Just what is "spam?" Not the canned meat, but all unsolicited junk e-mail.

If you've got an e-mail address, you've probably been bombarded with offers for mortgages, diet pills, pitches for porn Web sites and tons of sex stimulants. It seems endless.

The economics are obvious. Spammers make money from the sales they generate. So, the more e-mails they send, the higher the probability they have of getting a customer. Even better for the spammers, there is almost no cost difference between sending a hundred e-mails or a million e-mails.

The same qualities that make e-mail so popular — speed and convenience — also fuel spammers. Spam is the fastest-growing commerce on the Net, and now makes up nearly half of all e-mail traffic.

Tips for Tackling Spam

It's unlikely that anyone who has an e-mail account and regularly uses the Internet will be able to live a spam-free life, but there are ways to manage the flood of unwanted e-mail. Here are a few:

1.  Divert It. Most free e-mail providers, such as Yahoo! or Hotmail, allow you to divert spam to a Bulk Mail or Junk Mail folder. Although this won't stop the spam from reaching you, it will keep most of it from getting mixed in with the mail you actually want to read.

2.  Don't Respond. Although you might feel as though you're beating spammers by clicking on an "unsubscribe" link that appears at the bottom of many spam messages, you're probably not. In many cases, this actually confirms to the bulk e-mailer that your e-mail address is legitimate. The spammer can then include your e-mail address in a database that it may sell to another bulk e-mailer. If the spam comes from a company you're familiar with, or have done business with, it's probably safe to click that unsubscribe link. If it's a company you're not familiar with, just delete the message.

3.  Check Out Filters. There are many services and software programs that filter out unwanted e-mail. And I don’t recommend any of them. As Salon.com stated in June, "the cure has finally become worse than the disease." If you want to read about these many companies who advertise a cure for spam, go to google.com/ and search for "spam filters." It’s interesting reading.

4.  Don't Publicize Your Address. The more places you post your personal e-mail address, the more you're opening yourself up to spam. You may want to set up separate e-mail addresses for use on Internet bulletin boards, chat rooms and newsgroups. Spam will still arrive at those addresses, but you'll have kept it at arm's length.

5.  Break the Chain. As convincing or worthy or innocuous as many of them may seem, do not forward chain letters. If you want to send a poem to 10 friends, support more funding for a cause, or sign a political petition, do it on your own. Many spammers use chain letters as another way of collecting unique and current e-mail addresses.