still getting email.

    They let me have three aliases, and I use one of them as a mailbox. It's easier for me to go through an example rather than trying to explain it. First, when you sign up, you choose a domain to use; www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts/General.htm#OtherDomains. For this example, let's use warpmail.net as the domain. Then we make up an alias to use for the mailbox account, say gruemail. Then we can start making up email addresses:
    TMF@gruemail.warpmail.net
    Yahoo@gruemail.warpmail.net
    Amazon@gruemail.warpmail.net
    etc.

    I have no idea how many of these email addresses I have now, but it's really easy to keep track of where the email is coming from and therefore who's giving out my email address.

    If I set up a folder with the same name as the new email address, mail automatically goes to that folder. For example, if I create a folder on the server named TMF, all mail sent to TMF@gruemail.warpmail.net automatically is directed to that folder. If the spam starts building up on any address, I could also set up a rule to direct all email to that particular address to trash.

    So far, it's been working well. Between fastmail's spam filter and my addressing scheme, I have no spam problems.
    "

    2) NONE Of These E-Mail Addys Should EVER Be Posted ONLINE, ANYWHERE, FOR ANY REASON, PERIOD!!...Well, unless y'all either knows how to "encode" yer e-mail addy when yer postin' it Online, OR, if'n y'all really wants to be spammed. Do so, and I guarantee y'all'll start getting spammed, real quick like even. :-)

    3) Do Not Open A Strange E-Mail That Y'all Aren't Expecting While Y'all're Still Connected To The Internet! If I'm suspicious of a particular e-mail, I'll disconnect and then open the e-mail. That way if there's an encoded graphic (picture, logo, etc.) or web bug included, it can't connect to the "Momma Server" and be able to confirm that the e-mail addy that spam e-mail was sent to is actually a legit e-mail addy. Simple, eh?

    Now, follow them simple steps fer all'a y'all's E-Mail Accounts, if'n y'all can, and y'all'll be able to greatly cut down on the amounts of spam y'all gets...So much so that y'all won't believe how "simple" it actually is.




    My Personal Habits for My Domain Name Account Settings


    The first thing I do when setting up a new Domain Name/Web Site is turn off the Catch-All Account. This is the default account that lets any e-mail come through regardless of whether you created that e-mail addy or not. It's purpose is to "catch" any e-mail sent to an addy that may be mis-spelled. However, when hackers send out dictionary attacks on newly registered domain names, they use any and every name their dictionary program can create...meaning everything will get through. And yes, as soon as I register a new domain name these days, people start trying to spam them as soon as the next day after registering. Just like with registering a new company, the info is publicly available, and all the local yahoos start sending junk mail to the business owner right after you register.

    If you're not sure if the Catch-All Account is enabled on your Domain Name, just create an e-mail from any e-mail account you have and send it to an address at your Domain Name that you know you haven't already created yourself, such as; Postmaster@Example.com (...changing the Example.com to your Domain Name...). If the e-mail bounces, then you know the Catch-All account is not enabled.

    And secondly, I will not use a Webmaster@Example.com addy since that's one of the first things everyone does and it will get spam as soon as it's setup. I do not use Postmaster@Example.com, Abuse@Example.com, Support@Example.com, Sales@Example.com, or whatever else I can think of that everyone uses.

    The third thing I do is Create Explicitly Named, E-Mail Addys as explained above.

    And another reason for doing this is to make it easier to sort incoming e-mail into appropriate folders. It's so easy to sort all Example@Example.com e-mails into the Example folder. One rule for one account and all e-mail goes into the correct folder. :-)

    Fourth, all my addys on my web sites are encoded. There are many ways to do this to stop spambots from harvesting an e-mail addy from a web site, but I use "Javascript to "Hide" an E-mail Addy from Spambots" and the instructions are listed below. Once you figure out "how" it works, it's extremely easy to setup and use anywhere on your web site/s.

    And, I've also included a link to the Email Obfuscator and The Enkoder Form below. Both of these free methods are an easy way of hiding your e-mail addy on a web site (and they work wonderfully!), but I prefer having full control so I use Javascript. You can also use a graphical pic of your e-mail addy, but then users can't click on a live link to e-mail you.

    And, lastly, if I have a need to signup for what I expect to be junk-mail or am sure the addy will be sold and spammed, I use my old Yahoo.com addy. If that account turns out to be useful, I can just change that addy and create a new one for that specific account.

    Many similar ideas like these can dern near stop all spam these days.




    Email Obfuscator


    Email Obfuscator - What if you want to put an email link on your website, but you don't want to risk unduly exposing yourself to this sort of email abuse? Simple. Make sure that your email address link works for humans but not for spambots! That's what this tool does. It obfucates your email address.

    Please note that ALL this tool does is take standard ASCII and convert it to something that will render visibly in a web page but which spambot spiders will be less able to read. It is not 100% foolproof, as there are a few spiders that can, apparently, figure it out, but it is a means of somewhat safeguarding your address for use in a web page.
    *

    This tool has been recommended several times on TMF's Webmaster's Corner forum. 07/04/2006




    The Enkoder Form


    The Enkoder Form - Posting your email address on a website is a sure-fire way to get an Inbox full of unsolicited email advertisements. The Enkoder protects email addresses by converting them into encrypted JavaScript code, hiding them from email-harvesting robots while revealing them to real people.

    This tool is only useful for protecting an email address on a web page you've designed in HTML. It cannot be used when sending email or when posting your address into a web form, or adding your comments to a forum.

    If you would like to specify your own HTML for the link, scroll down to the Advanced Form, below.

    And remember, the only way to be completely safe is to not publish your address at all.

    Note: We do not support our free tools. Please do not email us regarding the Enkoder. As much as we wish we could provide support - even in the form of answers to simple questions - we cannot.
    *

    This tool has been recommended several times on TMF's Webmaster's Corner forum. 03/30/2006




    Using Javascript to "Hide" an E-mail Addy from Spambots


    OK, here's what's happening and why we're using these scripts. Spambots scour the Internet looking for e-mail addys that they can "harvest" and then the spammer who created and used the spambot will sell those e-mail addys to other spammers.

    The spambots are looking for "mailto:" "@" and ".com" characters. Once it finds these characters on a web page it "knows" these are parts of an e-mail addy and will harvest that info and send it back to it's Momma Server.

    Now, what we're doing with these Javascripts is changing those characters to ones that the spambots can't read...or ones they can't read yet. However, our Browsers can read these characters and "present" them in a manner that we can read when seen on a web page.

    If you'll look up on Internet Explorer's Menu Bar, you'll see View - click that and choose Source. This will open Notepad will all of the info from this web page in it so you can actually see everything as it is on this web page.

    And, now let's break this down into explainable parts.

    VAR is a variable. Each variable is part of the actual code that the script will use to re-create the e-mail addy into a working link.

    Document.Write...well, this writes the code out for us to be able to read with our web browser.

    So, the important part of the code is, obviously, ADDRESS and DOMAIN. Those are the Example@Example.com parts that we all recognize as an e-mail addy...the parts that we want to "hide" from the spambots.

    Now, everything in between the = (Equals Sign) and ; (Semi-Colon) are the characters that make up the actual e-mail addy. The & (Ampersand) and # (Pound Sign) tell the web browser that the Number attached to these symbols are actually letters of the Alphabet and the ; (Semi-Colon) separates each character. These are called ASCII characters.

    Using the list of ASCII characters I have included below, we can now construct a script to hide the previously used e-mail addy; Example@Example.com.

    A capital E is the & + # + the number 69. The lower case letter x is the & + # + the number 120. The lower case letter a is & + # + the number 97...with each one separated by a ; (Semi-Colon). And so on...y'all with me so far? Good. :-)

    Now, if I put all this together, following the above example, this is what the actual e-mail addy will look like;



    Lastly, the last two lines of the actual code are what we see on the web page. You can change this to anything you want your readers to see.

    Oh, one thing I keep forgetting...and keep screwing myself up with every time...you CAN NOT use an Apostrophe in the "Title" (The last two lines of the code) or the script will not work.




    Here's the Javascript Code Being Used


    . = 46     @ = 64
    A = 65     a = 97
    B = 66     b = 98
    C = 67     c = 99
    D = 68     d = 100
    E = 69     e = 101
    F = 70     f = 102
    G = 71     g = 103
    H = 72     h = 104
    I = 73     i = 105
    J = 74     j = 106
    K = 75     k = 107
    L = 76     l = 108
    M = 77     m = 109
    N = 78     n = 110
    O = 79     o = 111
    P = 80     p = 112
    Q = 81     q = 113
    R = 82     r = 114
    S = 83     s = 115
    T = 84     t = 116
    U = 85     u = 117
    V = 86     v = 118
    W = 87     w = 119
    X = 88     x = 120
    Y = 89     y = 121
    Z = 90     z = 122




    *These people and web sites have been quoted directly.
    These names and logos belong to and are copyrighted or trademarked by the site owners.



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