It’s an unfortunate but expected occurance that we’ll be spammed even more this holiday season and there is little we can do about it with the small exception of continuing to be ever vigilant with our spam/virus/spyware measures.

This hot topic I came across from PC Magazine will open your eyes a bit more on the subject:

Spam: An Unwelcome Part of Season’s Greetings

Beware of anything that you don’t recognize the sender’s name from in your inbox. It’s sad but it will help to prevent potentially serious damage to either your computer or your finances.

Remember one thing in particular: “If it sounds almost too good to be true…it most likely is.”

Most of us take email for granted. We just turn on our computers, click on the ‘ol email icon and bingo! it loads and shows us all the wonderful emails from friends all over the world. You know the ones…from the friendly guy at the drug company always looking out for you, the stock market guys, the friends you have in the “red light” district, etc. Yep, simple stuff.

But how the heck did we get all these new “friends” anyway?

Well, many ways actually. Some of them include using one email address for just about everything, one that got sold to a 3rd party for marketing purposes, someone’s PC got hacked and your email address harvested, spyware…the list can go on.

We have many ways to rid ourselves of spam or at the very least, cut it down to a level that’s manageable. But, what exactly IS spam?

According to Wikipedia:

Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, undesired bulk messages. While the most widely recognized form of spam is instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, and mobile phone messaging spam.Spamming is economically viable because advertisers have no operating costs beyond the management of their mailing lists, and it is difficult to hold senders accountable for their mass mailings. Because the barrier to entry is so low, spammers are numerous, and the volume of unsolicited mail has become very high. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject of legislation in many jurisdictions.

Ok, now that we know just what it is…how do we rid ourselves of it?

There is an excellent book that talks about the spam issue and ways to prevent it. Brian McWilliams book “sets out to answer in a new book, “Spam Kings: The Real Story Behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements.” McWilliams tells the stories of some of the Internet’s most hard-core spammers and the equally hard-core spam hunters seeking to expose them.” More information about this book can be found here. more…

Well, I would say that this was fun but in reality…it wasn’t. I had moved my blog to another host (yes, I know…shame on me! Had my reasons though!) to check into what all they had to offer as far as their hosting package went.

They offered the ability to host 6 separate sites on one account…each one being independent of the rest. All for less than $100 per year. There were other incentives as well but seeing as I was investigating for a couple of clients of mine…I was going to give them a run for the money.

I’m not in the habit of just dropping a client off at the first host I see and say “see ya!” Not a good way to keep a client happy if the experience turns out badly.

Well, to be honest…the experience I was introduced to was to say the least, absurd. From email issues to a tyrannic forum moderator that would either delete posts or outright ban forum members for asking or posting anything (he) deemed to be “not relevant” or griping or whatever he felt compelled to act on.

All this and to be told if (we) didn’t like it…to just leave and not come back! Laughable considering the moron represented this hosting company in the worst way ever. But, he is a smart one that moderator! He deleted any posts/replies that had anything at all relating to even so much as a complaint so as to keep any unsuspecting newbies from seeing the real deal. Good for him. I’m sure if he keeps this up…the host he represents will reward him well for keeping their “good” name squeaky clean.

Well, this whole experience just had me feeling kinda “blue”. Obviously, this isn’t anywhere I would want to do business let alone anywhere I would set a client of mine up for hosting. Shoot! They’d think I’d lost my mind!

So, I took the advice offered by this so-called “moderator” and packed my bags, checked out of the hotel(company) with no intentions of going back anytime soon.

Too bad really…they were actually rated as #1 by one independent web hosting rating site. Now, I wonder how?

Well, the hunt for yet another host with similar capabilities is ongoing. I may go ahead and set them up with the one I use. Haven’t had a minutes trouble with them to date!

Sometimes you learn that you actually DO have it pretty good where you’re at. Straying off too far can lead to encounters with some very odd people.

But, lesson learned and filed away…just like some of the correspondence that I saved.

Like we’ve heard it from others…”it’s just good to be home!”