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Not that long ago SPAM was simply a canned ham product. Today SPAM is more obnoxious than telemarketers at dinner time and its volume threatens to clog our email accounts. What is it and what can we do about it?
SPAM is any unsolicited bulk email that is sent to individual users or to maillists. Mount Holyoke lists were not set up for mass mailings and should never be used for any type of unsolicited email. Unfortunately, spammers don't care about our policies and campus maillists are being targeted. Some of the kinds of SPAM you might receive seem like harmless advertising for services, free products, and general marketing information while other SPAM is more invasive with pornographic content. To make matters worse there are several new viruses that "spoof" other people's addresses pretending to be someone they aren't.
The college is currently investigating tools that can decrease the amount of SPAM. One measure that is used "blocks" some of the SPAM but it's difficult to effectively block particular domains without also blocking email that should be delivered. Any email that is blocked normally gets returned to the sender with a message indicating why it was rejected. While our system administrators work on effective solutions, be prepared to DELETE the messages.
There are some precautions that you can take to reduce the chances of being targeted by spammers:
- Be very careful about signing up for lists on websites (Joke of the Day etc.).
- Avoid filling out surveys online that require your email address.
- Do not give out your Mount Holyoke email address to vendors .
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- Do not agree to receive commercial information to your Mount Holyoke College email account. (Note: If you wish to receive commercial email, obtain a free account that you can easily discontinue like
Hotmail.com or Yahoo.com.)
- If you decide to reply to SPAM, do so with caution as some "unsubscribe" links may provide your email information to other lists.
- If you get attachments from spammers or unknown parties DO NOT OPEN THEM. They are probably viruses/worms and should be deleted immediately.
The college system managers are aware of the problem. You don't have to report SPAM (they're getting it too) unless one of these conditions exists:
- if you are getting spammed via college mailing lists;
- if you have tried to get off of a commercial mailing list without success, (they might want to block the site);
- if the email is personally harassing or threatening (a Public Safety issue).
Finally, there is the option of setting up filters in your email client. This doesn't stop the SPAM but it does help in automating its removal. How to "filter" depends on what you're using to read email. Consult the help files for your particular application.
To learn more about SPAM, at the MHC % prompt type HELP SPAM or see:
http://www.monkeys.com/SPAM-defined/
http://SPAM.abuse.net/SPAM/
http://www.cauce.org/
Information for this article was taken from the SPAM documentation on the MHC system written by Michael Crowley, July 2002
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Four staff members earned degrees in the Frances Perkins program and matriculated with the class of 2002 on May 26th:
Maryanne Alos, Senior Administrative Assistant
English Department; AB degree
Major: English Minor: Women's Studies
Rozelyn Douglas, Library Assistant Reserves, LITS
AB degree
Major: Psychology Minor: Education
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Patricia A. Lalli, Administrative Assistant, Office of Admission; AB degree
Major: History Minor: Art History
Yvonne Skillings, former Senior Administrative Assistant Office of the Dean of Students;
Major: English Minor: Caribbean Studies
Yvonne left the College to accept a position at Spelman College.
Congratulations FPs for a job well done!
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