Spam e-mails, how to prevent?

I don't play Second Life anymore, but like to keep in touch, so have enabled messages to be sent to my e-mail, which includes some businesses whose products interest me.

But lately, I'm receiving e-mail messages from people I don't know, trying to sell me stuff.

Is there a way to stop this, other than severing all ties to SL, by disabling all e-mail from SL? Is there a way to only receive e-mail from people I'm interested in hearing from, instead of enabling e-mail messages globally from anyone who knows my name?

Yeah, I know the cure is disable all e-mail sent from SL I just want to know if there is anything less drastic. I don't even have SL loaded on my machine anymore, and it is ludicrous that I'd have to install it, just to stop the e-mail spam.

I do not think so, but in groups you can disable notices.. remove people from your list you dont want to hear from and disable yourself in search..

But, why are you interested in products in SL if you are no longer using sl?

The friends I understand.. but..

I subscribed to the businesses when playing SL. E-mails from them are understandable and don't annoy me enough to install SL again to disable their e-mail.

I just mentioned it, because I'm wondering if one of them could be selling my name (although I do recognize that by posting here, my name is available to all. But that's ok, since the cat seems to already be out of the bag, and I do know I can prevent this by re-installing the game, and cutting off all e-mail. I just prefer not doing something that drastic.)

I'm amazed there isn't more spam. I can think of at least one spam vector that isn't being utilized.

Whenever you sign up for some new social networking thingamajig, like Second Life, you have to assume it will become a new spam vector. All things will become spam vectors. It's a fundamental law of the universe.

Your best bet is to give Linden Lab a different, expendable email address. Do that through their website. For now, all the email you're getting is passed on by Linden Lab, so changing it at that one source will redirect your spam.

edited to add: As soon as LL's customer email address list gets stolen, sold by an employee, or posted on the web, intentionally or not, your address will be known by hundreds of individual spammers, and it will no longer be possible to avoid being spammed. So, give them an expendable address now while you still can.

Since Linden Lab seem intent on merging the inworld experience with the outworld (Xstreet/onrez buyout, plus the less-than-stellar SLim client and the in-the-pipeworks new land-buying site) I'm surprised they haven't yet put together a user CP for managing all inworld group messages and subscriptions while simply logged into the website itself. Many people, myself included, get a lot of IMs/group notices/etc and sometimes can't log inworld in time to clear them before they get capped. It would be great if we could check on the website, clear notices, set preferences and suchlike without logging inworld.

^ JIRA please Skell? ^

Are these happening through group notices, or direct IMs from people?

If the former, leave the groups.

If the latter... report them to Linden Labs through email to their support address.

I know exactly what you're talking about, however I dont have email from it, thankfully. I'll get these from someone I dont know and immediately start looking at their profile to see what group we have in common while I'm filling out an AR. Usually it's someone who joins a group, then starts spamming each member of it with their crap. Once I find a group on their profile that I'm in, I send a message to the group owner about it.

Like Argent said, report them through email to support since you dont have the SL viewer installed. Shame there isn't a way through our beta dashboard to send messages to the group owners or our friends who are online.

Never mind, I'm a dummy. I opened one of the e-mails I got, and there was a link at the bottom to turn off IM sent from e-mail.

It wasn't from a group that I've joined. There were 4 e-mails from this one person within an hour and a half, the first offering me a 100 linden gift card to visit his store, and an SLURL to his store. the other 3 were within 12 minutes of each other, offering me an inventory item. He was probably spamming a lot of people in-game with IMs, so I suspect he's been reported and shut down. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often.

Thanks much! Although I do regret having to cut off all e-mail from SL. Maybe they'll make it an option to select whose messages get forwarded, or better yet, as Skell Dagger suggested, be able to interact out of game.