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Getting rid of AOL

I have started receiving junk mail from AOL sources. I know of no-one with an AOL address and from what I am receiving, probably wouldn't want to. As AOL have shown no willingness to tackle this matter, I would like to exclude AOL entirely from my mail box.


Question is, is it possible to block / reject a service like AOL in its entirity?

Posted on Aug 24, 2011 2:36 AM

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7 replies

Aug 24, 2011 3:36 AM in response to seventy one

Create a spam filter. It looks like apple's Mail calls them "rules" (I don't use apple's Mail app but I'm looking at it to reply to your post). Look in Mail's preferences, the Rules button.


Looking at the example rules I see in Mail ("News from Apple") I suppose you would create a rule that says if any From field conains "@aol.com" (is that the domain you are seeing, if not replace as appropriate) then move the message to some mail box (one you might use for spam) or just delete it.

Aug 24, 2011 9:05 AM in response to X423424X

Hello there, and thank you for your interest.


I was (loosely) aware of how to go about setting the rules for Mail and have previously set two which seem to have worked. I think I had something more positive in the back of my mind when I wrote the post ... like AOL; go away, never to be seen again !!!


But the more I think about it, the more it comes to mind that any kind of rejection other than via the junk folder tells the sender, the address is active.

Aug 24, 2011 11:06 AM in response to seventy one

But the more I think about it, the more it comes to mind that any kind of rejection other than via the junk folder tells the sender, the address is active.

Of course. You never want to respond to spam giving any possibility of indicating a valid email address.


As for gmail, I keep "anonymous" gmail account(s) if I need to use a email to register or sign up for something where I don't want any connection back to me. Better yet, if the sign-up porocess allows it, use a throw-away mail address like mailinator.com.

Aug 24, 2011 12:46 PM in response to seventy one

seventy one wrote:


But the more I think about it, the more it comes to mind that any kind of rejection other than via the junk folder tells the sender, the address is active.

If you have the skill, or perhaps someone else has done this, you could create an Applescript, that would effectively return to sender (although that too may acknowledge a valid address). Lacking that, while sending AOL mail to the trash does tell a bot or person that the address is active, you'll never see it, and won't have to worry about it.

Aug 24, 2011 12:55 PM in response to seventy one

But the more I think about it, the more it comes to mind that any kind of rejection other than via the junk folder tells the sender, the address is active.


So don't reject it.


There are hundreds of companies that spend millions a year on fighting spam, you're not going to solve it on your own - just delete it and move on.


If you control your mail server then you can block it at the server level, so it never gets into your mail client, but if you don't have that level of control then the best you can do is ignore it.

Aug 24, 2011 3:04 PM in response to Camelot

Thank you everyone for such good solid advice. I don't have the skill to do much more than divert the problem mail using 'Apple rules' but this will probably do the job. I was never talking about hundreds of junk items, just enough to irritate me. Sorry, too, that I don't have enough 'help' points to dish out fairly ... so just another big thank you.🙂

Getting rid of AOL

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