7 Effective ways to prevent spam

Spam is a bitch, so I have compiled a few different ways of preventing it, as well as utilizing different tools from around the tubes. Because you should be the master of your inbox, not spam.

Permanent solutions
For times when you always want to be careful about spam.

1. Use Gmail

Gmail is by far the most advanced email provider ever, but only if you take full advantage of all that it has to offer…

I. Use labels

Labels are absolutely essential, if not one of the most important features of Gmail. Labels make it possible to both sort through and find important emails without having to always rely on searching for them. Labels are important, so remembering to label everything that comes into your inbox is also important, but not always convenient, which is why you should also use filters.

II. Use filters

Filters; the one feature that makes all of your email fall into the right place, giving your labels the flexibility of managing a massive amount of email so that you don’t have to.

Filters bottleneck all of your incoming email to the perimeters that you specify such as marking certain mail as a certain label, moving certain mail to the trash, or forwarding certain mail to another email address. Filters are the backbone of Gmail. The more filters you use, the less crowded your inbox will be.

III. Use plus-addressing

Plus-addressing is a method of adding extra text to your email address, like username+extratext@gmail.com, where extratext would be anything that you want. But the really cool thing about plus-addressing is that you can set up filters to catch a specific incoming plus-address and label it accordingly. For example, I want to forward any email that looks like username+newsletters@gmail.com to a label that I set up using a filter that I made. Any email sent to username+newsletters@gmail.com would then be filtered to skip the inbox and then be labeled as “newsletters”.

With the use of filters and labels, plus-addressing is a great way to make an unlimited amount of sub-email addresses and aliases that are both filterable and effective at catching email from specific web services.

IV. Use the Report Spam button

Don’t just delete spam from your inbox, be sure to click on “Report Spam” every time you get unsolicited email. This helps Gmail learn what incoming email is spam and what isn’t. Also, every time a Gmail user hits the “Report Spam” button, it also helps every other Gmail user prevent that same piece of spam from entering your inbox, too.

After using all of these features and more, you will start to notice that your inbox will become as empty or as full as you want. And hopefully spam will become nothing more than a thing of the past for you.


2. Use reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA is a more effective solution to fighting spam than just masking your email address by making it look like username(at)example.com, or username [at] example [dot] com, or username at example dot com.

reCAPTCHA’s Mailhide adds a barrier between spam harvesting bots and your email address by making it look like “use…@example.com”. After clicking on “…”, you then have to solve a reCAPTCHA, which will test whether you are a human or a computer. Once it has determined that you are not an evil spam harvesting robot of death, the email address is then revealed.

reCAPTCHA does require the user to copy and past an HTML code into places where you want “use…@example.com” to be displayed. But they also give you a special URL that people can use to solve the reCAPTCHA. So it is wise to link to it instead of a plain text version of your email address.

On a side note, reCAPTCHA is also the same solution that Twitter uses during its registration process in order to prevent spam accounts.


3. Use Contactify

Contactify is a service that gives you a special URL which links to a contact form so that you don’t have to give out your email address. It also goes a step further by including a CAPTCHA that people have to solve in order to submit the form. It’s not a reCAPTCHA, but it does work, too.

You can also embed Contactify onto your site, using it as a standalone contact form, bypassing the need to use your special Contactify link. Instead, just link to the page on your site where you’ve embedded the Contactify form.

Not only can you prevent spam, but you can also lessen the need to reveal your email address to people.

4. Use GrandCentral

GrandCentral is the Gmail of voicemail. GrandCentral will completely remove the need to have any other phone number again. And GrandCentral has some of the most advanced call features you will ever need, such as the ability to record calls, screen specific callers, block specific callers, and receive voicemail notifications via email or SMS with the ability to download them, too.

Another great thing about GrandCentral is it’s ability to call multiple phones that you may have, like your home phone, work phone, and cell phone, depending on who is calling and/or the time they call. You can also assign specific voicemail greetings and ringback tones to specific callers.

GrandCentral not only can help prevent unknown callers and telemarketers from calling you, but it can also help you centralize all of your phone numbers into one, so that you don’t have to deal with getting a new number everytime you get a new phone or switch phone providers. It’s great! [p.s. I have a few extra invites, so ping me if you want one]


Temporary solutions
For times when you want to be even more careful about spam.

1. Use Numbr

Numbr is a service that provides you with an auto-expiring anonymous phone number, which is great for use with sites like Craigslist. Other times, you might want to go even further by masking your GrandCentral number with a Numbr number, thus adding another layer of spam protection to your real phone number.

Numbr gives you options like having your incoming call history emailed to you, setting a do not disturb time (anytime from 9pm to 8am), activating voicemail for missed calls, and having your number auto-expire after an hour, or even a month. Furthermore, you extend your number by reactivating it.

2. Use Spambox.us

Spambox is much like Numbr, except that it is for email. Spambox gives you a temporary email address, which can be set to auto-expire after a specified amount of time (from 30 minutes to 1 year). Spambox email addresses can also be renewed or canceled at any time.

Email sent to your generated Spambox address is forwarded to any email address you specify, such as username+spambox@gmail.com (if you want to double your spam fighting power by setting up a Spambox label and filter in Gmail).

Common sense solutions
For times when you want to prevent having to prevent spam in the first place

The best and most effective solution to preventing spam is to use common sense, that is, be careful where you use your email addresses and phone numbers. Treat them like your credit card number. Be careful who you give them to, whether it be a website or a person.

If you can get more than one email address, do it. Though, you should have one primary email address that you never give out to anyone (except maybe close friends and family); a master email address, a secret email address. An email address to manage all email addresses.

Personally, I have 3 primary email addresses (all Gmail). One primary secret email address (my master account), one semi-public email address (for use with web services, social networking, etc), and one public email address (for use just about everywhere else on the web). After all of that, I barely get any spam at all; less than 1000 a month (which are always in the proper spam box and never in my inbox), and that is after 2+ years of use. I also have over 250 labels and 300+ filters, and that helps a lot.

The bottom line is, no matter what solution(s) you use, the best solution is always going to be you. You are smarter than some stupid spambot. You have what it takes to prevent it. You are human, and that is your advantage. Sometimes, all it takes it a little common sense, a little initiative, and some simple tools.