Reply #4: My $ 0.02

[Red State Blues]

Get a garbage email account that you only use to register for stuff that is going to end up spamming you to death.

Only give your real email address to people you know well.

Strangle your friends when they use the "email this article to a friend" option rather than just sending you the link.

Some respectable sites will let you opt out, the ones that you wish you could boil in oil will:

1. Not get your angry emails

and 2. Will generally see your opt out request as verifying you as an actual valid address and will then sell your address to others.

Years ago at work I got tired of getting a Meg/day of crap; one slow day I meticulously went through and opted out of 100's of spam emails. In under a week I was getting 4meg of spam a day!