To participate fully in the activities at Hot Boots, various features will ask
for your e-mail address when you list yourself or otherwise post material to
the site. This is so other users can contact you, of course! If you're like most
Hot Boots users, you will want that, since bootmen come to Hot Boots
to meet others.
A problem in recent years has been that spammers find these addresses, and
of course, no one wants spam. To thwart spammers, we no longer show
e-mail addresses in ads, listings, messages or in the Chat Room, unless you
intentionally type it into the ad, listing, message, or chat conversation.
Instead, people who wish to write you will be shown a web page where
they can put in their e-mail address and a message to you. They will not
be shown your address.
Then, the Hot Boots mail server will generate an e-mail from them to you.
WILL THIS PREVENT ALL SPAM?
No. Some spammers are persistent enough to write one bootman after
another, awkward as that is. However, we limit use of the system such
that they cannot write very many. Our experience has been that almost
no spam arrives through this system.
WILL THIS GUARANTEE
THAT NO ONE WRITING
WILL LEARN OF MY ADDRESS?
No. When you reply to them, of course they will then have your address.
Be aware that you can reply to a writer without intending to. Setting a
"vacation reply", having a spam filter that challenges senders, or letting
your mail box get full can generate a reply. Also, equipment failures
on the Internet can cause "bounce" replies. We want you to be aware of
these possibilities. They should occur very infrequently.
THEN WHY DO THIS?
Because it will greatly reduce the exposure of your e-mail address
to spammers and others. You will likely feel that exposure is non-existent.
WILL THIS MAKE IT
HARDER FOR ME TO FILTER FOR SPAM?
No, it will make that easier. All mail from the system will have the three
words "Your Hot Boots" in the "Subject" of the e-mail. You can tell your
spam program to accept that mail.
WILL THE SYSTEM
HIDE MY E-MAIL ADDRESS WHEN I AM
SENDING THROUGH IT?
No. The recipient will get your e-mail address in the message you send and
it will say it is from you, not from Hot Boots. All he needs to do to write
you is to reply in the usual way.
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