EMail, Spam, and Viruses

I have been asked to provide some information about our email system, and thought I would take a minute to talk about our email list, and email in general.

There are, on the internet, these things called robots or bots, for short.  Bots themselves are not a bad thing, it is the way they are used that makes them good or bad.  Basically, a Bot is a computer program that probes, or "crawls" the Internet looking for something.

As a specific example, the search engine Google has a bot that follows all of the hyperlinks on a web page.  So, when the Google search bot finds www.businessnetlink.org it will find the links you see to the right.  It will follow, or "harvest" those links, and the links on those pages.  It will find the Membership Listing page, and from there it will find the links to our members web sites.  Theoretically the bot will end up crawling the whole Internet.

What does this have to do with email?

Spammers have bots, too.  When a spam bot crawls a page it reads email addresses.  When it sees an address in a page, it adds it to the spammer's email address database.  So, if we put your email address as contact information on our web site, the spammers will eventually find it, and you will begin receiving spam.  Notice to the right in the hyperlinks, I have listed our contact information as Info at BusinessNetLink.Org.  Currently the bots are not reading this as an email address, but it means you can not simply click on the link to send an email.

Copy and Paste - a quick side trip

Clicking a link is easy.  But copy and paste isn't too much trouble.  You can put your curser at the beginning of a phrase, such as BusinessNetLink.Org and press and hold the mouse's left key.  Move the curser to the end of what you want to copy, and release the mouse button.  The phrase should now be highlighted.

There are now two ways to copy the phrase.  My preference is press and hold the "control" or "ctrl" key, press and release the "c" key, and release the "ctrl" key.  This copies the phrase, picture, or whatever you just highlighted into computer memory.  Now, to paste it somewhere else, put the cursor where you want it, press and hold the "ctrl" key, press and release the "v" key, and release the "ctrl" key.

The other way to copy and paste is, after you highlight what you want, right click the mouse and choose "copy" from the menu that popped up, and when you move the cursor to the destination, right click the mouse button and choose "paste" from the menu.  For me, the "ctrl" key method is easier most of the time.

So what about our email system?

Members of Business NetLink will be added to our email list unless they request otherwise.  To send email to everyone in the group simply address the email to:
Members@BusinessNetLink.Org The capital letters are not important, I do it for readability.  (Capital or lower case letters are not important in email, but they are important in web addresses.)

OK, I'm moving on. Here are the four most important things about our list.

Your email address is safe. The email list does not disclose your address to anyone.  Nobody can look at an email and determine who the email went to.  You can see who made a post, but the system does not send a list of addresses.

This is a closed list. The email list administrator or moderator must add you to the list.  It is done manually.  No one can post to the list unless they are subscribed to the list, and the email only goes to those that are subscribed to the list.  If you have more than one email address, you can only post to the list from the email address that is subscribed to the list.  If someone tries to add their email address (or someone else's email address) to the email list, the request is sent to the moderator and the administrator, and it must be approved by one or the other.  Nobody can just "join".

If our email address ends up in a spammer's database they still can not send you spam, because they are not subscribed to the list.

This is a plain text list.  The email list we use converts incoming email to plain text.  If your email program uses Times Roman font, Century Gothic font, italics, red, green, very large or very small fonts, it is all converted to plain text on a white background.

This list strips all scripts and attachments.  If you use a signature "card" it will be stripped from the email.  If you use a checkerboard background as your email stationary, it will be stripped.  If you have a script that makes a flower bloom or a dog or cat dance, or music play, it will be stripped.  The result is that the email is just plain old fashioned print on a white background.

This also means that if your computer is infected with a virus that attaches itself to an email, it will be stripped.  If your computer is infected with a virus that runs a script in an email, it will be stripped.  A computer can not become infected by plain text email unless that email contains an attachment.  Attachments do not come through this list.

What is the purpose of the email list?  The idea behind the email list is that we can make general announcements to the group, such as who the presenter will be at the next meeting.  It also gives the members the ability to make special announcements to the group.   You just released a new CD, received a new product for sale, or started an advertising or discount campaign-anything that you might want to communicate to the group. 

Remember that we are a networking group! You were driving down the street and saw a new business opening, a help wanted sign or something else that might represent a networking opportunity that you could pass on to the group.  If you are looking for a source, product, service, or contact, send a post to the membership.  Someone may be able to help you.

What is inappropriate?  Remember too that this is a business list.  This is not a place to send jokes or warnings about global warming/cooling or end of the world warnings.  While you might pick up the phone and call a friend to tell them a joke, would you call everyone in your customer database to tell them?  If not, it might not be appropriate for our list either.  Don't send a post to the list that you don't want everyone to see.

Remember that this is a Professional group.  Please keep posts to the list confidential.  As a general rule, do not forward posts to those outside the list, and don't post email that was forwarded or sent to you.

Some general email information.  When you click on "reply" everyone will see your post.  If you want to send your reply to just one person you click on their email address

How do you get off of the list?  There are two ways to get off of the list.  If you don't want to be on the list tell a board member.  If your email account is full, or for some reason does not work email will "bounce" and you will be temporarily suspended.

Currently Wayne Vanaman is the only person than can manipulate the email list.  If you have any questions, ask a board member and they will see to it that your question is answered.


Business NetLink is a local Pensacola Business Networking leads and referrals group.  Some members of Pensacola BizNetLink are also members of other Pensacola business networking groups, such as Pensacola Lead-ers, Business Networking International (BNI), and Pensacola Prospects.  Pensacola Business Networking:  Leads, Referrals.
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