What is spamming or spam : How to Avoid Spamming

Due to various reasons all comments and contact forms has been disabled on this website. And one of the reason why comments are disabled is because of spammers.

There are more spammers than genuine people on the internet. It’s not surprising because there are more bots and spammers than actual people on the Internet.

As per DataProt article 85% of all emails are spam.

Email spams costs businesses $20.5 billion every year according to this DataProt article.

The word “Spam” has been widely popular over the internet. We often see many people using the word “Spam” to summarize either unwanted/unnecessary or insecure communications that are generally either comments or E-mails.

However many people use the word “Spam” on various occasions but many of us would wonder (with anger) when someone else tells us to stop spamming on their websites or E mails.

So let’s begin with the definition of Spam.

1) Definition of Spam :

General definition from Google and Wikipedia says that spam can be a message that is unsolicited and sent to large number of people to gain several commercial and non commercial advantages. You can check this Wikipedia link to go deep in “Spamming” but on this article also you might get short and to the point useful insights on spamming.

So leaving behind the general Definition from Wikipedia here is a simple individualistic definition that can help us better understand “Spamming”.

Spam Definition :

Spam can be any message, E mail, comment or communication in general that is actually of no value to the receiver and/or that is irrelevant and which is from Unnecessary or Unwanted sources can be called a spam.

So whether or not it is sent in bulk or not if the communication or e mail or comment is irrelevant to the receiver and the receiver never asked for it then it can be called a spam.

However on Internet the word “Spam” is not only used for defining Unnecessary or Unwanted communications. Normally we see that any Phishing E mail or Insecure communication or hacking attempts is also included in the large category of “Spam”.

So let’s see what’s phishing is

Introduction to Phishing :

Spams are generally called as unwanted, Irrelevant and unsolicited but are generally not causing security related problems. But when you receive something that is unsolicited that is sent to you to trick you to submit your personal data (like Name or Credit card details) then these kind of spams can be called phishing communications.

What is Phishing :

Phishing is an attempt by fraudsters to misguide or trick you or any person to give away their personal data like credit card etc by sending unsolicited fake communications on the name of Authority sources or real looking fake sources.

As per Avast (affiliate link) the difference between “Spam” and “Phishing” is the intent that Spammers are generally not leaking or stealing data and “Phishers” are more dangerous because “Phishing” directly leads to scams and frauds.

Both “Spam” and “Phishing” are dangerous :

However “Spam” and “Phishing” both are seen differently but there is same level of danger or risk involved with both “Spam” and “Phishing”. Because the thing is that no one can figure out the intentions of the E mail or communication senders.

To save your self from Spams and Phishing attacks I think you should read the last section. How to save your self from spammers and how to stop spammers.

You should read this article as well from Avast regarding detecting and preventing Spam to get more info on spamming.

Knowing the stats (more search) regarding spams I thought that people might have been unknowingly spamming here and there. So that is why it is always better to know more about what is the right way or right manner to comment or send E mail.

So to stop your self from doing spamming on others you can read this second point below.

2) How to stop yourself from Spamming on others

Here are some theoretical points to understand spamming :

• Be aware that what you are commenting or E mailing. Because if your comments or E mails are not inline with the subject of author communication then it becomes unnecessary or unwanted communication which we call a spam.
  
  For example : If the article or post is about Health and you are talking or commenting about some random politician. Then it is obviously not relevant with the post and that is why author of post might treat you as a spammer.

Affiliate links destroy the core motive of communication :

• This kind of approach of sharing affiliate links here and there kills the core motive of communication.
  
  This is the reason why many Email marketing services will not allow you to put any affiliate links directly in their E mails as well.
  
  These days even large platforms like Facebbok and Quora even don’t allow affiliate links directly on their platform.
  
  The core motive of communication is not selling things. The core motive of communication is sharing and spreading Knowledge and information.
  
  
• If you are putting affiliate links here and there then obviously it let’s down the mere motive of communication. Because with affiliate links you are not communicating but you are just trying to sell things.
  
  So generally these kinds of comments or E mails with affiliate links are considered spam.
  
  
• Many experienced blogging platforms like WPbeginner think that whenever you are putting any link in their comments then you are trying to get a back link from their platform.
  
  So if you put unwanted links here and there then obviously you are going to get treated like a spammer no matter how great your intentions are.

• Most important thing to learn is that Social media, Emails and comments are for communication purposes.
  
  Website comments and E mails help the authors to gain feedback or reflection of what they are doing. Social media and comments are not for putting and spreading affiliate links.

Authors are in control :

• To be frank no Author would like that someone else without doing any hard work just get on their platform and sell affiliate links on their platform.
  
  For Example :
  
  Suppose you have written a 2000 words article. You have your own affiliate links on the blogs along with so much of extra value and information on some particular subject.
  
  Would you allow any other outsider to come and put affiliate links in your website’s comment box ??
  
  The answer is No. Definitely not because it is your private property and not the public property.

• All the posts whether on social media or website has an Author and they are selling things on their own platform. So if you are putting affiliate links here and there. Then it is better to make your own website or social media accounts and sell it on your own platform isn’t it ??

So these were some theoretical points to understand spamming.

So now let’s see in short what you should do to stop yourself from doing Spamming :

Points to remember while commenting or E mailing :

1) Be aware of rules and regulations of the platform before commenting or E mailing on that particular platform.

2) As mentioned earlier using affiliate links every where discourages the motive of social communication. So avoid putting affiliate links here and there.

3) It is better not to directly use affiliate links into your Emails. Better to drive traffic to a landing page where you can place your affiliate links.

4) Write E mails in a better manner and use greeting words Hi, Hello etc. and keep your mails simple.

5) Most of the spammy mails and comments are filled with misleading offers and other illegal stuffs. So before promoting or even talking about any brands properly check how reputed they are and check how much trustworthy these brands can be.

6) If your comments and E mails are not at all relating with the Author subject then there are chances that they are going to consider it as a spam.

So now let’s see how to stop spammers and secure yourself from Phishing :

3) How to stop spammers :

Here are some ways to stop spammers :

1) Try closing all possible ways a spam can be thrown your way. Many websites disable their comment section due to security reasons.

2) Use plugins like Akismet to filter out spams and E mail filters are also useful.

3) To protect yourself from Phishing you should be aware that what link you are clicking on. Simply just search for the link terms in Google before clicking on them so that you can figure out the trustworthiness of that link.

4) Before answering or acting upon any suspicious E mails confirm their trustworthiness.

You can just simply Google the companies or sources that are mentioned in that particular potential phishing Email. Further you can call or Email those real sources for the confirmation of the things that you have received on their name.

5) Use email anti viruses like Avast which will keep your emails secure from malwares.

6) To be precise about shutting down comments for security :

There is a smaller SEO benefit of comments that you might not get if you disable comments on your website. But instead of dealing with comments you can invest your time in making more useful content.

It is better to make more useful content rather than getting yourself involved with comments.

So this is how we can stay away from spammers.

Conclusion :

Concluding this article I would only suggest that be careful and aware while communicating through emails.

Don’t use affiliate links unnecessarily here and there as it is mostly included in spamming. Use landing pages instead of affiliate links.

To stay away from spammers and phishing you can use anti viruses like Avast. Always be careful when you are dealing with attachments from unknown and unwanted emails.

I hope you have read the whole post.

So this much is enough for this post. I hope it will be helpful to understand spamming and phishing properly.

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