Reporting Spam

Reporting spam can be both easy and effective. Learn simple steps to benefit your online experience

Introduction

These days you can't use any social networking, email, or messenger service without running into spam. These greedy, heartless and yet seemingly stupid advertisers will pay large sums of money to make sure your inboxes, comments, walls, etc are filled with messages of large members, "friends" recommending awesome new products and cheap prescription drugs from canada.

Luckily there are a few easy ways to clear up your online space, and help put these killjoys in their place.

Spam Reporting Features

Most popular social networking sites and email services have specific links for reporting spam. When you receive spam in your email inbox, mark it as spam. It not only transfers the message to your spam folder, but also uses the information included in the message(sender, domain, subject, message) to prevent future spam for both you and other users alike. When using your social networking account these links can be found in messages as well as comments, and flags the user as spreading spam. The moderators can then use this information to determine if the account was created for spam or has been hijacked from it's original owner. If the account is deemed to have been created for the sole use of spreading spam, the account is terminated. On the other hand, if the account is proven to have been hijacked, control may be returned to the original user. Use these links liberally as the more data we collect on the spammers the easier it will become to prevent their activities.

Contacting Administration

If the site or service you are using does not have a convenient link to report spam, or you find that using the 'Report Spam' link is not living up to expectations, then the next best thing is to contact website administration. This is usually accomplished by navigating to the 'Contact', or 'Help' page. Once there you will be prompted to either email a specific address or fill out a short form detailing your issues. Provide as much information as possible to help administrators properly access your particular situation. Information, such as username, location of spam(provide specific link), and recurrence, will assist moderators in the fight to prevent spam. If the service you are using does indeed have a link to report spam, be very specific to admin when explaining why it is necessary for the break in normal procedure.