Support article
What is spam?
Anyone who has ever used email has come across the term spam, and while many know these are unsolicited messages, few truly understand what spam is...
Anyone who has ever used email has probably come across the term spam. And while many people know that these are unsolicited messages that can be annoying, few truly understand what spam is, why we receive this type of email, or how to avoid it.
Below we explain everything related to spam, whether you’re a victim of it or you want to find out if your email or website is considered spam.
What does spam mean and what is it?
The word spam originated during World War II, when soldiers received canned food sent by their families. Among those items was a canned meat called Spam, which after a while came to be seen as annoying, repetitive, and even unavoidable.
Based on this, in the 1970s the term began to gain popularity in computing language to describe mass, unsolicited communication via email — although nowadays we can find spam through a variety of digital channels.
The first spam campaign was identified in 1978, when the inboxes of ARPANET users (the predecessor of the internet) received, without being asked, an advertising campaign from a company. However, after receiving so much criticism, this marketing method was dropped.
In simple terms, spam is any type of mass communication sent without a prior request. While the most common spam occurs in email, nowadays it’s possible to receive spam via SMS text messages, social media, voice messages, and more. Spam is generally an illegal activity.
Can I send spam from your servers?
No. We run one of the best security systems in hosting, which guarantees our customers’ satisfaction by preventing spam from entering or leaving our servers. If you want to send bulk email, you’ll need to follow the methods currently available for that purpose.
Why is spam sent?
The main goal of spam is to deliver advertising content to as many people as possible. In the past — and even today — it has been used by some companies as a marketing technique. However, as it receives so many negative responses, it’s a practice that has been fading away.
That doesn’t mean spam is no longer used, because in reality it’s widely used these days with malicious intent. Through email chains, viruses and more are distributed, with the aim of either stealing information from the devices that are accessed or causing any other kind of problem that affects the victims.
Can my website end up on a spam list?
Of course. On the web you can find a public listing that flags the various IP addresses and websites that have sent spam, with the aim of making all servers, emails, and domains that engage in this activity known to everyone.
Worse still, there are many people who have built their projects and don’t know they’ve been labeled as spam. Others know it but don’t understand why they’ve been flagged this way, since they’ve never produced spam.
When this happens, it’s usually because of the server you’re using to develop your projects. If you haven’t purchased your own server, then you’re sharing an IP with others. If any of those users engages in this activity, unfortunately your projects can be affected.
Fortunately, this can’t happen to you at mihosting, since we monitor all of our servers. If any of them is sending spam, we fix it immediately, preventing any kind of block.
How can I tell if my email is considered spam?
If you think your email has, for some reason, been labeled as spam, you can confirm it in several ways. You’ll need your IP address handy to get answers:
There are some platforms on the web dedicated to flagging IPs that send spam. You just need to check a couple of them to find out whether your email is spam or not. These are:
- https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx
- https://www.dnsqueries.com/es/mi_ip_esta_en_lista_negra.php
- https://www.spamhaus.org/query/bl?ip=
Another way to find out whether your email is spam is through a notification. In some cases, spam blacklist service providers take time to notify those included on their list about their presence as a spam generator. In other cases, it’s the email service providers who send the notice. Either way, we recommend checking your inbox to see whether your provider or any other security company has sent you a notification.
How can I avoid being sent spam?
There are some measures you can take that will help reduce the chances of receiving spam. To start, avoid publishing your email address on web pages and public service sites. In other words, use your personal information responsibly.
Another option is to have a primary account for important matters and a secondary account for receiving newsletters and subscribing to the sites you want.
How can I block spam in my email?
If you’ve been receiving junk mail and want to stop these kinds of messages, nowadays it’s very easy to prevent them from coming back. Whether you use Gmail or Outlook (the most popular email services), you simply need to select the message in question and look for the option to mark as spam. This way you won’t receive any more messages from that sender.
I’m getting a lot of spam emails. What can I do?
First of all, you should stop sharing your email address on any platform. Some of these are designed to gather information for sending mass emails. Finally, to stop receiving these emails, you’ll need to block the address that’s sending you this unsolicited information. To do that, mark the emails as spam, and new emails will automatically be sent to that folder.
Can I send bulk email?
Generally, providers like Gmail and Outlook are intended for sending personal emails — that is, to a small number of contacts. However, if you want to send bulk email through these services, you’ll need to download some add-ons, whether for Gmail or Outlook. Even so, the number of emails you can send will still be limited.
The best option is to go with a professional hosting service. At miHosting we can help you.