I think I may have already mentioned the godsend that is MT-Blacklist, an add-on to Moveable Type Blog programs which help prevent spam comments. So far it’s worked EXCELENTLY!

Now, I’ve discovered something else to fight spam in E-mail: SpamArrest.
It’s a program that filters your mail, and requires senders to send a one-time-only verification that they’re a real person before it sends their e-mails on to you.
It’s easy for the sender: the 1st time they send an e-mail to you while you’re using SpamAssassin, they get a reply asking them to click a link. If they do, they’re asked to type in a word and then they’re forever verified to send you e-mail.

The management is great, you can remove senders, manually add senders, add mailing lists, view your blocked e-mail….

I had a few reservations at first:

1. I use a lot of e-mail addresses, primarily to help stop spam or at least track back where the spammers got X e-mail address.
2. I’m on a LOT of e-mail listserves.

OK, 2 reservations. Here’s how they worked out:
1. I set up a forward to forward my other e-mail addresses to the one e-mail address I signed up SpamArrest with.
2. I pre-authorized as many listserves I could remember, then, watching my blocked e-mails, I grabbed and added any listserves that got caught.

Easy.
It does take a little time and attention at first, wayching to listserves and mailing lists that I want to keep receiving mail from…but I figure once I get them all (various Yahoo Groups, Food Network, Sci-Fi channel, Writer’s Weekly, etc etc) then there’s nearly no maintenance at all!
I get literally no spam!
That’s a decrease from over 400 spam a day, to maybe 1 or 2 that get through! If that!

OK, so it IS a pay service…but for less than $3 a month! That’s WAY worth not getting any spam!
If you’re someone that only gets a couple of spam a day anyway, OK, it may not be worth it to you. But if you get handfull or more, check it out! You get a free month.

Anyway, head to http://spamarrest.com/affl?2021905 to check it out, if you would. =)