Yes, everybody gets spam. And when someone comes up with a new way to block it, spammers come up with a new way around the block. But there are a few things you can do to keep the influx of unwanted mail to its bare minimum.
1. PROTECT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
If you put an unprotected email address on your website, you will get spam, and lots of it. Nasty little programs called "spiders" crawl all over the internet, scuttling from link to link, and gather email unprotected email addresses to spam.
What does an unprotected email address look like?
If you wrote your email address in this format:
or the code you used starts with something like this:
then your email address is unprotected.
How to Protect Your Email Address
Whenever you want to put an email address on your site, use this javascript in the place of the usual mailto:
<script language="JavaScript"> <!--Replace both instances of name and yourdomain.com with your own information, making sure to leave the single quotes around each.
document.write('<a class="mailto:' + 'name' + '@' + 'yourdomain.com' + '">' + 'name' + '@' + 'yourdomain.com' + '</a>');
// --> </script>
2. DON'T USE COMMON EMAIL ADDRESSES
Some email addresses have been used so many times on so many sites that spammers email them automatically, whether or not they have been published on your site. We recommend against using addresses such as "webmaster@yourdomain.com" or "info@yourdomain.com". If you find you are getting email at any of these addresses, you can tell the server to discard them by setting up a filter in your Admin Panel.
Setting Up Email Filters
1. Log into your Admin Panel
2. Under "Email", click on "Email Filtering"
3. Click [Add Filter]
4. From the pulldown menu, select Filter that , and in the dialogue box type the offending email address (i.e. )
5. Make sure Destination is
6. Hit
7. Repeat for as many email addresses as necessary. You can also filter based on other criterion, including "From" addresses, certain words in the body of the email, etc.
3. ENABLE SPAM ASSASSIN
Every FictCo account comes equipped with Spam Assassin, the industry standard spamfighting tool. By default, Spam Assassin is inactive when your account is set up, but we highly recommend enabling the program. When you do, you'll be able to adjust the sensitivity of the program based on your personal needs.
To Activate Spam Assassin
1. Log into your Admin Panel
2. Under "Email", click on "Spam Assassin"
3. Click
To Configure Spam Assassin
1. Once Spam Assassin has been enabled, Click
2. Set Make sure required_score to the sensitivity you desire
3a. If you would like to receive email that Spam Assassin marks as Spam, put a marker in rewrite_header subject, such as ****SPAM****. Spam Assassin will put that marker in front of the subject of all emails it tags as spam.
3b. If you would like to discard all email that Spam Assassin marks as spam, return to your main admin page, and click on "Filter", as above. Click "Add Filter" and from the pulldown menu, select Filter that , and in the dialogue box type: ). Make sure "Destination" is "Discard" and click "Activate"
For More Information About Spam Assassin
Visit their website.
4. DEACTIVATE YOUR CATCHALL
Getting Spam to email addresses you haven't even set up? That's because your site has a Catchall, which is set up to forward anything@yourdomain.com to the main address. Spammers will often send to random email addresses in hopes of finding a real person, and if your Catchall is active, you will receive those emails. So, if you want to reduce the amount of spam you could potentially receive, deactivate the Catchall.
HOW TO:
1. Log into your Admin Panel
2. Under "Email", click on "Default Address"
3. You'll see "All unrouted mail will be sent to:" and the address to which unrouted mail is sent. Click on "Set Default Address".
4. Enter ":fail: no such address here" (no quotation marks) in the dialogue box and click "Change". All email that is not addressed to an account or a forwarder will now be discarded.