You're not doing anything wrong, Acadia;  Elefont does produce "icicle" artifacts, especially if using the fancy bevel types.  It also leaves an array of loose vertices around each letter, apparently marking kerning limits.

Also, Vanzagar, be aware that Elefont's output is .dxf format, which Poser sometimes has trouble importing.

I import the .dxf into the modeler Silo, fix the geometry quirks, then export the repaired version as an .obj for import into Poser.

If you don't have a modeler, then just import the .dxf into Poser, enter the (advanced) material room, and use the grouping tool to select the offending "icicle" polygons and assign them to some new group.  Now select all poly groups except the icicle, and create a new prop of that selection.  The new prop won't have the icicles.  However, you may find that removing the icicles left noticeable holes.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5