Why do I have to replace " AT " with "@"?

SPAM. Before we replaced the actual email addresses ("someone@philadelphiacalligraphers.org") with modified addresses ("someone AT philadelphiacalligraphers.org"), we got tons of SPAM. SPAMmers go through web pages looking for the at sign ('@'), extract the addresses, and throw them onto their mailing lists.

We hate SPAMmers, and hate being deluged with offers for pharmaceuticals, offers of partnerships in nonexistent companies, and other even less savory kinds of things. We also hate making things inconvenient for people who visit the website -- but the volume of SPAM we used to get forced us to do something to alleviate the problem.

So -- we apologize for the inconvenience, but please bear with us: we're fighting SPAM in our small way.

Thanks.

- PCS Webmaster