I don't get spam. Really. Haven't had a single, unsolicited eMail since I left AOL (tryout, to get things up, fall 1995). Got a bunch on AOL, though; it started pretty much the day I joined. So, I would add "no AOL" to the list.
I don't post to newsgroups.
I don't post my eMail to webpages. In the few instances that I have, it's cloaked (again, as had been mentioned in an earlier post).
I don't forward "jokes" to anyone else, because too many people don't know what BCC means or how to use it.
Be careful with chat programs; they are used to harvest addresses.
I have my .mac account, which I guard completely, and I have a web-based eMail account, which gets posted when you can't avoid giving an eMail address. It doesn't get spam either, but if it starts, I have a line of defense (just get another address; .mac is still safe).
Avoid the "popular" webmail sites; if you have an account with hotmail, you're going to get spam, plain and simple. Do a search and find a more obscure free mail site.
Don't use your real name or any combination of an English name or common word and number when you set up an eMail address.
[email protected] is guaranteed to get spam, because they send mail to every possible combination starting with
[email protected] and ending up at (for example)
[email protected].
Even my employer and friends don't know my .mac address; they get the webmail address only. The only time anyone can discover the .mac account is when I contact them, first.
Don't enter contests, especially on the web. Never fail to check the box "dont send me stuff" when registering software or whatever (and use a webmail account when you register software).
Avoid or think carefully before signing up to a web-based "free" service that requires your eMail address, and only your address, to enroll. These people sell addresses for revenue.
When I install a new OS, it will often ask you for an eMail address for global preferences. I always enter a nonsense (but properly formatted) address. Now, if you have a program that really needs an address, it's easy to set it up manually (ie mail.app, outlook, etc). But once that address is in global preferences, any app can call it, without you knowing about it.
Thus, Internet Explorer will call it, for example, or perhaps you might set it in IE's preference pane. Now, as far as I can tell, IE has no business knowing my eMail address; it's a web browser, not a communications program. IE will give that address to eMail dialogs on a webpage (ie when you don't use your mail program, but instead use the webpage's eMail form). If that happens, they are free to return mail to me at "
[email protected]", because that's what I have set there.