photo credit: State Library of New South Wales collection
I just emptied 536 spam from my email spam folder.
Today, I ran across some clients who had problems with email spam, and I recanted the following story.
Once upon a time, my email inbox was filled to the brim with spam every single day. Then one cool autumn day in Las Vegas, Nevada at the now defunct Comdex show in 2000 or 2001, I met some nice folks from a startup company called Cloudmark. They were discussing and promoting a new way to combat spam that used human eyes and minds to identify spam instead of computer algorithms.
Intrigued, I immediately downloaded and started using it upon my return from Vegas. Cloudmark was nothing short of miraculous for me and brought my inbox back under control. Currently, Cloudmark works with Outlook Express, Thunderbird and Vista’s Windows Mail.
I used it successfully and happily until 3 years ago when I dropped Microsoft Outlook and started using Gmail.
My first concern about the switch to Gmail was how good the spam filter Gmail used would be. After just a few days, my worries were for naught. Gmail’s spam filter was and is every bit as effective as my old Cloudmark friend. Gmail automatically filters all incoming email and moves it to a folder labeled spam.
Like any new spam filter, it is a good idea to periodically check the spam folder to make sure that it isn’t misidentifying spam. However, like Cloudmark, after a few weeks of checking for these false positives and finding none, I abandoned the practice because I was confident in its accuracy.
Now I just delete the contents of the spam folder periodically. Although, that isn’t necessary since Gmail automatically deletes any spam more than 30 days old.
Both Gmail and Cloudmark are so accurate, that for every 300-400 emails I received in my inbox, I might see one spam message the filter didn’t catch.
In the time it took me to write this article (about 12 minutes), my spam folder collected 16 messages. Spam in my inbox, zero.
I don’t miss spam.
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HelpMeRick.com started as a monthly tip site for beginners in 1996, and now supports our popular call-in computer show, and hosts thousands of useful computer tips and links.
Rich, thanks to Gmail, I don’t miss spam either. I remember the bad ol’ days of using Hotmail (it’s not that bad anymore) and having an inbox filled with a ton of crap that I didn’t want. Once I got a Gmail invite my worries were over.
What you say about checking your spam box every once in a while to make sure that nothing legitimate goes to it is extremely important. I’ve missed some emails here and there do to Gmail’s extreme spam protection.
It is so nice to have such a clean inbox. Now, I just need to check and reply to all of the real messages!
I finally stopped checking the spam folder because with the volume that dumps in there everyday, it was too tedious. I figure if something is that important, folks can reach me through alternative means. And I agree, all the other surfaces have a long way to go to catch up with Gmail.
Just saw a typo, I meant RICK!
HA HA
I’m not sure if it’s because Google is in competition with Microsoft but every now and then, a few REAL emails from Hotmail addresses end up in my spam.
Luckily I checked it again today… if I didn’t, it would have cost me a sale. Got be careful of that shit.
One problem I notice with HotMail (actually all web based emails) is that the “Delete” and “Spam” buttons are pretty close together. A quick, inattentive click can put a legit address on the blocked list.
One thing I like about Gmail is the ability to bring in my domain email, label it, and sort it. Makes it nice to quickly find one that you know shouldn’t be a spam….and in business, we don’t want ANY sale to be lost!
I have moved most of my relatives to Gmail because of its great spam filter. It really is great and makes my life much easier.
I may make that big leap to Gmail soon…. you’ve been telling me to, and I just may do it soon.
Currently I run a server side software (since I run my own VPS) called SPAMdyke that plugs up 99% of the SPAM that runs through.
But lately I’ve seen more spam make it through, and the upkeep is getting tremendous.
My guess – I’ll be a Gmail user before years end!
Let the SPAM die!
rick
I have an old ICQmail account AOL took them over
prior to take over few mails came in (subscribed)
NOW after AOL TAKEOVER nothing but SPAM !!!!!
“friends don’t let friends use AOL” quote from Alaskajoe
Rover