Avoid Looking like Spam

Netiquette Matters ~ Articles

# Always include an appropriate, short and accurate SUBJECT:. Many times Spam does not have a SUBJECT: and many email programs auto delete these to Junk/Trash. I receive so many subjectless emails, I no longer take the time to look through all of them to determine “if” one is a legitimate email.
# Type your subject with appropriate capitalization. All small case or all large case gives the impression of being Spam.
# Make sure your name is formally displayed in the FROM: field. Example: Jane A. Doe is correct. Not: jane a doe, jane or JANE. Lower case or lack of punctuation here indicates lack of savvy and that your email could be Spam.
# Refrain from using common terms abused by Spammers in your subject and/or first paragraph of your email. Many Spam filters track these terms and may inadvertently send your email right to Trash.
# Did you know most email programs can be set to not download emails that are over a certain size and can be automatically deleted without being downloaded? Don’t embed graphics within your email or send large attachments without notice. Ask first before you send so that the party is waiting for your email and it won’t be deleted off the server without downloading.

p(update). “(extlink)Spam Filters Grab Good With Bad”:http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,61945,00.html – As spam continues to proliferate wildly — within a week after the antispam Can-Spam act went into effect on Jan. 1, unsolicited commercial e-mail increased by almost 7 percent, according to spam-filtering vendor MX Logic — some individual users, businesses and ISPs feel forced to filter for spam more aggressively. [ “(extlink)Wired News”:http://www.wired.com ]

I’ve had good results with “(extlink)Apple’s Mail.app”:http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/mail/ spam filter. No false positives from personal correspondence (a few marketing emails were sent to junk, however). All in all, I’m happy with the service, happy enough that I’ve stopped using throwaway email addresses or Hotmail accounts or other gimmicks.