I hate junk email SO MUCH! I've had all kinds of stuff sent to me over time, from offers to do all manner of strange things, right through to 'opportunities' to sponsor some zoo animal for a buck a month. But I'm British, so I couldn't give a buck!

My website, cunningly called 'meanwhile' is a 100% junk email free zone. I keep a small list of people who have asked me to email them when I write new articles. It's a list which I would never sell to anyone, not even for all the tea in China. Which is an odd saying when you think of it, because I have no idea how much tea there actually is in China.

I used to suffer from a common problem that many people on the net complain of... Junk email! Commonly called 'spam' it has become the number one scourge of the internet, the pet hate of everyone with an email address. If you've never received a junk email then you're lucky, but chances are you have, and if you're suffering from excessive amounts of unwanted spam, emails you have no interest in or desire to read, then you're not alone. Half the email that gets sent every day is now spam!

I don't get spam any more. I managed to take control of my email, claim back my privacy and spare myself the time of having to sort through the endless barrage of boring and useless crap that gets sent every single day. So, how did I rid myself of spam, and more to the point, how can you stop getting spammed?

Rule 1. Never trust anyone!
Okay, that sounds a bit 'X Files', but it's true. If anyone ever asks you for your email address, assume they will only sell it to the highest bidder, even when they promise they won't. I know what you're thinking now, I'm one of those people right? Well yes, I am. I wouldn't sell your email address because I am ordinary decent human being, however, how the hell do you know that?

Rule 2. Create an email address just for junk.
For example I have a merseymail.com email address. This should be the address you use when shopping online, filling out online forms, signing up for email lists, writing reviews on Amazon etc. The reason for this 'junk email address' is so that when it eventually becomes swamped with too much spam to cope with, you can simply stop using it, and create a new one.

Rule 3. Keep your actual 'real' email address close to your chest.
In other words don't tell every Tom Dick and Harriet what it is. Just tell those you know well, and those who you know you can trust. And be careful about forwarding on all those silly jokes you get sent. Again, you have no idea how many people will end up seeing that email, so if you really must forward that joke on to everyone you know then use your junk address to avoid your 'real' address being compromised some way down the line.

Rule 4. Expect the 'unsubscribe facility' on junk emails to always fail.
In some cases if you try unsubscribe from a mailing list you'll simply get more junk email due to the fact that the 'unsubscribe' facility wasn't actually unsubscribing you at all. Instead it was simply there to validate that a real person was reading the email. Once it confirms this your address becomes considered active, and therefore more valuable, and as a result you'll probably just be added to more lists!

Rule 5. If you have a website NEVER reveal your email address on that site.
Internet 'robots' (programs sometimes referred to as 'spambots') scan website's for email addresses 'harvesting' them and adding them to lists. So if you have email addresses on your site replace them with a web form instead. You'd also be well advised to create a special address for your web form too.

And that's it. That's my advice about how to avoid spam. If you have found this useful then great. It was free advice, written at some unearthly hour of the morning while I waited for my bath to fill. All I ask in return is that you take a moment to check out some of my articles if you haven't already.

I'm not a web guru, I'm not really a writer either. I am just some guy living in England who enjoys writing and sharing stuff with people out there in the big wide world, people like you! If you like my stuff, if this page was helpful, or indeed if you are just feeling like saying hello to an anonymous Brit, then I'd love to hear from you. Otherwise thanks for visiting, have a nice life, and who knows, maybe in a mad twist of fate we'll bump into one another one day? Stranger things have happened at sea you know.