Don't Put Your E-mail Address on Your Blog

As we discussed with you during Freshman orientation, you want to be careful about putting any kind of personal information on your blog, such as your address, telephone number, etc.

You should also avoid putting your e-mail address directly on your blog. Unfortunately, the internet is swarming with "spambots"---little programs that scan webpages for e-mail addresses, which are then sold to spammers. If you type out your e-mail address on your blog, we can almost guarantee that you'll see a marked increase in the amount of e-mails you get touting quasi-legal "male performance enhancing drugs, online gambling and porn, and, of course, appeals from foreigners in developing countries pleading with you to assist them in black-market currency exchange schemes.

So, how do you give people an easy way to repond to you in a blog post? Here's how:

1. Type some text like: "for more information, contact me."
2. Select a portion of the text, like the words "contact me."
3. Click the little "hyperlink" toolbar icon, the little globe with a link on it between the color icon and the left justifcation icon.
4. When the hyperlink box comes up, delete what's in it and type: mailto:
5. Then type or paste in your e-mail address. Thus if you're a guy, the string will read something like: mailto: dragonsword_demonslayer@att.com. If you are a gal, the string will read something like: mailto: princess_pickle_puppy@joplin.net. Or you could just use your official MSSU e-mail address.
   
6. Save and close.
7. You'll now see your original text with "contact me" as a hyperlink. When a reader clicks on it, a new e-mail should be fired up, with the address you supplied already in the "to:" box.