Spammer detection tip for Gmail users

I learned today about a feature in Gmail that allows you to “tag” your email address when you give it to someone or submit it somewhere online. If I were to sign up for a mailing list or service, and I want to know if they might be giving away my address to spammers, I just enter my address as john+goaheadandspammeasshole@example.com. Whenever I receive an email to that address and it didn’t come from the service or site that I gave it to, I know that the address was “leaked”. I can then make a Gmail filter that catches all messages sent to john+goaheadandspammeasshole@example.com that will mark those messages as spam or simply label them appropriately.

You can also use the “+tagword” to help you sort different categories of emails. For example, I might submit john+bills@example.com” as my phone service address or for online purchases. It makes it easier later on to sort the types of email I get.

Thanks again Google for not being evil.

More tips here. http://www.google.com/mail/help/tips.html