NBER Anti-Spam Policy

To reduce the flood of spam entering the nber.org mail server, we have adopted several spam reduction techniques. In all cases, suspected spam is rejected during the mail connection, rather than merely dropped on the floor. The rejected message is returned to the SENDER by the connecting MTA and includes a URL for a clear explanation of what has happened. If the sender is a spammer, we anticipate that they will take no action. This has been our experience, at least. If the sender is a legitimate user, then they will see the link and follow the instructions contained within it. Most GUI mail clients will highlight and underline the URL, making it stand out in an otherwise mystifying Delivery Status Notice. Rejecting mail during the connection phase ensures that legitimate users will see a delivery failure notice, but we will not be sending such notices to possibly forged From addresses. The REASON-FOR-REJECTION links are given below.

If you have been blocked, you are probably wondering how to get email to the intended recipient at nber.org. In the short term you could use this form to send a short message to any address at nber.org. Also, mail to abuse at nber dotte org is not filtered for spam.

We maintain a whitelist of From addresses that are not tested, which includes all addresses given by registered users of our web site. Registration will take up to 24 hours to take effect, however.

The NBER IT Staff:

Debby Nicholson	burke	617-588-0311
Mohan Ramanujan (email administrator)	mohan	617-588-0367
Daniel Feenberg	feenberg	617-588-0343
Len McCain	lmccain	617-588-0331