Thursday, June 02, 2005

Spammers - Where do They Come Up With This Stuff? by Laurie Rogers



Lets face it we all get spammed and it drives us nuts!
If it were not for folders, I would probably NEVER find
my "legitmate" email. I probably do NOT get as much
spam as most people do, but when I do get it, boy do
I get it! I especially love it when people come by and
spam my paid list building site, little do they know that
I have several ways of finding out WHO they are ;o)

When it comes right down to it though, sometimes you
really have to laugh at some of the garbage they send.
According to spammers not only do I need viagra, I also
need an enlargement for a body part I don't even have.
I some how also managed to request this information at
one of their sites, not once, but 200 freakin' times.

We all have our incoherent days, but I think I would at
least get the drift after the first 100 times. And really
now, like I am going to send a spammer my credit card
info in an email! Like I said, we all have our incoherent
days, but I am sure as heck NOT that darn incoherent
at ANY time. Even if a web site doesn't use a "secure"
server -I'm NOT buying and there's no two ways about
it, let alone in an email.

Seriously, like how stupid do these people really think
we are? "Laurie how would you like to harvest millions
of email addresses a day?" Whoo-Hoo! I better jump
right on that one, so my web host can shut me down
and I can lose EVERYTHING I've worked so hard for in
the last 3 plus years. Yeah I will get right on that one.

"I saw your site and got your email." Really? So what
did it look like? Because last time I checked there was
NO site for that email address you moron. And if there
was - WHO said you could email me?

What really makes me laugh is in the body of the email
it reads, "Would you like to start a home business?" You
just told me you went to my site, obviously you would
know I ALREADY have a business! In fact, I have four
of them so you may want to head back there that way
you can learn the REAL way to market online.

This last little episode really gave me a good chuckle, I
got spammed by some person claiming I requested the
information (a private email address). So, I reported it
to the program owner and to the autoresponder service
that they were using (which is owned by a good friend
of mine). The program owner allowed the person to state
their "case" and forwarded me a copy of their response.

This was their reply - "I'm not certain where I received
that email address from. I used to buy email addresses,
but I don't do that anymore. I have been marketing now
for over two years and NEVER had a spam complaint, so
I'm really appalled at this acusation. I have had 4 of my
ISP accounts shut down, because maybe the people
were offended by the ad copy. The person who sent you
this complaint MUST be someone I have previously been
in contact with because that is the only way to get on
my list."

Sheesh, I wonder WHO the LIAR is in this case? There's
nothing like a contradictive statement to hang yourself
out to dry. In this case the person should have just came
right out and said, "Yeah, I harvested her email address",
instead of talking in circles and digging themselves into a
DEEPER hole. The great Homer Simpson once said, "DOH"!
(but hey at least he admits to doing something STUPID!)


About the Author
Laurie Rogers - co-author Ezine Resource Guide you can view
at http://www.zineadz.com/erg.html You can also obtain more
of Laurie's articles at: mailto:ezinearticles@optinfrenzy.com
Laurie is also the owner of Optin Frenzy - list building program
for ezine and newsletter publishers. http://www.optinfrenzy.com

Anti-Spam Two Step for Webmasters by Thomas Benton



If your email address is on a website that's been online for
a while you're being blasted with unsolicited email (SPAM).
You can delete it or you can eliminate much of it in two
simple steps.

Step 1: Scramble Your Email Address

It isn't human visitors to your site that are causing the
problem. It's website spidering SPAMBOTS. These spambots
go out on the web and harvest any email address they can
find. These harvested email addresses are then sold by
unscrupulous *spam pushers*.

Your goal is to hide your email address from the spambots,
but still display it for your website visitors to see.
If the spambot doesn't recogize your scrambled code as an
email address it won't harvest it.

Search the web for scripts that will scramble your email
address. You will find many free scripts and some that you
can purchase. Some are simple and easy to install. Others
can be a little more complicated.

The one that I like is called EScrambler. It is a free script
developed by InnerPeace.org. You can visit their site and copy
the source code (permission given on the site). Or, go to
http://www.webdesignwisdom.com/escrambler.shtml.

This simple script generates a javascript that scrambles your
email address. Just copy the script and paste it in your HTML
instead of the normal mailto:me@mydomain.com. Your email
address is displayed properly for visitors to see, and
the HTML looks like anything but an email address.

An example of *me@mydomain.com* in escrambled form:











Step 2: Send Spam to Your Auto-Delete Account

Now, just because you've scrambled your email address, that
doesn't keep all spammers from sending email to you. Some will
just use something like *anything*@yourdomain.com because
they understand that most websites have email forwarding.
Anything that is emailed to your domain will be forwarded to
an email address you specified.

You never have to see this email if you forward it to another
email address that automatically deletes it.

You will need a free email account that offers some simple
anti-spam features to use as your *dump account*.

You must be able to designate email addresses from which you
will not accept any email. You may already have an account
that can handle it. If not, look into Mail.com or Lycos.com.

Then make your free email dump account the default forwarding
address in your website's email handler. Go to your free email
account and set it to reject all mail received from YOUR domain.

Then have email that is sent to your published email addresses
(those you have scrambled on your site) forwarded to your normal
forwarding address. Or, set them up as individual POP accounts
if your hosting service offers this feature.

Now you will receive email from your website visitors who
actually read your email address on your website and all other
email will be deleted.

This is a very effective way to get rid of most spam that is
generated from your domain. It won't eliminate all of it.
The volume of spam that I was receiving decreased by 90-95%
after I made these changes.

This tactic will work for sites that have been online with an
unprotected email address too. Change the email address on your
site to a different scrambled address. Forward all email that
is sent to your old posted address to your dump account.

If you've been using your primary email address on your site,
you'll need to notify everyone that your email address has
changed. This makes it more difficult, but worth the effort
if you're being slammed with spam.
About the Author
Thomas Benton is the owner of WebDesignWisdom.com and the
publisher of Active-eBuilder, The Do-It-Yourself Web Design
and Internet Marketing Ezine. Visit Tom's resource-rich
website: http://www.webdesignwisdom.com