Generally, spam tends to result from one or more of five different reasons.

First, if an e-mail address is posted on a publicly available website (a message board, for instance), sooner or later, it will begin receiving spam e-mails. Spammers frequently employ automated programs called "web crawlers" or "bots" that methodically search the Internet for e-mail addresses. The collected addresses are then sent spam messages, or sold to other spammers.

Second, many business and news websites require users to register with an e-mail address. Usually, the business will limit itself to sending e-mails about product offers (which can also be unwanted), and news websites will send out article notifications. Some websites, however, have no scruples about selling their lists of e-mail addresses, which often find their way into the hands of spammers.

Third, simply opening a spam e-mail can lead to still more spam. Many spam e-mails are nothing more than a link to an image file hosted on a spammer's server, or contain a small hyperlink. Once the e-mail is opened, the hyperlink is activated, and the spammer knows that the e-mail address is valid and can continue to receive spam e-mails.

Fourth, spam can arrive simply by automated guesswork. Many e-mail addresses follow standardized naming conventions (for instance, john.doe@blc.edu), and automated programs can easily generate a host of possible e-mail addresses. Most of the messages will be undeliverable, but some will get through.

Fifth, certain kinds of viruses and spyware contribute to spam. Some viruses and spyware programs are designed specifically to harvest e-mail addresses from a user's address book. Others use the computer itself to send out spam e-mails, taking addresses from the address book. These "botnets", as they are commonly known, generate a large percentage of spam e-mail.

We use a spam filter called Mail Foundry. While it does properly filter the vast majority of spam e-mail, occasionally some spam does get through. Marking an unwanted e-mail message as spam will help improve the filter's accuracy.

Precautionary measures are the best protection against spam.

It's best to keep your e-mail address private, and give it out only when necessary. You should only share your Bethany e-mail address with people on campus, and with trustworthy persons.

Should you need to register at a website, or publicly post an e-mail address, it's best to have a separate e-mail address dedicated exclusively to that purpose. Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail all offer free e-mail accounts, which makes for a cheap and easy "secondary" e-mail account where spam would be less of an inconvenience.

Probably not. At the very least, the website will send you e-mails advertising productions and special promotions. Many online businesses have no qualms about selling lists of e-mail addresses, which could result in more spam.

Instead, use a secondary e-mail address (such as a free account with Yahoo or Hotmail), since receiving spam at that address might prove less of an inconvenience.

No. Chain e-mails are often hoaxes. Furthermore, every time someone forwards the message, the recipients' e-mail addresses remained in the message's header, and those addresses easily can end up in the hands of spammers (if, for instance, one of the recipients has an address-harvesting virus on his computer).

No. This can cause a problem colloquially known as "autoresponder hell", where two e-mail accounts, both set to autorespond, send each other thousands of "out-of-office" notifications. Additionally, if a spammer receives an "out-of-office" message from your account, that only confirms your e-mail address, thereby inviting more spam.