(Peter I thought we got your email program sorted out the other day, but I still can't get your posts! I found this in the archives. I'll have to check my email filters again).
Thanks for the info. That may be that it is secure, but that doesn't stop anyone from clicking the email address links and sending emails to those that post. That is my main problem now. I got several more emails today from "strangers" asking me various things about my posts (wanting me to send them drivers, software, info, etc). It's only a matter of time before spammers find their way into the email addresses, and note the comment "known SpamBots". There are many bots that are currently UNknown, and as well know all it takes is ONE TIME to destroy a business or screw-up a person's life. I don't see the point of doing this (having members' addresses at the archive site). Believe me, nothing good can come from it. Other than my customers, I answer emails **from THIS LIST and this list ONLY** regarding support because from time to time I have to post questions here. Even though I rarely get answers, I like to give back more than I receive from the list. If I wanted I could set my list mail to "no mail" and only re-sub when I need answers, but I don't, that's not right. I don't have any more time on my hands to answer emails from every "Tom, Dick and Harry non-list member" if you know what I mean. ;-) And, it's rather irritating to receive them. I'm not ranting at you, it's just the fact that this "breech" exists. :-) This is only something recent, so I really question the "logic" behind mail-archive.com doing such a thing. To me, this is a privacy issue and list members SHOULD have the OPTION of making their email addresses public or not. Most of the list members may not have a problem with it since most list members only post questions. It's..... (how do I put this diplomatically)............hmmm......those like myself, you, Hugh, Tom and t0m, Jeff, Keith, Ben, Jim, Sue, Roger W., Karl, John O., and a few others, that do most of the replying with answers or help--it is us that's going to be the ones that are going to be getting these emails such as I've been receiving, since *in the archives* we may appear to be a bit more knowledgeable than most list members regarding computers and the net. (That come out right? ;-) The more one of us replies with help to members that ask for help, the more likely we are to receive these personal types of emails from these non-list members. -Clint Happy Holidays to all & God Bless Clint Hamilton, Owner http://OrpheusComputing.com ) http://ComputersCustomBuilt.com ------------------------------------------ Support-OrpheusComputing.com wrote: (I've tried sending this to Marlene off list several times). Marlene, I think it's a big mistake for the PCworks archives to have that button "Reply via email to.....[email address here]" where anyone can send an email to the person that posted the message. Just in the short time this was added, I'm getting all sorts of emails from people I don't know asking me for all kinds of "support" and more information on my posts. This seems to be a VERY serious privacy violation, not to mention what it's going to do for SPAM! Is there anything that can be done about this? Thanks, -Clint Re: PCWorks: PCworks archives giving out email addresses now Peter Kaulback Clint, if you look at the source you can see that it is a server side CGI, notably Matt's nomailto file. It is very popular and one of the most secure forms of preventing harvesters from retrieving addresses. Harvesters typically cannot get through POST files, being that they have difficulty (it's almost impossible, almost) parsing out all the tags to get the correct information. This is from the Mail-Archive FAQ <http://www.mail-archive.com/faq.html#spam> <!snip> The Mail Archive utilizes two levels of electronic countermeasures to prevent spam incidents. First, we explicitly block spam harvesting robots (spambots) from accessing our server. We deny access, at the server level, for any software that matches the browser ID of a known spambot. Our second line of defence is to make sure that the web pages themselves are spambot resistant. We do not use any unshielded mailto: hyperlinks, email addresses and we strip out, scramble, or obfuscate email addresses from message headers and bodies. Yet we still provide a way for people to reply to an archived message, using their regular email software. This feat is achieved with a special POST protected CGI gateway which returns a mailto: URL to the user agent. This technique is extremely effective in blocking generic spam harvesting robots; for more information, see Mullane's Spambot Beware guide. The effectiveness of our spam-blocking preventative measures are monitored by spambot trap addresses like [EMAIL PROTECTED] Despite all these steps, recognize that any time an email address is exposed on the internet, obfuscated or otherwise, spammers could potentially abuse it. Open mailing lists are vulnerable to spam attacks. Thus there is some risk associated with using The Mail Archive, and we do not assume any legal liability for spammers. Suggestions or feedback regarding privacy or anti-spamming enhancements are appreciated. <!end snip> Peter Kaulback ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
