| Why do I need to enter my email address? . . . . I get enough
spam! Your email is needed to validate the user registering (this helps to discourage fraudulent sign ups which diminishes system resources), we need to send you a verification code to the email address you provide. After you register you will be able to enter the secure portion of our site using a unique user ID and password created by you. At Fanciersplus we put a emphasis on spam prevention Your privacy is important to us; we will "never" rent, sell, or share your email with any 3rd parties in any way, for any purpose. Did you know spammers invest in software (spambots) to harvest email addresses online. They scour the Internet in search of email addresses taking them off of unsuspecting sites, even off your own website. Where ever you place your email, e.g., posted in forums, guestbooks, chat rooms, newsgroups, cat lists, signing up for contests, counters/guestbooks for your site or even sending or receiving e-cards at some popular greeting cards sites, your email address could be collected. At Fanciersplus we want to be able to make your email available to legitimate cat inquirers who wished to contact you but yet NOT easily accessible for spambots! So as a solution, we've implemented a system that allows registered users to easily contact breeders by retrieving their email through our database, therefore your email address "never" actually appears on the web page for spambots to collect for spammers. Helpful spam prevention tips Spammers send billions of email messages in the hope that a fraction of a percent of recipients will visit their site or buy their product. Never respond to spam in any way!. . . replying to complain or even to unsubscribe by using the link they provide could enable them to track the fact that you opened their message. This makes them aware your email is indeed active. Some might actually honor your unsubscribe request, but most will simply sell your address on tens or hundreds of other spam mail lists. Solutions for those who need to have their email on their homepage, there are a few things you can do to help keep spambots away. A simple and mostly effective technique to fool the bots is by making your email address a graphic image (unlinked) or disguise the address simply by writing "name at yourcattery dot com" instead of "name@yourcattery.com". You can also use a "contact us" mail form (hard coded, and not simply hidden within the html coding as this would still allow easy access to your email address). For another variation, you can try Tim Williams javascript which will hide your email address from those pesty bots: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~trw/spam/spam4.htm Other sources to help fight spammers SpamCop Junkbusters MailWasher |