Spam, filters, and staying in touch

Spam affects all of us. It affects the infrastructure for which we pay, too, but that's a story for another day.

Some time ago, my email provider began providing a server-side spam screening service. I tried it, and it was very effective. Unfortunately, it was occasionally too effective; I found one or two cases where it screened out email I was expecting. This particular system doesn't quarantine suspicious email; it merely deletes it. Because I didn't want to be out of touch, I turned it back off and have manually screened my email ever since.

That's occupying far too much time, so I'm going to try the spam filters again. I realize there's a risk that the filters will reject email I really want to get. If you send me email and don't get an expected response within a reasonable time (I'm usually pretty quick at responding), I invite—no, earnestly request—that you will let me know by another email or by phone.

I'm not at all opposed to receiving email you write to me; I welcome it. I simply want to eliminate the spam I'll never want to read.

I sincerely hope this change doesn't make problems for you. If it does, please let me know, and I'll work to find another approach.