Dear Museum-l'ers,

I have a favor to ask of you, for which I will repay you
with some information.

Some Internet Service Providers (ISP's, your dial-up
Internet connection), block incoming e-mail from various
domains (e.g. hotmail.com).  The reason for this is to
prevent spam from clogging up their mail systems and
irritating their legitimate paying customers.  Often, an
entire domain is blocked.  This is bad for you because
e-mail you want to receive from clients and colleagues may
never reach you, and you will never know why.

I personally have blocked mail from domains by setting my
mail program to delete messages off the server, only to find
later that the domains also had legitimate users I was
excluding.  For example, about a year ago, I received so
much porn-spam from HOTMAIL.COM that I figured that
"Hotmail" was a porno domain and blocked it.  Now it appears
that this company provides legitimate mail service that has
just been abused by some of their members.

First info tidbit:  If you select an ISP that does not have
strict rules about spam being sent from their system, _your_
e-mail may never get to some of your intended recipients.
Ask what policy your ISP has regarding spammers on their
system.  If they allow it, use another company for your
dial-up connection.

Second info tidbit:  If you already have a dial-up internet
connection, send an e-mail to their tech support and ask if
mail from specific domains is blocked from entering their
system.

Now here's the favor that I would like to ask of you:

I am currently evaluating the POP mail service I am using
and am concerned about what domains they may be restricting.
Please take a moment to reply to this message. AND also,
enter [log in to unmask] in the CC: field.  I know that my
infi.net account does not restrict domains, but I am not
sure about my POP mail service.  By replying to this
message, and sending a copy to my infi.net address, I will
have 2 copies to compare to determine which domains are
being restricted.  Please do not change the subject field.

Thanks for your help.

Mark C. Vang
Freya Ventures
www.freyaventures.com