Many businesses are spending more and more time each day getting frustrated, yelling at spammers, and reporting spammers. -Is it really worth it? -Is there a way OUT?

Unfortunately we will never get rid of spam. It is like getting rid of junk mail in your mailbox. It is always there. You can bank on it almost everyday. It is same way with SPAM. As long as you have any kind of existence online, your email box will be littered with SPAM.

There is a way to cut a lot of it out though. Ever since I got my new email server, I have had very little spam in my email box. Sure I get one or two a day, but it is not like it used to be.

So, HOW do we get rid of SO MUCH spam mail?

The BIGGEST CULPRIT of Spam is FFA LINK pages. Now, I know many people feel that since they agreed to receive this junk mail in exchange for placing their link that it is not spam. Well, SPAM is basically unwanted EMAIL. Do you WANT to receive all these emails?

Many business who host an FFA LINK page do it for one reason and one reason only - FOR YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS! I am not saying ALL FFA Link pages do this, but MOST of them do. If you submit to FFA LINK pages, you can be guaranteed at least 100 emails a day. And then all follow-up emails after that, so it is never-ending. You will be automatically subscribed to ezines and newsletters, which you never personally subscribed to. But somewhere on FFA page in real small writing is your agreement. In fact, a lot of these newsletters even put on top of their publication that you have agreed to receive this newsletter by subscribing, corresponding with them, or placing your LINK on their FFA page.

Of course owners of FFA Pages will not agree with me. But, if you want complete honesty- -you will not increase traffic to your site. -you will not reach thousands and millions of people to view your ad. -you will not even be able to keep your link there for more than one day. (and that is good for FFA pages. Normally you are off within hours).

-So WHY post to FFA sites when you are off of them in hours or a day? -So WHY post to FFA sites when your email box is flooded with Emails? -So WHY post to FFA sites to gain exposure when all you get is hundreds of emails selling their product?

-Don't you want people to read about YOUR product? -Don't you want people to see YOUR link? -Don't you want people emailing you about YOUR product?

OK, now let's turn to real bad guy in all of this. The webhost who shuts down a website on grounds of nothing more than say-so of an unverified spam complaint. In my case, it's DumbHost but I know there are many other webhosts and ISPs out there who are just as irresponsible.

Here's email I received from DumbHost informing me my site had been shut down:

"To whom it may concern,

"We recieved [sic] following spam complaint regarding ahbbo.com. Your domain will be temporarily disabled for 3 days. You can have your domain re-enabled at end of this 3 day period by requesting so at enable@unsupportteam.net. If we continue to recieve [sic] complaints, action may be taken to disable your domain.

"Regards, Abuse Response Team"

Regards!

The email that followed was one from WeStopSpam.net.

Note that my site was shut down because "[w]e recieved [sic] following spam complaint regarding ahbbo.com". Not because I had SPAMMED, mind you, but because DumbHost had received a spam COMPLAINT. The notification that my site had been disabled was FIRST communication from DumbHost on matter.

An appropriate response would have been: "We've received a complaint of spamming against you. We take all complaints of spamming very seriously. Please let us have your response to this complaint so we may take appropriate action". But I guess that would have been too much like due process for DumbHost to want to bother with.

Here's what followed:

From me to DumbHost:

"If you even bothered to read "offending email" you will see that it came from so-and-so.com, NOT ahbbo.com. The publisher of email in question reprinted one of my articles in his newsletter. That article contained a resource box which contained a link to my domain.

"If my site is shut down for ANY length of time as a result of this complaint, expect a lawsuit without further notice."

Their reply (from "Level II Customer Care Representative" - ha!):

"Was this bulk mail authorized by you? This is considered an offense of our terms of service no matter where it originates as long as email is sent or authorized by you. The email advertises your website, that is why your domain has been disabled for 3 days.

Regards, Abuse Response Team"

Me again:

"No! I've never heard of these people before. It is common practice for newsletter publishers to publish articles written by other people. The author's resource box is always included at end of article. If this person's newsletter went to someone who wasn't subscribed, then it's newsletter publisher who should be reported for spamming, not innocent author who is unfortunate enough to have their work reprinted.

"Did anyone even read email concerned before shutting my site down? It's obvious what happened. If my site is not reinstated today, I will be issuing legal proceedings tomorrow. "By way, don't you think your question should have been asked BEFORE shutting me down, not after?"

Them again:

"Okay, I was asked to take a look at your account, I will forward this information to abuse and they should get back to you shortly...

"Best regards,

Jordan M. Level II Customer Care"