Land of 10,000 Spam Messages

February 22, 2004 — by Per Christensson

10,000. That is the number of messages currently in my junk mailbox.

There are many things I am thankful for in life. Spam is not one of them. While I was glad to see the Can Spam Act passed in November last year, I have yet to see its effect. I still receive roughly 60 unwanted e-mails a day and it is excessively frustrating.

I have people tell me all the time that they are sick of all the spam they get and want me to help. Usually I say something along the lines of, "Hey, I am as frustrated as you are." But there are some things you can do to cut down on the spam you receive.

If you use an e-mail account from your ISP, you can ask them if they have built-in spam filtering on their mail server. The filter might be automatic or it might be something you have to request. It may be worth your time to find out. I use the Mac OS X Mail program that has a built in junk mail filter. It does a pretty good job (about 95% accurate) at filtering uwanted messages to a Junk folder so I don't have to see them. Other programs such as Spam Inspector, Spam Soap, and Spam Killer can help filter those annoying messages out of your Inbox.

In any case, there is no question that spam is annoying, and I can surely attest to that. I don't need to refinance my house, I don't need to spice up my love life, and I certainly don't need any more bogus stock tips. Until our government finds a better way to enforce the anti-spam laws it's passed, I'll be right there with you complaining about it.