Stever Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More. A 12-year-old listener named Aaron wrote in (and called in, but it turns out we can't legally broadcast callers under age 13):

Dear Get it Done Guy,

I have already listened to your fantastic e-mail Zen podcast, to your quick and dirty e-mail backlog podcast, and to your other great e-mail management podcasts (Gee. Is this e-mail to Bernice) but I still have a major problem: spam from Facebook and news sites. I tried making folders, deleting everything, spam and that handy "move all that bothersome mail from that same old constipated e-mail address to that same old helpful folder" but *sigh*, nothing works. Please fish me out of that sea of Facebook, CNN, Super Wall, MSNBC, Jetman, The Boston Globe, and Speed Racer e-mails.

    A devoted 12 year old listener, Aaron

Thanks for writing in, Aaron! The quick and dirty tip is to listen to this whole episode, because it can't be summarized in a sentence.

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I've been using e-mail since I was your age, actually. But back then, there was no such thing as spam. Well, there was, but it was a tasty meat product you could slice, fry up with butter, and eat in blissful ignorance of the health consequences. Spam-the-meat is alive and well at Spam.com, where you can browse all 13 varieties and even learn how tiny amounts of sodium nitrite keep spam looking tasty pink.

Electronic spam isn't as tasty, but it also comes in several varieties. Each variety needs its own solution.

First, kill lots of spam by setting your e-mail preferences on Facebook and social sites to send only the updates you want. Facebook drives me nuts! I want messages from friends, but none of this "Bernice strokes your chin and playfully plucks out a chin hair. To pluck one of her chin hairs, click here..." (And excuse me, I loaned Bernice a hundred dollars for an electrolysis appointment. She shouldn't have any more chin hairs.) Scour the settings menu for words like e-mail, privacy, and notification preferences and turn off everything but what you want.

Once you've done that, it's time to get serious about spam!

Serious Idea #1: Have a Public and a Private E-mail Address.

Give the private one to friends and use the public one to sign up for Facebook, CNN, etc. You can ignore your public e-mail for weeks, scan it when you have time, or nuke it if you don't.

I use Gmail for my public address. It has great spam filtering. And, if someone marks a message as spam, Gmail filters that message from everyone. But only mark real spam as spam! If you're tired of the "Great Wines of Western Florida" newsletter filling your inbox, please unsubscribe properly. Marking it spam could block it from reaching Gmail readers who do want it. And, as a newsletter publisher myself, it's really a bummer to know people want my newsletter but it's blocked because of sloppy spam tagging.

Having public and private e-mail addresses isn't perfect. There are viruses that will discover your private address in a friend's address book or inbox and send your address to a spammer through no fault of your own.

Serious Idea #2: The Quick Back-and-Forth

Sometimes you want a quick one-time-use e-mail address. You just bought a new camera and want to download the manual. The manufacturer demands your name, your dog's name, and an e-mail address, and they'll e-mail you a link to download the manual that should have been included in the first place so you can use their darned product. For this, use mailinator.com. That's m-a-i-l-i-n-a-t-o-r-dot-com. It's free! You just make up an e-mail address you can use instantly. You can retrieve e-mail sent to that address from the web or an RSS feed with no password. Messages get purged every couple of hours, so it's good for quick transactions. For example, give the e-mail address ChrisThePhotographer@mailinator.com. The camera company sends a download link, you do the download, and then ignore that address forever. Or, keep giving out ChrisThePhotographer but only check the inbox when you know something important is about to arrive.

Serious Idea #3: The No-Commitment Relationship

Sometimes, you want a few messages and you don't want them to vanish. For that, spamgourmet.com is your answer. With Spamgourmet, you also make up e-mail addresses, but incoming messages forward to your personal e-mail account. The made-up address magically deactivates after three incoming messages. If you like what's coming in, you can go in and set the address not to deactivate. When I enter a contest or drawing where they announce the winner by e-mail, I use Spamgourmet.

Serious Idea #4: For Techies Only!

If you own your own domain, here's a neat trick. This one's more complicated, but lots of fun. Have your domain forward all incoming e-mail to your Gmail account. Then when giving company X your e-mail address, give them the address X@yourdomain. For example, when I register at Amazon.com, I give the e-mail address Amazon@MyDomain.com. Then if Amazon sells my name and I start getting spam to that address, I just make a Gmail filter to auto-delete all messages sent to Amazon@MyDomain.com. I actually use a second-level domain like mail.MyDomain.com, and spammers can't even know that domain exists since 2nd level domains aren't listed.

To recap, set your preferences whenever possible so you don't get e-mail. Then use separate public and private e-mail addresses for friends and everyone else. Mailinator.com and spamgourmet.com can be used for super-temporary address that won't clog your inbox. You can find links to all of this at getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com.

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This is Stever Robbins. If you have a question about how to Work Less and Do More, e-mail getitdone@quickanddirtytips.com or leave voicemail at 866.... You can find this episode's transcript at getitdone.quickanddirtytips.com with links to all the spam resources mentioned in this episode. If you want to help me write the Get-It-Done Guy book, Work Less and Do More, visit blog.steverrobbins.com/getitdoneguy, or follow me on Twitter by typing: follow getitdoneguy.

Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!

RESOURCES:

- Spam.com, the home of Hormel Spam(r) products.
- Mailinator.com, no-password, web-based e-mail.
- SpamGourmet.com, e-mail forwarding that only lets a few messages through.

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