Site News & Announcements

Costumicons and Our Basic Spam Filter!

Greetings Members!

We're extending the current costumicon subscription period and releasing
our Basic Spam Filter.


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Today I get paid to write about:
         white sand Caribbean beaches...
                   wildlife sanctuaries in Borneo...
                             Indian Ocean hideaways...
                                       Rome... Paris... London...
If you ever dreamed about the romantic life of a travel writer, here's an unusual
opportunity to get your first assignment.

                   * * http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/writing * *

                   Please support our Sponsor and visit their site today!


:: Basic Spam Filtering ::
Some of you may have noticed that Writing.Com has had a basic spam filter in
development for a few weeks. This filter looks for the most common subject lines
and "from" email addresses that are ALWAYS spam and removes them. This filter
works "on the fly" meaning that it only parses the spam as it displays your email
listing to you. By default, the basic spam filter is "On" but can be turned off at any
time by visiting your "My Account" then "Change Preferences" page.

We are still developing this filter and will work to hone its skills to further reduce the
amount of spam members may receive in email. At present, we expect the filter to
catch and remove between 15% and 50% of the incoming spam. This is dependent
on the type of spam you are receiving. Since the day we setup the filter in its test
phase around one month ago, it has purged over 150,000 pieces of spam email from
the mailboxes of our members.

Please note: One of the best ways to reduce the amount of spam you receive is to
be very careful not to open and view spam messages. Try your best to delete them
directly from the email listing page. Spamming companies include hidden images
and HTML that tell them the second you read one of their spam emails. Once they
know you've read it, they know your email address is active and working and they
send you even more spam! We also recommend that you not accept or read ecards
from off-site mailings as the ecard sites keep lists of active email accounts that
have used their service.


:: Costumicons Extended! ::
To help our members have a Happy 4th of July, we've decided to extend the current
costumicon subscription period until July 7th! There's no additional cost to those
who have already purchased their subscription... and the price is still low for those who
haven't grabbed one yet! Subscribe to or change your current costumicon from the
"My Account" area or directly at:
         http://www.Writing.com/main/my_account.php?action=ea_form&type=costumicon

As usual, you can preview any of the larger portfolio images by clicking on the
small image within the costumicons Store.

Don't Forget: You can GIFT costumicons to others!
         A costumicons subscription makes a great gift!
                   Send one to a friend from your "My Gifts" page TODAY!
                             http://www.Writing.Com/main/my_gifts.php#spend


:: Convention 2003 Coming Soon! ::
UPDATE:
The late registration deadline is June 30th, 2003. Find out more about this all
inclusivie, absolutely amazing 4 day / 3 night event...

         Convention Dates:  August 15th - 18th, 2003

Scholarship Fund: Convention 2006  [13+] #377220 Financial aid is available to attend the Writing.Com Convention. by The StoryMaster

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Writing.Com Convention 2006  [13+] #518723 Complete info for Convention 2006, including itinerary, travel information, cost, etc. by The StoryMistress

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 And don't forget to visit our sponsor:
                     http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/writing
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Thank you for your continued support of Writing.Com!
  ~~ The StoryMistress and
         The StoryMaster