There is no way to avoid junk mail. The UF email servers get several hundred thousand email messages each day, and the percentage of non-junk mail is approaching single digits. Right now, we are at 90% junk mail and that number is rising.
There is nothing you can do to avoid junk mail. Any time you are asked for an email address, there is a good chance you will end up on someone’s spam list. That will generate junk mail for you.
Here is something that I have done for ten years to reduce my own volume of junk. I only give my dog’s address out to people I don’t know. Any time an online form (Flickr, Delicious, etc) asks for an email address, I give them
For years it was
alvinsdog@hotmail.com (free email)
but once I got my own server, I brought it in-house.
There are two important notes concerning this process.
1 – I still get junk mail, but less of it comes to my main email address.
2 – I am using a real email address for my junk. If I must get into that account to get something like a confirmation link, I can do it. The important stuff is usually right there at the top of all the junk mail.
If you are in a hurry and don’t have time to setup an account, use Mailinator. You can send a message to any address and the server automatically creates an account on the fly. The email is only stored for two hours, but with no password. Like I said, you do this when you are in a hurry and security isn’t important. If you send something to
the account will be automatically created and you can go to the web site and check the message without the bother of setting up another email address for spam.
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