how to deal with spam for good?

[Anthony Atkielski]

Doug Hardie writes:

> Spam will only go away when people no longer respond to it.  When there
> is no revenue generated to cover the cost of spamming then it will end.

Exactly.  A surprising number of people _do_ respond to spam--more than
enough to justify sending it.

Ironically, I seem to see a slight decline in the spam I receive myself,
which has dropped a bit from the usual 1500 messages per day.  Some
weeks ago I removed my e-mail address entirely from my Web site, so that
it could not be harvested.  It seems unlikely that this could have much
effect since it has been out there for years, but perhaps it does.

In any case, I don't use any automated filters for spam.  I have filters
that sort probable spam into folders that I periodically examine, but
I don't delete anything automatically because even a single false
positive can cost me more than I'd ever save by running automatic spam
filters.  As it is, sometimes I can't answer clients by e-mail because
their own ISPs (e.g., anything run by Time-Warner) simply throw away my
e-mail because it doesn't come from a Big ISP.

If fewer people respond to spam, spam will decline.  If more people
respond to it, it will increase.  It's a simple as that.  There's no
fundamental, objectively verifiable difference between spam and any
other e-mail, so no automated or technical solution will ever work
completely.

-- 
Anthony