If you're an ASIA or site member. We may need to email you from time to time.  We will be sending out technical and help notices, as well as value added information for our membership.   So we need to have a good current email address from you.

Also if you're running spam filters, or your ISP does (as AOL does), please be sure to white-list, any email address with the domain name guitarmaker.org in it.  

The web master has even run into problems simply responding to people who've emailed in help-desk support issues.  When he emails them back he finds that the memberhelp email address is being bounced by the recipient.

Also so far we've received several score of requests to submit applications into spam filtering services. For various reasons (mainly time) this is something we just can't do.  So its incumbent on you, the member to add us to your white list.  A note of warning here.  Spam filters do more harm than good, they cause you to loose or miss as much good email as bad.  The best solution is prevention.  Its easy to protect your email address from spammers, and I've outlined some steps below to help you in this effort.

You can always opt out of general mailings with a remove me link at the bottom of any email we send you.  This will opt you out of all emails sent with the exception of purchase receipt notices, and critical web-site technical notices (like a planned outage or redesign down-time etc).

Protecting your email address:

#1:  Make sure you're email address is not listed in any "scan-able" location on the Internet.  If your address exists in a mailto: link, on a public forum or a whois lookup database, it will be sucked up into spam lists.   Use forms on your website for contact which don't expose your email address on your site.  Most ISP's or domain service providers provide free scripts for this purpose with your account.  If its too much to hookup yourself.. get the neighbor's 16 year web-maven to do it.

#2:  The whois DB's are the places your site is indexed, such as Verisign, or Domain Direct).   You have to submit a valid email address to your site registrar, but submit one that is not your primary address.  Get a gmail or hotmail account for this purpose, and allow gmail-hotmail to filter everything.   Since these services are web based, they'll not clog up your inbox..

#3:  Ask people who you provide your address to not to include it in chain emails.  These are a form of e-virus, and usually originate with some marketer who knows the email will eventually make it back to them, complete with a huge CC list of email addresses attached!

#4: For the purposes of online purchasing, use a throw-away address.  Again gmail, hotmail etc are perfect.  Or if you have your own domain-site.. just set up throw away addresses on your own domain (this is what I do).

#5: Never place your email address into an online survey on an e-com site, also be very care what forums, and blob spots you provide addresses to.

In general, for web transactions of all types, use a throw away address.  Keep your personal or business email address for those purposes.  The guitarmaker site for instance is and should be considered by you as a "trusted" site, but MyBlogSpace etc should not be.