vision2020
Re: Junk mail: printed and otherwise
First, I do not open e-mails from unknown addresses. even opening such
e-mails, and especially asking for removal, simply tells the sender that
there is a live body at the other end. It is best to delete all unknown
e-mails.
Second, it is time for programmers to add a button that returns e-mails back
down the path that comes to you. A "return to sender" button. This would
allow all of us unhappy spammed people a chance to flood the sender with the
e-mails they sent.
Third, printed "junk mail" comes to you from various address lists,
including those complied be e-mail responses. While there are various
national clearing houses that will, for a fee, notify majors compilers of
address lists that you and your address are to be removed, this rarely works
for very long. If you place a notice of removal in the business reply
envelope you get with the junk mail, they have to pay for the envelope and
generally will at least open it and read what is inside. Again, the people
reading your notice are not those compiling the address list.
Finally, there is in some software an ability to block out "junk e-mail" I
suspect it has dubious results and is quickly overcome by the e-mailers.
However, one way I have found to help is to not pass on those "pyramid"
e-mails that tell you to pass on to ten of your friends this letter so some
school children somewhere will see how far it goes. The idea is neat,
assuming there are school children who have sent it out, and not some e-mail
list compiler trying to find out who your ten formally best friends are.
John
John and Laurie Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Hoffmann" <escape@alt-escape.com>
To: "Kenton Bird" <kbird@uidaho.edu>; <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 3:52 PM
Subject: Re: Junk mail: printed and otherwise
> At 03:30 PM 12/04/2000 -0800, Kenton Bird wrote:
> >Visionaries:
> >1. In the past two months, I've received more than two dozen
> >solicitations from credit card companies, offering my
> >gold/platinum/plutonium Visas and MasterCards. I regularly write to the
> >Direct Mail Associations asking to be removed from mailing lists, but
> >still the junk keeps coming. Are others having this problem? Any
> >suggestions on how to stem the paper flow?
>
> I once called a credit card company and complained that I had received two
> mailings within two days. They offered to take me off their mailing list
> (as I think they are required to on request). I took them up on it.
Those
> solicitations often come with toll-free numbers, so take advantage of
> them. Or you can use their post-paid envelope to request removal.
>
> >2. Today, I have received four unsolicited "get rich quick" spam
> >messages -- including one from Pakistan and one from Yugoslavia? I've
> >replied to the message demanding to be removed from the
> >mailing list, but two replies came back as undeliverable. What other
> >recourse do we have to fend off this electronic onslaught?
>
> They often use false return addresses. Unsolicited email is not ethical,
> so don't expect such people to be ethical. They are unlikely to oblige
> your requests to remove your address from their database. The best thing
> to do is to ignore them.
>
>
> Bob Hoffmann
> 846 Mabelle St.
> Moscow, ID 83843 USA
> Phone: (208) 883-0642
> Fax: (877) 495-2279
>
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