Contacts Sought Requests

Thankyou for requesting details from a "Contacts Sought" entry. This is a computerised process and your request will be handled more quickly if you observe the following:

	Create a new e-mail in plain text format if possible^†.
	In the subject line put Contact Reference xxxx where xxxx is the Reference number your are interested in e.g. 1206
	DO NOT put any information in the body of the e-mail. The computer will ignore this anyway.
	Send the e-mail to contacts@sdfhs.org; do not use any other Society address.
	In reply you will receive the name and e-mail address of the submitter; it is then up to you to contact them directly.

Your co-operation is appreciated!

^†Plain Text vs HTML.

Many users of e-mail use HTML coded content rather than plain text. This is understandable, as such e-mails can be personalised with a variety of fonts, colours, background images etc. However, many people do not realise that HTML code is 'executable', in other words, it can run a program on a computer; unfortunately many viruses make use of this, attach themselves to HTML coded e-mails and actually run a program in the background when the recipient reads the e-mail, thus infecting another computer. All this without either sender or recipient being aware of the infection!

Plain text e-mails cannot do this - they are just what they say they are, plain text and nothing else. Because the Society's computer system is now a vital part of its operation, we must protect our computers as much as possible. Requests for Contacts Sought and Members Interests details generate a large proportion of our e-mail, and by asking for plain text e-mails, we are adding another level of security to our system.

Also, an e-mail in HTML code can be up to ten times as large as one in plain text; not only will it take up ten times the space on a computer, it will take longer to send and download, thus costing more and taking up more space on the internet.

How do you create a plain text e-mail? With most e-mail programs, when you open a box to create a new message, a menu bar appears along the top. One of the items will be 'Format' or something similar; within that sub-menu should be an option to use plain text. Unless you choose to make the changes to your system permanent, only the current e-mail will be re-formatted.

Using AOL? Click here.

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