Dealing with Spam

Don't you just hate spam? Not edible spam as featured in the photo, but spam... SPAM, those annoying stuff that show up in your inbox, out of topic comments in your blog, crazy IM message from people/bots you don't know (and they usually carry viruses!) and those people and bots who try to join your mailing lists just to wreak havoc in your small community with medicines, adult sites and what-have-you.

Bwisit noh?

This is how I have drastically reduced spam in my online stuff:

1. Mail - I just use Gmail/Google Accounts. I've completely abandoned using another mail service because of spam because I don't want to waste my time just cleaning up my inbox for unwanted mail.

2. Blog - I use Blogger.com for my blog and have activated comment moderation and request for identification. I know it discourages people from commenting sometimes, but I believe if you really want to leave a comment you really would even with these requirements.

3. Instant Messaging - I'm scared of getting viruses. So I mainly use Gtalk for IM-ing. I just log-on to Yahoo Messenger via web, but I rarely do anymore because of all the spammy messages I've been getting the past couple of years.

4. Groups/Mailing Lists - I manage a good number of mailing lists and I've seen an uprise in spam through groups. Because of this I now require people to answer a question before they are approved to join in a mailing list I own. I already got scolded by a nun when she opened a link that opened to an adult site. Hehehe.