There's no more sex in Middlesex -- at least not in the e-mail world.
Spam filters have been blocking so many computer messages from the County of Middlesex that the municipality has bought a new domain name.
The sex change means e-mail addresses will soon end in @mdlsx.ca, said CAO Bill Rayburn.
The current address -- with the suffix @county.middlesex.on.ca -- "is a mouthful" anyway, said Rayburn, who became aware of the problem when provincial officials occasionally told him they hadn't received his e-mails.
Then, when large batches of correspondence were returned as "undeliverable" a couple of years ago, it became clear others' e-mail filters -- which block unsolicited messages, including those from addresses selling sex aids and adult Internet sites -- were also stopping legitimate county mail.
Rayburn estimates 15% to 20% of outgoing mail has been subject to some glitch because of the address.
Most are resolved quickly and redirected to the proper in-box.
He expects the mdlsx.ca address will return less than 1% of outgoing mail, although he conceded, "even 'sx' is going to get caught by some spam filters."
Provincial ministries' filters seem to be tightest, Rayburn said.
"We're not the only one -- there are lots of 'sex'-es out there -- like Essex," Rayburn said.
The town of Essex hasn't had any issues, said CAO Wayne Miller. "We've had no complaints" that people aren't getting e-mails, he said, although the municipality did change its address from @townofessex.ca to @essex.ca because it's simpler.
West of London, in Middlesex Centre which includes Ilderton and Komoka, CAO/clerk Cathy Saunders said some mail has come back as undeliverable because of the "sex" in the address. But the problem isn't major enough that they would consider a name change.
"We would prefer to have people able to find us easily," she said.
And if people say they didn't get an e-mail they were expecting, she said, "we always tell people to check your junk mail, check your spam (filter) if you didn't get it."
deb.vanbrenk@sunmedia.ca
