Web Wise
myWRA Gets CE Organized ... Easily
Just because continuing education is required to maintain a real estate license, doesn't mean it's a priority for busy agents. As each biennium passes and the responsibilities of each day take precedence, it is easy to lose track of the details of the educational experience.
Q. When did I take that course? Which courses do I still need? Did I pass or fail?
A. The WRA now has a great tool that will make it easy for everyone to keep track of continuing education course history, as well as other WRA courses you've completed.
myWRA Education. This Web site feature provides WRA members with a historical snapshot of their education, including which courses were taken, when they were completed, whether it was a passing score, and what courses are still needed.
It's a quick and convenient reminder of an agent's education needs. While using this feature, please keep in mind:
- The WRA only maintains records of our own students, so courses completed with sources other than the WRA will not be listed.
- An individual's information on myWRA is only available to that person, so agents must look up their own education history.
If you have not created an account for the WRA Web site, you will need to do that before you can access myWRA or any other secure area of the Web site.
How to Track Your Education History on myWRA
To get to myWRA, click on the myWRA icon on the navigation bar in the upper right corner of the screen. This will take you to the myWRA home page.
Before you will be able to view your records, you will be asked to log in. If you have not yet created an account on the WRA Web site, click on "Create Account". By creating a username and password, you also gain access to other member-only information on the site, such as Legal Services and the online Membership Directory. You will need your WRA member number when you create your account. It can be found above your name on your Wisconsin
REALTORŪ newsletter mailing label.
Once you are logged in, you will be able to access myWRA Education, myWRA Committees, myWRA Member Info or myWRA Favorites. If you choose myWRA Education, you will need to make a selection from the drop-down list of courses (see below).
If you have a question about using the myWRA feature, try the myWRA FAQs page for the answer. If that does not resolve your question, call the WRA at (800) 279-1972 or (608) 241-2047 or e-mail
cindyr@wra.org.
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Dirty Spam Tricks
by Stephen Canale
Many web users are becoming a bit more sophisticated when it comes to protecting their privacy, by using SPAM blocking software and carefully guarding their privacy when entering information online. Unfortunately, there are still two commonly used "dirty tricks" in use by the junk e-mail hucksters that can thwart even the most cautious among us.
The first trick commonly used by junk mailers is to embed "e-mail bugs" into their marketing pitches. This is usually done in order to verify that you've read their solicitations.
Bugging e-mail can be achieved by simply including a standard HTML link within the messages that they send. Sometimes these images are visible. At other times, they are simply one-pixel in size (and transparent in color) thus making them nearly impossible to detect.
However, just because you receive an e-mail that includes some sort of graphics, this does not necessarily mean that you've been bugged. What differentiates an "e-mail bug" from an ordinary graphic is the method used to deliver and display the image within the e-mail you receive.
Pictures and graphics that your friends send to you are commonly included in the e-mail message itself, (or included as attachments) and are generally harmless. On the other hand, images that are actually "e-mail bugs" are not physically included in the e-mail message itself. Instead, these are delivered from an Internet server in direct response to a simple HTML request contained in the e-mail message. Essentially, when you either "open" (or even simply "preview") the bugged e-mail, the HTML code requests the image from the server in just about the same way that your Internet Browser would.
The distinction is that with "e-mail bugs," the image is requested using a unique code that corresponds back to the original solicitation sent to your specific email address. The net effect is that when the junk marketer's server receives the request for the image, it verifies that the junk e-mail sent to your address has been viewed or read.
In the mindset of a junk e-mail marketer, this verifies that your e-mail address is not only active and valid, but also that the owner (you) are willing to read unsolicited email.
Additionally, many abusers of this tactic will then use the code to place a "cookie" on your hard drive, thus permanently "marking" your system for future web tracking and abuse!
The result is that your e-mail address will then receive much more SPAM and your address will be sold to other junk e-mailers as a "verified" address, one of the most valuable types in the junk e-mail business!
Fortunately, not all email software programs will participate in these shenanigans. Users of Eudora Pro, for instance, can disable the use of active HTML coding in their emails and thus defeat the bugging of their email.
The best way to tell if your email software is allowing bugs to track your behavior is to make a quick visit to:
http://mackraz.com/trickybit/readreceipt/.
This site will allow you to test your e-mail software's "bug-ability" by sending you a harmless, but bugged, e-mail and then reporting back to you as to whether their server was able to subsequently read the bug.
In addition, this site also does a good job of explaining the issue in greater detail.
The second most common "e-mail" tracking and abuse trick will follow in the next issue!
Stephen M. Canale - GRB, CRS, GRI, RAM Training & Seminars in Technology, Sales & Marketing 734.481.9000 -
Stephen@Canale.com To subscribe to Canale's Tips & Tricks, visit
www.canale.com.
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