Spam is unsolicited e-mail (or news postings) pushing a point. Be it an ad for a used PC, or an urge to vote on a proposition; if you didn't ask for it, didn't sign up on a mailing list related to it, and didn't leave your e-mail address on a web form asking for more information on it, it's spam!

What You Can Do

One of the most common ways spammers acquire email addresses is off the web. Applications called 'spambots' automatically surf the web harvesting email addresses off web pages. Any email address posted on the web is at risk, so the safest practice is not to put email addresses in a web page. If you need to post an email address on the web, here are some ways of making it more difficult for spambots to find.

To protect your account even further, use the filtering features in your email client. Most mail clients offer Junk/Spam filtering features.

Setting up Junk/Spam Filtering in Thunderbird or Netscape

How Arts & Sciences Reduces Spam

Universities are unique because they run more open networks and trust faculty, students and staff to manage their email for the most part.

A&S actively scans all ArtSci inbound email for spam and viruses. Our spam device will detect 90% of spam and +99% of all viruses. Periodically, some spam will come through the system as our filter "learns" what is or is not spam. Typically these will get through to a small portion of the ArtSci population and then be filtered for the rest. About 70-80 % of all inbound mail to the University is spam that is filtered out before it reaches your inbox.

Occasionally, legitimate mail is caught by the server spam filter. If you believe you are missing legitimate email due to the filtering process, please contact abuse@artsci.wustl.edu. If possible, please include the FROM address of the sender and dates of emailings.

We also understand that not everyone wants their email filtered. You can choose not to have your mail filtered. Simply send an email using this form, and we will disable the filter.

If you receive spam from an address ending in artsci.wustl.edu DO NOT DELETE the mail from your account. Forward it to abuse@artsci.wustl.edu.

How NTS Reduces Spam

Network Technology Services attempts to filter for SPAM sent to @wustl.edu addresses. Email the system believes is SPAM has a Subject line beginning with *WU-SPAM*. Tagging the Subject line with *WU-SPAM* allows users to modify email clients to begin filtering out SPAM from their inboxes. This filtering is only applied to emails addressed to @wustl and does not filter for messages sent directly to @artsci addresses.

To learn how to add a filter in your email client for messages tagged as *WU-SPAM*, click here.