I'm going to start this post by apologizing for jumping around a bit, but there's a lot of ground to cover, and I'm tired of editing. I'm fairly sure you'll understand everything regardless, if you'll just follow the instructions. Everything is covered eventually. And Andrew Lenza, you're just going to have to deal with any grammatical errors. I'm tired of editing!
I've recently been getting more and more spam, in spite of my attempts to stop it. And by "stop it" I mean, I have e-mail addresses that are used solely as spam catchers. Any time I register on a new site, I always...
- Opt-out of any future mailings.
- Uncheck the boxes for any future contact or updates.
- Use one of my spam catcher e-mails.
- Before I continue I'm going to insert right here, something you NEED to know! ANY TIME YOU FORWARD AN E-MAIL AND DO NOT REMOVE THE E-MAIL ADDRESSES OF ALL THE PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS, YOU'RE BASICALLY INVITING SPAM, VIRUSES, WORMS, SPYWARE, ADWARE, ETC., TO YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, COLLEAGUES,
CLIENTS AND WHOEVER ELSE TO WHOM YOU FORWARDED THAT MESSAGE! Do not forward messages without removing the previous addresses! I'm dead serious about this! Every e-mail address on that list can be used by an enemy along the line. Come on people! Catch up with this century!
Adding this today: As was posted in one of the comments below, I should have stated in this post, when you forward e-mails to others, you should always use the "BCC" field. That stands for Blind Carbon Copy. It means that NO other e-mail addresses can be seen on the list of people to whom you forwarded a message. If you've ever received an e-mail from me, you'll notice that you don't see any e-mail addresses at all at the top of the message, except maybe your own. But I actually sent the message to many people. That's because I put all the e-mail addresses in the "BCC" field. Now to continue with my post... Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people, companies and bots who scour our web sites and blogs, looking for our real e-mail addresses. They know we're using those to receive legitimate messages from our clients and potential clients. Hopefully, you all have e-mail software that allows you to block the offending party or the entire domain in the future. But you can take it a couple of steps further! I'll elaborate on that in a moment. (BTW, always report to Active Rain, any spam you receive through this system!)
First, let me share what has happened to me in the last couple of days. On Saturday, I received an e-mail from myself! Huh!?! I did not send that e-mail!
But most people don't know that you can reveal the headers of an e-mail, and find out the true originating server, then forward the spam to the governing authorities. (If you don't include the headers when your forward the spam, there's nothing the authorities can do!) The process for revealing headers is different for every e-mail program and server, but a web site called Spam Cop gives you instructions on how to do this in whatever program or server you're using. However, an even bigger advantage of Spam Cop is that they notify the search engines! I'm going to give you specific instructions in just a minute, but here's the direct link. Reveal headers for your e-mail program or server by clicking here.
I'm now going to walk you through how to report spam, WITH the headers, to the proper governing authorities.
I'll start this segment by saying "I'm not sure which of these are the correct e-mail addresses for the governing authorities anymore since there have been some changes, so I forward the spam WITH the the copied and pasted headers at the top of the message, to all of them". (Be sure to change the subject line to say: SPAM.)
- uce@ftc.gov
- abuse@fcc.gov
- abuse@uce.gov
I've never received an e-mail telling me not to send the spam to them anymore, so hopefully at least one of them is correct. According to my web host, the 1st one is no longer correct, but I've been misinformed before so I'll keep using it until I have proof. (You may be able to check at www.snopes.com. I have not yet done so.)
(Keep reading. Instructions are coming.)
Now, since we all know how quickly our government agencies handle problems *insert sarcasm*, I also inform my ISP (Internet Service Provider) by forwarding the same information to them; and if it's within the U.S., I inform the server through which the spam was sent as well. Some servers don't care. But others take it seriously and will block the offending parties from using their servers in the future. 
If you don't know how to inform your ISP, here's a clue. Mine is abuse@bellsouth.net or abuse@att.net.
Now if you're going to use Spam Cop, you'll need to register to use their service. (It's free.) But before you do, be sure to read the definition of spam! Not everything you receive, but didn't want, is considered spam. And Spam Cop frowns upon those who don't educate themselves on the proper procedures.
Now for the real ed-u-ma-cay-shun. (Hillbilly for education-I'm trying to lighten this up a little bit) =D
A little further down this page is a small bit of the headers from the spam message that "I" sent to me. What you're looking for is the correct series of numbers with periods interspersed. These numbers and periods will be located between brackets. If you highlight the group of numbers and periods between the brackets at the end of the first line, (I colored them in red, just to help make this easier for the newbies) then place one finger on the "control" button (hold it down) and another finger on the "C" button, then quickly release both buttons at the same time, you will have "copied" those numbers to your computers' hidden "clipboard". The go to http://www.whois.sc/ and click in the large box you'll see on that page. Then once again, place one finger on the "control" button" (hold it down) and now place another finger on the "V" button and quickly release. You will now have "pasted" the numbers that were on the clipboard into that space. Now just hit "Enter" or click on "Lookup". Congratulations! You have now found my own web host. If you scroll down that page full of gobbledygook, you'll see the word "Alamode", the company address, and a couple of contact e-mail addresses. BUT, that's not who you want, is it? I already knew who my web host was. So you have to find another set of numbers and periods in brackets. Let's keep looking.
Now, I will warn you. This set of headers is one of the more complicated ones because as it turns out, the numbers you want are at the end of the 6th "Received: from" line. See where the numbers 196.217.60.155 appear? THAT is the offending party! You will find who it is if you repeat the process of copying from the headers and pasting into the Who Is web site. (Why take my word for it? Go ahead and do it if you need the practice. I colored this line in fuchsia, to once again make it easier for you to find.)
Now if you're like me, you'll yell "CRAP!" because it's coming from outside the U.S.
Received: from mail04.alamailout.com ([66.210.173.249])
by isp.att.net (frfwmxc09) with ESMTP
id <20080118121212m0900dtuu6e>; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:12:13 +0000
X-Originating-IP: [66.210.173.249]
Received: from mail.certmail.com (cmag5.certmail.com [66.210.173.210])
by mail04.alamailout.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A6F5A3340FF
for <lisahillrealtor@bellsouth.net>; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:12:12 -0600 (CST)
Received: from smtp13.appraiser-mail.net ([66.210.173.30])
by mail.certmail.com (a la mode CertMail) with ESMTP id YNE71612
for <lisa@lisahillrealtor.com>; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:12:12 -0600
Received: from localhost (cmgate13.alamode.com [127.0.0.1])
by smtp13.appraiser-mail.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 553A92F5322
for <lisa@lisahillrealtor.com>; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:12:12 -0600 (CST)
Received: from smtp13.appraiser-mail.net ([127.0.0.1])
by localhost (cmgate13.alamode.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024)
with ESMTP id 05220-09 for <lisa@lisahillrealtor.com>;
Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:12:11 -0600 (CST)
Received: from adsl196-155-60-217-196.adsl196-10.iam.net.ma (adsl196-155-60-217-196.adsl196-10.iam.net.ma [196.217.60.155])
Regardless, you can still report them to Spam Cop; and you SHOULD report them! Why? Well I'm glad you asked! It's because Spam Cop will report them to the major search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo, Excite, etc., etc. Those search engines can then block the originating domains!
That's it! You now know how to report spam to their server, your server, the government, and Spam Cop!
If more people would take action against spam, we would have a lot less of it. I encourage you to read through all the pages on the Spam Cop site because it's chock full of interesting (yes, I'm a geek) information.
Good luck and happy spammer hunting. I wish I could insert a picture of Elmer Fudd with his rifle here. Think "Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting spammews!"
In my blog titled 
cool idea! 
Central A/C
Many years ago, when I first started selling houses, I was working with a lady who told me she was deathly afraid of cats. Since one of the houses we were going to see was my own listing, I knew the owner had cats. So I told my buyer that I would go inside first and check to see if they were inside or not. (They had a kitty door.)
buyers' fears as seriously as I should have. And in the many years since then, I've never made that mistake again. 
understand that. And those who are willing to admit they've been wrong, and continually try to learn from their mistakes, and seek the advice of others who show maturity and wisdom in their lives, will succeed much more quickly. Because what really holds us back is usually not our age or lack of experience, but our pride and egos.
I'm preaching to myself. We all need reminders.)
Active Rain. Many of these fruits are from Hawaii. Read her post called 
complete halt that was yet to come. And the inventory began to climb, faster and faster and faster.
accommodate the demand. 
ecosystem and underground aquifers. Unfortunately, our wetlands and aquifers are now filled with pesticides and sewage!
