QUESTION:

Why do I get so much unwanted e-mail (spam) and what can I do about stopping it?

POSSIBLE SOLUTION(S):

Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE), also known as "spam", is unscrupulously distributed by "spammers" and is considered the scourge of the Internet. While Tellurian Networks makes all best efforts to prevent spam (as outlined in our E-mail Policy), it is a near impossible task due to the number of spammers and their ever changing methods for distributing their unwanted messages. Also understand that even with the spam preventing systems and measures Tellurian has in place, there is no way we can effectively block spam 100% without affecting the normal flow of legitimate e-mail messages.

There are, however, some measures that you can take to attempt to prevent your e-mail account from becoming a larger target for spam or to prevent yourself from becoming a target in the first place.

• If you get an unwanted and unsolicited e-mail message and you do not know who the sender is — DELETE it immediately! While most spam is unwanted "junk" mail and a waste of resources, on rare occassions a spam e-mail message may contain a virus and/or other exploit that could cause damage to your computer operating system.

• Never, EVER reply to any spam message or try to unsubscribe, remove, or click on ANY links in a spam message no matter what the message says. If you do, this just confirms to the spammer that you have a valid and working e-mail address and you might actually start receiving MORE spam!

• When sending e-mail messages to a large number of e-mail recipients (five or more), please respect the privacy of each individual by HIDING their e-mail addresses from the other recipients. This can be done in any e-mail program by utilizing the "BCC:" (Blind Carbon Copy) field. Sending an e-mail where all the e-mail addresses are "exposed" in the "To:" field increases the likelihood of that e-mail message eventually being harvested by a spammers trap! If a friend or acquaintance sends you an e-mail message where you see a large amount of exposed e-mail addresses, send that person a friendly reminder (do not reply to ALL!) to use the BCC field in the future.

• DO NOT forward any e-mail message where there are "exposed" e-mail addresses in the message body — this could have the same effect as the above. Edit and remove any exposed e-mail addresses in the message body and if sending to a large number of recipients (five or more), again, please BCC the recipients e-mail addresses that you are forwarding the message to BEFORE you click SEND.

• If you have a web site or web page, DO NOT publish or make your e-mail address into a clickable link. Many spammers utilize "web bots" that automatically surf the Internet to harvest e-mail addresses via these links.

• Fight Spam on the Internet!
• CAUCE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
• Cloudmark SpamNet Plugin - for Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and Outlook 2000/XP

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