List Serv Information

Rules and Information about the AAAE List Serv

Daily, we all receive e-mailings commonly called SPAM. SPAM may take several forms:

• Advertisements or requests for funds (like junk mail from the post office). Please DO NOT FORWARD advertisements to listservs.
• Requests to forward a message to a (company/government agency/newspaper/etc) on behalf of some (child/elderly person/handicapped person/poor person/homeless person/animal/etc.) who is (sick/dying/sad/poverty stricken/pregnant/etc.) and is in need of a (transplant/donation/home/neutering/morale boost/etc.). When you get one of these notes, PLEASE TRASH IT IMMEDIATELY. DO NOT SEND IT TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS OR LISTSERVS. Such appeals and warnings are almost always hoaxes and practical jokes.
  
• Warning of some new deadly computer virus. Virus warnings are not disseminated by SPAM. If you need a virus warning, the Purdue Computing Center will disseminate one. DO NOT FORWARD GENERIC VIRUS WARNINGS TO LISTSERVS. Keep a current virus protection package on your computer instead. Large attachments can be difficult/slow to upload/download for modems. Attachments over 1 MB in size are sent to a queue for approval so there may be a delay in their being sent. There is no maximum number of attachments allowed, just a maximum size limit.

Attachments

Be considerate and try to put attachments in easily convertible file formats such as Word (doc), WordPerfect, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat (pdf), or Rich Text Format (rtf) only.

Virus activity has increased greatly. The AAAE listserv allows attachments for the orderly flow of information and ease of conducting business. This openness; however, permits the opportunity for viruses to be transmitted. The configuration of the listserv is set to hopefully prevent viruses from being spread. Any of the following file extensions appearing in a message sent to the listserv will cause that message to be diverted into an approval queue where messages with viruses attached can be deleted. Because the approval queue requires a real person to permit messages to be sent out over the list this may slow down some messages with legitimate attachments. These extension are: exe, com, pif, bat, vbs, lnk, scr, dll. As always, be careful when opening attachments. When sending a legitimate attachment to the listserv, please include a note in the message body and explain what the attachment is.

Dealing with any Viruses or Hoaxes

Please do NOT forward virus warnings to the list. Most are a hoax and only serve to clog email mailboxes and slow down email traffic. They also may make people less aware of legitimate warnings. It is always good practice NOT to open any files that end in pif, lnk, dll, scr, vbs, com, bat, or exe and NOT to open other files that you are not expecting. To check out viruses, chain letters, and hoaxes the following website's may be helpful: https://www.snopes.com/

The Purdue University College of Education Computer Support Staff maintains a very good Web Security webpage. It is located at https://social.education.purdue.edu/edit/category/infotech/security/.