Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities

last thoughts: sex, infection, public postings.... Name: Anne Dalke Date: 2003-12-12 12:15:41 Link to this Comment: 7516

As you prepare your portfolios and gather your thoughts about the territory we've covered together, and what we've learned there in one another's good company...

I invite you to make one last posting about...

all of the above.

I'll kick this off w/ Garron's query to me (upcoming in a moment) about the spamming to which we've opened ourselves, by using this forum area...

what do you think about the costs of "thinking sex" in public?
The sorts of "infections" it makes us susceptible to?

spamming: worth the cost? Name: Anne Dalke Date: 2003-12-12 12:19:05 Link to this Comment: 7517

Here's Garron's query to me (which I pass on w/ her permission):

I think serendip is giving me SPAM. I guard my bryn mawr email with me life and never give it out to people I don't know or to companies when I buy things. Nonetheless, I started receiving Spam in the last couple of weeks. I eventually realized this spam was also being sent to people who contributed on our serendip site. I therefore think that someone is using the email addresses we post on serendip as a spam address book or someone is using your email address book for that purpose. I thought I should let you know in case there's anything you can do about the serendip security, and/or so you can keep this spam factor in mind if you use serendip for another class you teach in the future.

Name: Megan Date: 2003-12-13 17:30:10 Link to this Comment: 7522

The SPAM that I've been getting doesn't have a link where I can remove myself from their mailing list. I don't know how to stop it.

Could you just the forum on Blackboard instead of Serendip?

another woe Name: Ali Date: 2003-12-15 03:59:13 Link to this Comment: 7531

You mean I DON'T have an abnormally small penis that could use a miracle pill? And that p@r!s hilt>>n HOTsexyHOT email wasn't just for me? I think that providing a class with email addresses could solve this problem. But another of my worries is that serendip is easily searchable. When I start applying for jobs and a potential employer types in "Ali Briggs" to google and my postings about sex pop up, that may put me in a sticky situation. Nevermind if my parents become computer literate and type my name in! Yikes!

Name: Catherine Date: 2003-12-16 02:09:07 Link to this Comment: 7538

How else do people learn to be open, honest, accepting of each other?
Whether or not we get sidetracked with a lot of unwanted e-mails, it is important to remember that there are other people who have nothing to do with the random advertisements and other things we receive, who want to and need to read our postings. We benefit from having this class, but not everyone gets to sit in, listen, and participate. I think we should keep the site running.
The only suggestion I have is that instead of putting in our entire addresses, we could put incomplete or abbreviated ones. For example, my e-mail address is crhy@brynmawr.edu, but I could type in "crhy@bmc" or crhy. People in the tri-college community at least would know what that meant, although maybe other people who want to contact us after reading our posting may not be able to. Or maybe there could be an address in general for those people outside of the college to write to.

Name: Ro Date: 2003-12-16 06:35:30 Link to this Comment: 7539

Here's an exerpt from the FTC's website on spam. Perhaps our spamers will also email them. Let's hope so. I've given their address as mine in this posting :-)

"What Can I Do With the Spam in my In-Box?

Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Send a copy of unwanted or deceptive messages to uce@ftc.gov. The FTC uses the unsolicited emails stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive spam email.

Let the FTC know if a "remove me" request is not honored. If you want to complain about a removal link that doesn't work or not being able to unsubcribe from a list, you can fill out the FTC's online complaint form at www.ftc.gov. Your complaint will be added to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel database and made available to hundreds of law enforcement and consumer protection agencies.

Send a copy of the spam to your ISP's abuse desk. Often the email address is abuse@yourispname.com or postmaster@yourispname.com. Make sure to include a copy of the spam, along with the full email header. At the top of the message, state that you're complaining about being spammed.

Complain to the sender's ISP. Make sure to include a copy of the message and header information and state that you're complaining about spam.

To file a complaint visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. "

now I'm nervous Name: Laurel Date: 2003-12-16 15:41:15 Link to this Comment: 7543

I don't want people to be able to search my name and read comments. Now that we know that's possible Serendip should no longer be a required part of any class. Return to Blackboard.

Name: tia Date: 2003-12-19 23:57:16 Link to this Comment: 7570

i think people in the BMC community in general are getting spam...but it could be becuas ealot of classes nowadays have web postings

Finale Name: Grannis Date: 2003-12-20 03:51:57 Link to this Comment: 7574

Well ladies, I must say that I have greatly enjoyed myself in this cyber-playground of ours, even if we have started receiving a bit of spam. I guess that's the price we pay for speaking our minds about a topic that society still considers to be so risque.
I've been looking around the past few weeks, and all of a sudden, it seems like sex is everywhere I go, present in everything I encounter. I find this humorous, in a way-- we repress sex, proper culture treats it as a taboo in almost any context, and yet it is an underlying current in everything around us. Whether it be in social interactions at work, "looks" from a stranger on a street corner, the media, or education, sex is everywhere. So what are we going to do about it? I am reminded of the 'elephant in the room' phenomenon: okay, so once we've admitted that sex is everpresent in American culture, where do we go from here? I'm not sure. Even after a semester of delving into sex from many different perspectives on many different levels, I still feel confused-- but perhaps that's because I feel I've just hit the tip of the iceberg. I thought I had a pretty good handle on sex at the beginning of this course; having encountered (and taken part in) a lot of sexual exploration myself, I figured I had considered sex from quite a few points of view. But now.... well now, sex has just become more of a mysterious enigma to me. I kind of like it that way though :-)
Thanks for a wonderful semester, all of you---
Grannis