SpamCop
There are a few very good anti-spam sites which you will find very useful. These sites allow you to move up from simply deleting the spam or complaining about it and actually doing something useful.
There are three really nice sites which can help you with spam. Each of these offers a different service, each with it's own use.
SpamCop.Net
Site:
SpamCop.Net
This is a great site. It's very simple and has one simple concept: filter spam and report the spammers. You can try out a free version of their service or purchase a very reasonably priced service for about a dollar or two per month.
What does it do for you? Well, when you sign up you create an email address, something like "internettips@spamcop.net" (that's mine). Now you give this out to everyone you want, add it to your web pages and so on.
People send emails normally, but they do not go straight to you. What happens is they go to your account at SpamCop.Net. If the sender is known (on your list) it will be forwarded straight to you. If the sender is unknown, he will receive an email which must be confirmed by clicking a link (you also can upload your address book and manually add email addresses). From that point onward he is a valid user and will pass right through the filters.
For those emails that are not passed on you have a large number of options.
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You can review the message and it's email headers
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Delete the message or release it
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Or you can send reports to the appropriate people
That's great, but you can also take an email message and load it into Spamcop's spam reporting system. For example, take the following email (definitely spam):
You copy the message header, a blank line and the message into the spamcop spam reporting box, then tell it to parse it out. What you get is a screen like the one shown below.
From here you can examine the output, and if you are really sure this is spam send a note to the various authorities.
SpamCop.Org
Site: SpamCop.Org
This fine site offers two services. First, you can enter information about the spammer and they will report it to the appropriate authorities. The second, and more significant, feature is you can add your email address to their list. Apparently many marketing organizations use this list as a filter for their mailing lists.
This is actually a very cool way to filter some spam from your inbox. It's obviously not perfect since it depends upon spammers using the lists, but if it removes even 10% it's worth the couple of minutes to add your address.
SpamCop.Com
Site: SpamCop.Com
This site is basically a huge list of spam-related resources. Go to this page and be prepared to spend an afternoon reading. When you are finished, you will be very well educated on the subject.