04.17.08
Don’t Let Your Computer Consort With Spammers
I don’t use a spam filtering service because the people I want to communicate with use Hi in the subject line, use multiple exclamations and capitals and even sometimes commit a double entendre to writing – all of which get their emails tagged as spam. (Don’t even get me started on how I was suppose to figure out that someone previously unknown to me wanted me to officiate at a swim meet with “Cool Lap” in the title – & neglected to say swim anywhere in the subject line.) So I get spam.
 Lately some of the mail has openned on one click (no doubt doing something on my computer), has sent out confirmations as soon as it’s openned so the spammer knows they have a valid address , and sending out a message when I permantly delete the message.
How do I stop spammers from knowing that my email is being monitored by a live person (hopefully)? After getting a batch of spam, I’ve taken to unplugging from the internet while I delete the spam and then empty the deleted items folder. I then go to the outbox and delete it again and reempty the deleted items folder.
 Is it really worth the hassle? Hard to say but it seems like a get a big spike in spam after I watch a confirmation that goes out on a spam message.
