Ask The Wizard (Getting around SPAM filters)

Dear Wizard of 'OZ',

I wanted to know if there is any way to get past SPAM blocking software. You see, I have a few friends who never get mail from me. I usully send jokes and stuff. Or is it that they are lying to me, and actually deleteing my emails?

Signed,

Wondering

Dear SPAM King,

It is no longer safe to assume that your e-mail message will be received, particularly the first message you send to a recipient who doesn't know you or isn't expecting it.

With "spam" (bulk, unsolicited, commercial e-mail) reportedly making up 40% of e-mail in January, 2003, spam filters are a new barrier protecting public and private e-mail systems. Spam filters are software applications designed to separate the "good" e-mail from the "bad" e-mail. They stand guard at the entrances to e-mail systems, like your ISP or an organization's internal computer network.

So, while you can no longer assume that an e-mail you send will be received, you also can no longer assume that you will be notified that it wasn't received. Typically, spam filters just delete suspected spam or divert it into folders that may never be checked. They don't send you a nice notice that your message was not delivered.

Even if someone is expecting to receive a message from you, the strategies, below, for avoiding the filtering software traps should help. Note that doing any one of these things MAY be OK, but doing several of them in the same message is asking for trouble.

DO:

When you have made a new contact or even with 'regular' friends, and for that matter companies, ask them to add your e-mail address to their address book and to the company's e-mail "friends" list (sometimes also called a "white list").

Avoiding Spam Filters:

1. Pick your e-mail provider carefully.

A "bad" ISP will stop your e-mail from getting through, all by itself. No question.

Your messages may get killed just because the source (ISP) is considered "bad." Some ISP's run an "open relay" e-mail server which makes them vulnerable to use by spammers, and those ISP's are frequently blocked, regardless of the domain name in the "From" field. Check out the domain name at spam-fighting sites like Spamcop.net to see if it is listed as a source of spam or an "open relay."

The good news is that most ISP's work to get off those lists if they get put on one.

2. Avoid sending a message to a large number of addressees simultaneously.

If you try to send a message to 50 or more addressees, your ISP may stop your message going out because they suspect it is spam (they don't want to be added to the "bad ISP" list, as in #1, above). On the receiving end, spam filters may view the large number of addressees the same way, and kill or divert your message.

Sending an e-mail message with your joke to 50 addressees at once is really not a good idea, anyway. (The Wizard has first hand experience on this. I am a reformed "SPAMMER", and thusly created 'OZ' to get my messages out. That way the reader's have a choice as to the time that they read, if at all, my supposed humourous jokes, and pictures, etc.) Customized messages are MUCH more effective.
(By the way... it doesn't matter if you use the TO:, CC:, or BCC:... ISP's can read them all. But to stop your friends from sending on every email address in YOUR book, use the BCC: field. It's a gesture that all will appreciate.. especially if you have nicknamed that "Special Friend" of yours: 'biggus-dickus', heehee!)

3. Don't change the content of the "From" field to something that will disagree with the contents of the real e-mail header.

You might be tempted to do this if you are sending a message from work and trying to disguise your employer's domain name and e-mail account. Don't! Send the message from home using your personal e-mail account without altering the message heading fields. Or, set up and use your own Yahoo or HotMail account.

4. Make sure that there is a valid address in the "Reply to" field of your message.

Your e-mail software may not require you to put an address in this field, but, frequently, it is one of the red flags a filter will use to identify a junk message.

Keep the "Subject" field simple.

1. Dont's:

Don't put punctuation in your messages subjects, particularly exclamation marks.
Don't use all capitalized words in the subject.
Don't use the words used by spammers, like "cool," "great pics," etc.
Don't use numbers that could look like spam tracking codes.

2. Try to avoid numbers in your e-mail address on the left side of the @ sign.

MSmith45792@whatever.com is not a good e-mail address. It looks like it might contain the tracking code that some spammers use. A better solution is to change your e-mail address to one that has fewer, or no, numbers in it (like MJSmith51@whatever.com or Smith-marge-j@whatever.com).

3. If you send your message as an HTML e-mail, keep the background white and the letters black.

HTML spam e-mail typically uses bright or dark backgrounds and light colored letters. Your message may look like spam if the background is not white.

4. Watch your language!

Avoid words which are over-used in spam. Think of the products and services most frequently offered in junk messages (e.g. popular prescription drugs, mortgages, body part enlargement products, etc.), words frequently used in those messages "spam" (as in "this message is not spam"). Exclude those words from your messages if you can. Forwarding an email that someone sent to you previously filtered, with "Possible SPAM" or the like will most likely NOT make it through.

MOST software filters stop messages that demonstrate several of these characteristics, not any single one. And, the triggers will change over time as spammers also change their tactics to beat the filters. As the spammers modify their approaches, the filters will change as well to defeat them. This could be called a "vicious cycle." So stay alert, and stay tuned!

Whew! That was a lot more winded than I wished it to be. But who says we live in a simple society! =)

Hope this helps. $5 bucks, please! heehee

Yrs,

The Wizard