Ok - I found the topic relevant to me - that is why I responded - hoping to distil some useful information from folks with different experiences.
Ted - comes across competent, but I cold not make practical sense of his post. Apologies to everyone for the spam, -T On Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 13:11 mo <[email protected]> wrote: > can everyone pls take this conversation to your DMs or somewhere else other > than here. pls! > > On Thu, Jun 11, 2026 at 11:06 AM Tomas Kuchta < > [email protected]> > wrote: > > > That is heluva lot of assumptions you make Ted. > > > > No idea what minow or whale or .... is in respect to whois report. I > asked > > AI to explain your long post - it sugested that it is a gang > > language/slang. Hence my comment. > > > > -T > > > > On Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 10:31 Ted Mittelstaedt <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > That's OK, since unless you know what a whois listing is - like George > > was > > > writing about - then none of it is applicable to you. And you won't > know > > > what a whois listing is unless you have registered a domain name - > which > > > most people never do. It's all just part of the arcania of the DNS > > system > > > on the Internet. > > > > > > Ted > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 5:33 PM > > > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]> > > > Subject: Re: [PLUG] supplemental domain name > > > > > > I am reading your advise Ted - I must amit that I have no f.... idea > what > > > you are talking about. > > > > > > Perhaps I am not from the same gang to get your references and > > > abbreviations. > > > > > > Just saying > > > -T > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 11:32 Ted Mittelstaedt <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > At risk of SOUNDING insulting - which I am not - I'm being truthful - > > > > and the truth is hard for some people - and I don't apologize for > that > > > > - this is only a problem for people who are amateurish enough to put > a > > > > cell phone or other personal telephone number on a domain name > listing. > > > > > > > > I've had my real contact info - including telephone number - on > > > > Portlandia-it.com ever since it was registered. The phone goes to my > > > > Asterisk server which has the usual voice response unit (press 1 for > > > > X press 2 for Y, etc.) > > > > > > > > No problems whatsoever with spam calls. > > > > > > > > If you are a personal individual setting up a domain name then that > is > > > > why the privacy stuff was created and your contact info is going to > be > > " > > > > [email protected]" with a phone number of 8675309 and > > > > anyone seeing that is going to know what you are. Nothing wrong with > > > that. > > > > > > > > The people with the complaints are the people who are individuals, > and > > > > small, who are trying to pass themselves off as being something they > > > > are not. > > > > > > > > The problem isn't putting your real contact info on your whois > record. > > > > That is something you MUST do to pass yourself off as "looking like a > > > > bigger company" if that is what your game is. The problem is if you > > > are a > > > > minnow pretending to be a whale - you need to go whole-hog and get > the > > > > PBX with the VRU and all the rest of it. > > > > > > > > That's what I did. And what I ended up getting sometimes was > contacts > > > > from would-be clients who were the ones looking for the larger whales > > > > with the bureaucracy's that entire purpose of existence is to bow to > > > > them and jack up their self esteem. They didn't want to hear the > > > > truth about how technically impossible their idiotic demands were, > > > > either, when I told it to them. That was fun, for a while. Then it > > > sort of got boring. > > > > > > > > It never ceases to amaze me how some people will pay 3x the money for > > > > the same service they can get from a sole proprietorship as from a > > > > larger regional organization just so they won't be "fired as a > > > > customer" from the larger organization when they start acting like > > jerks. > > > > > > > > PLUG is a minnow. That's not bad. Minnows can do what the F they > > > > want, and say what the F they want to anyone they want (even when the > > > > truth is > > > > inconvenient) and minnows don't have to pet and stroke people and be > > > > politically correct so someone's nose does not go out of joint. > > > > Therefore things will be easier for everyone to do what minnows do > and > > > > use the proxies and their 1-800-NOT-HEAR phone numbers on > > registrations. > > > > > > > > It's not like they can't go to the website and send an email! > > > > > > > > Ted > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > From: PLUG <[email protected]> On Behalf Of George > > > > Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2026 12:21 AM > > > > To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <[email protected]> > > > > Subject: Re: [PLUG] supplemental domain name > > > > > > > > Oh good. Pass that info around. It happened immediately. Scammers > > > > scrape the db for names with address and phone numbers. -gbk > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 12:18 AM Russell Senior <[email protected]> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > "whois linux.portland.or.us" has no data. > > > > > > > > > > "whois portland.or.us" leads to the org that delegated linux to > us. > > > > > > > > > > On 6/10/26 00:12, George wrote: > > > > > > Uh oh. .us does not allow for an anonymous whois identity > listing. > > > > > > You'll find a sharp increase in scammer telephone calls to the > > > > > > number on the listing. I had to abandon my domain .us > registration > > > > > > and assign the name, address and phone number to one in > Reykjavík. > > > > > > The scammer calls stopped after about a week. > > > > > > -gbk > > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jun 9, 2026, 10:21 PM Russell Senior > > > > > > <[email protected]> > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > >> I mentioned this at the PLUG meeting last week, but I will > > > > > >> mention it here as well. > > > > > >> > > > > > >> Through a series of shenanigans, we have recently come into the > > > > > >> "possession" (or delegation, if you prefer) of the domain name: > > > > > >> linux.portland.or.us. > > > > > >> > > > > > >> DNS is configured, the letsencrypt certificate is configured, > and > > > > > >> the website is configured to use either: > > > > > >> > > > > > >> pdxlinux.org > > > > > >> www.pdxlinux.org > > > > > >> linux.portland.or.us > > > > > >> www.linux.portland.or.us > > > > > >> > > > > > >> And, at least for me, it seems to work. This is intended for > now, > > > > > >> to be a fun experiment. Email is not configured for the new > > > > > >> domain > > > > yet. > > > > > >> > > > > > >> Let me know if you notice anything wonky. > > > > > >> > > > > > >> -- > > > > > >> Russell Senior > > > > > >> PLUG Volunteer > > > > > >> [email protected] > > > > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
