# Broken "Remove Me" link **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037 "2003-05-04T16:26:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![InLikeFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@InLikeFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLikeFlynn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/1 "2003-05-04T16:26:47Z")
**I’m on my last freaking nerve.** I get bombarded by smutty spam e-mails (penis enlargement, porn voyeur cams, guarantee to get you laid etc. etc.) every single day, all apparently from the same source. They all have the required “Remove Me” “Unsubscribe Me” link on the bottom of each annoying message however; the link always gives me the same “Bad Gateway” message. I have tried opening the mail with different clients (Outlook, Netscape) only to get the same result. Is there any thing else I can try to stop them from harassing me? It’s become more than an inconvenience when I started receiving 6-8 of these things a day. I’m sure that allowing my address to remain on their list is also permitting it to circulate through similar smutty mailer’s address books! I receive other spam with the same content but once I “Remove” myself from their list’s, I never hear from them again. Does anyone know if there is a way to fix or go around the broken “Remove Me” link so I can obtain the source and then stop the smut? Is there anything I can do? **PLEASE HELP ME!!** ---
**Author:** ![abderian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@abderian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abderian)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/2 "2003-05-04T16:37:53Z")
Are you able to block the source e-mail address, or does the spam originate from several addresses? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/3 "2003-05-04T16:41:29Z")
**Don’t click on the remove me link!** If it works at all, it’ll just get you more of the same type of spam. Better to block the address, or filter on words in the e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/4 "2003-05-04T16:43:45Z")
You can try copying and pasting the URL for the link into your browser, but be warned that many of those types of spammers use the “unsubscribe” link to merely confirm your email address is valid. It might remove it from _that_ particular database, but suddenly you’ll find yourself on many more. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/5 "2003-05-04T16:44:22Z")
What **RealityChuck** said. From Bill Gates, [“On Spam: Wasting time on the Internet (3/25/98)”](http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/columns/1998Essay/3-25col.asp): > [@](#): > > Spam, on the other hand, often comes from mailboxes that people set up just long enough to get off one mass mailing, and then shut down. There’s no easy way to ask to be removed from a spammer’s list, or to complain. > > Sometimes spam includes a purported way for you to remove yourself from the mailing list, but it often doesn’t work. In fact, making the request may do nothing more than prove to the spammer that your e-mail address is valid–prompting more mailings. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/6 "2003-05-04T17:55:48Z")
you may want to check out some anti-spam apps: > **[Services and Software](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/?tag=sd)** > > All the news and tips you need to get the most out of the services, apps and software you use every day. or most likely the best advice is to change your email address. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/7 "2003-05-04T18:42:17Z")
I use Outlook Express as my mail client. Whenever I get spam that I don’t want, I create a rule which blocks any email sent from that mail server. I still see a few of them every now and then, but they go automatically to my Deleted Items folder. Unfortunately, that’s about the best I can expect. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/8 "2003-05-04T21:44:10Z")
Yeah, dude. Don’t click. At best, it won’t work. At worst, your e-mail address suddenly becomes more valuable as a “working” destination. You say you have Netscape. Is it the latest version? I’m not 100% sure about NS, but [Mozilla](http://www.mozilla.org) (upon which NS 7 is based), has supported bayesian e-mail filtering since version 1.3a. (Bayesian is of a type where you classify certain e-mail as legit, some as spam, and it works the rest out). See if you can turn on junk mail filtering. If you can’t, there are a bunch of junk mail filters available, many of them free. [This one](http://au.spamassassin.org/index.html) seems popular, but I don’t get much spam, and have thus far been unwilling to invest the time setting one up. (You’d want something like the [Windows Proxy Client](http://saproxy.bloomba.com/) version) Sadly, filtering by sender/sending mail server won’t work for very long, as spammers change too often. ---
**Author:** ![NBIT33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NBIT33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBIT33)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/9 "2003-05-04T22:02:52Z")
kanicbird is right - change your address, then never, never, never use it in public. Not on the web, not at the Car Dealer when they ask you for e-mail, not on those “win a vacation drawings”, never. I did this a year ago and have only gotten 2 spams since. (And I run my business on e-mail - it is a painful transition but well worth it) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/10 "2003-05-04T23:23:54Z")
[SpamPal](http://www.spampal.org) is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![InLikeFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@InLikeFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLikeFlynn)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/broken-remove-me-link/173037/11 "2003-05-05T16:11:48Z")
Thanks for all the help guys!