Hello All,
It is a common practive for those that use a lot of newsgroups to send out
their post using a bogus email, and entering a valid email within the body
of the message. One of the primary reason for this is spam blocking. The
second reason is privacy.
Spam bots run rampant in newsgroups. They gather hundreds of thousands of
email addresses hoping to find one unsuspecting individual to bite on what
they have to offer. Newsgroups are the perfect target...so many email
addresses in one place, so easy to gather.
Until a few years ago I did not realize that my name and email was being
spread all over Deja News because I wasn't internet savvy enough to use an
alias when posting.
I didn't realize how easy it is to find a name, address, and even phone
number from a simple email address. An acquaintance of mine at the time,
gave me my full name, address and phone just by a posting he found on a
boyscout newsgroup I had posted to. He was about to give me my driver's
license number too, but I told him there was no need, he proved his point.
It is very important to watch where you are posting and what address you are
posting with if you want to keep yourself safe.
As far as the boards...ancestry does check the email you register with, "if"
you register. It is no longer necessary to be registered or logged in to
post a message. An email is required, but a valid email is not required.
Just my two cents.
Ellen-
Manitowoc County
MAK and all,
I spoke about a week ago, to a techie from my server. The site e-mail has
been
deluged from time to time by virus generated e-mail with huge infected
attachments.
Since the people whose infected (infested) computer is sending their files
out in
attachments are not aware it is happening, I tried to send an e-mail to
them and
explain. Most got through, but some bounced.... no such address etc. The
techie
said that along with the viruses that have been rampantly infecting home
computers
and business systems, hackers have also sent out a special virus to bigtime
servers
that "opens a back door" in their programing allowing the system to be used
by them
with bogus addresses. They are using this to keep the viruses circulating,
causing
a real jam up on the internet. The Server, like Prodigy and AOL are
constantly
working to close these doors, but it is an endless job until they come up
with
better general programing that is "immune" to this intusion. It costs them
a
fortune in law siuts because they are not able to supply the services that
people
are contracting for when the system/internet is deluged. They can't block
these
e-mails because the addresses don't exist in the first place. So that is
the latest
on the e-mail messages from bogus addresses. Rita - Oconto County
MAK wrote:
> A researcher informed me that she is noticing people posting with a
"false"
> email and then putting the REAL email in the body of the message. She
wrote
> this in response to a query she answered which was gatewayed to one of
my
> mailing lists. Upon research, it needed to be re-directed. I
researched the
> correct response, posted it to the Board, and sent a reply to the
individual
> and the appropriate CC and mailing list. I got a bounced email message
"User
> not recognized", and a notice from three other people who tried to
contact the
> poster with additional information.
>
> My question is this - Is it possible to post with a false email? Doesn't
> Rootsweb/Ancestory/ verify the email of the poster when they sign up and
> automatically DENY posting if the email address is invalid? I know this
might
> be only one in a million - but it is really annoying to go to all the
trouble
> of finding the answer, re-directing it, posting it and then the email
bounces.
> Don't ask me how he posted with an invalid email - but it happened, as
I
> responded within hours of posting. Also, the responses from others led
me to
> believe that he posted the same message on numerous boards...
Unfortunately, I
> delete my emails as I post, so I am not sure who the quilty culprit
was...
>
> If anyone else is having this problem, please notify the help desk, so
they
> know it isn't a one time fluk on my end.
http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/
>
> Thanks for listening. R/S MAK
>
>
> --- BOARDS-ADMINS-D-request(a)rootsweb.com wrote:
>
> =====
> ===========================
> MAK = "Mar sea ah Ann Keel"
> WI ACS
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wigenweb/
> MAKs Sites
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwood/links/MAK.html
> ===========================
>
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