How so you deal with spam?

Lavinder

I wanted to start comping again and I use my comping Gmail account to comp but I get up to a thousand emails a day mostly spam and I always tick the 'no emails' on the comps. How can I cut down the amount of emails I receive?

marleyboy

By cutting down on the amount of online competitions. Especially those with a confirmation of your e-mail address, more commonly known as the "No E-mails" box.

jeddentad

I set up a folder in gmail named "advertising" and make use of gmail's filters to shunt as much of the advertising email into it as I can, bypassing the inbox entirely.

I don't get 1000s of emails a day, with christmas coming up now, I get maybe 200, but I don't actually get very many into my inbox.

About once a month or so, or when I get annoyed, I'll go through my inbox and set up another filter for the new ads.

I also keep an eye on the "advertising folder" though. To watch for new comps that may not have been caught by anyone else, as well as for peace of mind that I haven't missed any WEM. Even though a company sending WEMs through their advertising email address is pretty silly unless they are a small company.

Zanzib

I've noticed less spam mail at the moment, and those I'm getting are persistent offenders.

The only thing I'm doing different is not entering competitions on the main board, as I'm so busy with advents/dailies and those from companies I like who send competition links by e-mail in their newsletters...

nelie

I shake my fist at my computer screen while screaming rude words at said mail.

BlueBella

I deep fat fry it then serve with chips and beans

BlueBella

LOL Every so often when my flippin nog is done in, I have a spam cull and unsubscribe from as many spammy emails as I can!

mclarkie

BlueBella wrote: »

I deep fat fry it then serve with chips and beans

Ahhhh..... memories of my childhood come flooding back

Svenena

Depends what you mean by spam. Are you talking about unsolicited spam, or emails sent by companies as a result of entering competitions?

1000 a day seems really excessive. How long have you been comping for? I'd expect it to build up over time, but I've been comping for over three years and don't get anywhere near that. There are more emails at this time of year, as a lot are sending daily reminders about their advents.

You could have a cull every now and then and hit the unsubscribe button on everything (I've done this twice, and discovered a few companies make it REALLY hard to unsubscribe!), but this risks disqualifying yourself from something where you have to be a subscriber. Probably a small risk though.

If it's completely unsolicited spam, it sounds like your email address might have made it on to some dodgy list somewhere. Might be worth creating a new email and starting over. You could still keep an eye on your current one for a few weeks in case any wins came in.