[TBall]

For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?

[Feldkurat_Katz]

For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?

In my experience, if they provide an unsubscribe option, it usually works. If they don't provide it, that's another story.

[goldstategop]

Don't. That simply gives spammers an indication there's a live human at the other end and you'll simply get more spam. Sign up for a http://www.mailblocks.com account and keep the spam at bay. (And you can list your AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo e-mail accounts with them.) I signed up for $9.95 the other day and I got 2 years extra service for FREE. That's not hard to beat.

[AmishDude]

Do not select the unsubscribe option unless it's somebody you've done business with (McAfee, ESPN.com, etc.) who decided to put you on a newsletter list.

Even if they do unsubscribe you, they'll just put you on a hundred other lists.

[boycott]

"For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?"

Always remove yourself from the list. There's about a dozen companies that sell the email lists. Some will filter their lists for those that have requested removal. It certainly won't work 100% of the time but it should help.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the spammers aren't in the USA. A few groups in Russia are heavy into Internet marketing. There is one Russian group that buys expired domain names for redirects. They also sell email lists, etc.

How do you police the spammers that are based in Russia, China, Maylasia, Singapore, etc.?

[Oztrich Boy]

For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?

Even if it does, there is nothing to stop the spammer selling your address to another as a prized active e-mail addressee who actually opens unsolicited e-mail.