Status Line

• Reference Services
• Dec 07 - Jan 08
• Issue: 218

QuestionPoint Tips & Tricks: SPAM, Email Reference Forms, and Chat

The QuestionPoint development team has developed some techniques to reduce the amount of form-based Spam sent through your email reference form.

For Email Reference

Option 1: QuestionPoint-hosted Spam blocker.

Click on the Support form link when you are logged into QuestionPoint.

Fill out the form - In the Question box including the following:

• Your institution ID
• The URL for EVERY instance of your email reference web form.

If your SPAM volume does not decrease, please contact OCLC Customer Support via email at support@oclc.org. When possible, be sure to note the specific problem URLs.

Option 2: Making changes on your self-hosted form.

Please have your webmaster contact OCLC Customer Support at support@oclc.org with your library name and Institution ID to receive the directions.

For Chat Forms

Self-Hosted: To limit any potential spam, we strongly recommend that you convert to the OCLC hosted chat form model. This is only available for libraries that have fully transitioned to the librarian “Flash Chat” interface. If your chat form is hosted by QuestionPoint, we will be implementing these modifications for you automatically.

Source: “Spam Update,” QuestionPoint: 24/7 reference services blog, November 14, 2007, http://questionpoint.blogs.com/questionpoint_247_referen/2007/11/spam-update.html.

[Jennifer Hawkes, OCLC Services Librarian, Nylink]

OCLC Reference and FirstSearch Contact Information

For additional question about QuestionPoint or any of the QP topics covered here, please contact Donna Dixon (dixond@nylink.org) for more information.