Works For Me Wednesday: Keeping a lid on spam email

It's Wednesday again! Time for a helpful hint!

Do you ever fill out a form online for something you're not real sure about - you're not sure it's totally legit, or you worry that even if it is, they're going to sell you email addy to a bajillion and one other companies? I use SpamGourmet to get around that problem.

It's very simple. Just type in your address as "someword.#.username@spamgourmet.com". The "someword" is any word you want to put in. I usually put in some version of the name of the company whose form I am filling out. The # can be any number up to 20 (3 is the default if you forget), and that will be how many times you will receive an email from that address. "Username" of course is your SpamGourmet username.

After that, SpamGourmet sends the emails on to you after they zip through their service. If they send more than the number you specified, SpamGourmet just "eats" them and you will NEVER, EVER see them. You can go in to SG, check your account, and see how many they blocked from each individual address you have used. SG does NOT keep a copy of any email - they either forward them or eat them.

An added bonus is that you can whitelist addresses if you decide that you do want to continue getting emails from a certain company. Then you will continue receiving the emails even after it passes the number you originally specified.

And that's what works for me!

Be sure to check Shannon's blog for more great tips!