Five Junk Mailboxes

Today, as I write this, is the fifth day of Christmas. E-mail has slacked off a bit as we go through this holiday period between Christmas Day and the start of the new year. Nevertheless, since I returned home from visiting with relatives, the number of e-mail messages I have deleted with no interest in reading actually numbers in the thousands. So, believe me when I say I know what it is to have a mailbox full of junk.

However, as I mentioned in my first post on this subject, just because I am not interested in reading the e-mail does not qualify it as "spam". The truth is that the senders of most of those e-mails I received actually had my permission to send them to me. Some of the ways they got that permission was covered in my second post on this issue.

Even though I am getting hundreds of e-mails for which I have no interest every single day, my e-mail is actually under control. How? I am receiving those bulk mailings in designated junk mailboxes.

Here's what I mean. I set up a few e-mail accounts that I use strictly for those things that I know are going to trigger an avalanche of junk mail. There are several free accounts available on the internet. Yahoo offers free accounts. Google offers gmail accounts at no charge. Hotmail still has free accounts, but many companies now refuse to accept Hotmail addresses. Whenever I need to fill out a form that requires an e-mail address and I would rather not give my main account, I just use one of my dummy e-mail addresses.

I don't worry about trying to get removed from all those lists. Normally I just do a quick scan of the mailbox to see if there is anything I actually want. Then, I delete everything else in mass without even opening it. It takes just a few seconds of my time and even provides a perverse sense of satisfaction.

That still leaves the matter of what to do about the unwanted e-mails you are already getting in your primary e-mail account. There are right and wrong ways to get off those lists. Doing it correctly remains the subject for yet another post on the spam wars.

That's Wade's two cents.


Wade Houston
December 29, 2007