SPAM
Updated 3/26/2012

As all members should be aware, included with their membership is a SPARC e-mail account.  This is your call sign @sparc.us.  It is up to you whether or not you choose to take advantage of this benefit.  The members page of this site, shows what SPARC members have indicated to be their preferred email account.  Your SPARC account features POP3 (Outlook, Outlook Express, etc.), web based e-mail, mobile and Smartphone "push" email access with no limit on attachment size or storage limits between two sparc.us accounts at this time.  The web based method also features a calendar, contact list, task list and more.  For more information on how to use this feature, click the Email Help button on the left.  If you forgot or do not have a password, send an email to sparc at sparc.us requesting one.  You will be able to change it through the SPARC site or the web based client once you log in.

SPAM - There are many reasons this can occur and there are many things we are doing to prevent this.  Spammers are sneaky and use any method they can to get your email address.  One method is "web crawlers" that automatically scan through site after site on the internet and look for what appears to be valid email addresses, I.E. - something@something.com.  On the SPARC site, we have changed all email address references to show "something at something.com".  Even this is not immune to spammers getting your email address.  Of course, the disadvantage to this is that you can not just click on an email address anymore, you must type it in manually. 

Another defense that SPARC uses, is a server based solution to spam.  This program checks for spam before it even gets to you.  The problem with this method, is that if the program is too aggressive, it may block legitimate email for you, thinking it is spam.  Once this program is installed, it will have to be tweaked to find a happy medium.  If any legitimate mail gets blocked, please email us and we can add it to the "white list".

Yet another method that works well to keep the spam out of your inbox, are programs that you install on your email (pop3) client.  One that is free and has worked very well is called SpamBayes.  You can download it for free at http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/windows.html.  Please read all the information on this page as their main application is for Outlook not Outlook Express.  At the bottom of their page, they do have a non Outlook (Outlook Express and others) solution.  Of course, as with anything, use at your own risk.  I have used this program in the past and have had very good luck with it.

Below is a website that explains ways that spammers can get your email address.  There are things you can do as well to keep your email address safe.

http://www.private.org.il/harvest.html

We will be keeping you updated on any news or changes regarding this issue.

Remember, that spam is an issue that ALL email providers are trying to deal with, whether it be Hotmail, Yahoo, SPARC or your internet service provider.