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Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

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The last few peer mails I have gotten that came from someone I didn’t know, I was unable to find their account to find out something about them before replying.

First, the user name of the sender of the peer should be in the title or body of the email. Instead of “Message from a TechRepublic Member” how about “Message from a TechRepublic Member XYZ”?

The second issue, and I have said this before (and been ignored everytime) is to only allow people that have peer mail enabled to send peer mail.

Third issue to avoid spam is to not allow someone to send a peer message for the first few days of their membership.

What do you think? All are in the best interests of the TR members.

jd

Topic

I can go with all three of those…

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

though I’d qualify #3 with ‘six months’.

that is because

In reply to I can go with all three of those…

you are meaner than i am…. :p

a few days to a week is fine by me.

I’d support those, although I’m a bit confused with item one as all the

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

peer mails I received do have the user name in the message, even when the email address and reply to address have their real name.

The header information displayed in the message itself usually has a from and subject which shows the senders TR name and the TR subject they’re discussing. Here’s an example of what I’m used to seeing in the body of the message is:

One of your fellow TechRepublic members has sent you a private message:

From: jdclyde
Subject: jerry
Message:
xxxx xxxx etc.

……….

Every peer mail I’ve received has been like this. And it makes me wonder if your mail client is not displaying that information due to a setting.

His isn’t the only one…..

In reply to I’d support those, although I’m a bit confused with item one as all the

NONE of the PM’s I have received ever show the TR member’ display names. It shows their email address and sometimes you can actually find them by that, if they haven’t changed the display name. But, the display name itself has never shown on any of my PM’s.

That’s very interesting – I wonder if it’s something to do with the

In reply to His isn’t the only one…..

mail client or the client settings as the example I showed is a straight cut and paste from a recent PM I received, all I did was xxx out the actual message.

I use Thunderbird as my mail client with the system set to display normal headers and as plain text, not html. The header section shows the senders email address, their reply to address and the title – Message from a Tech Republic member.

The body has:
quote

One of your fellow TechRepublic members has sent you a private message:

From: jdclyde
Subject: jerry
Message:

end quote before the actual text of the message involved.

I’ve numerous TR PMs and they all are the same format. I’m surprised you don’t get them the same. Maybe I’m specially blessed or something.

What if they are not in your list of contacts?

In reply to That’s very interesting – I wonder if it’s something to do with the

I suspect that might have something to do with it, but I’ve never taken the time to investigate. It could be set so that if you’ve added them to your contacts at TR, it shows their screen name in the email. If not, it shows nothing except the email address it came from.

Not in my experience

In reply to What if they are not in your list of contacts?

I get a screen name in virtually every PM I receive. I get more PMs from strangers than contacts.

Interesting.

This difference must be something to do with

In reply to Not in my experience

1. the settings of the profile at TR, probably the recipient’s;

2. the mail client settings;

3. the mail client itself.

Hmm, idea – I get my TR Peer Mail through a normal pop3 mailbox, I notice JD gets his through a web mail service. I wonder if that’s the difference, the way the web mail services display the messages in their scripted environment instead of plain text or standard html.

That boat won’t float either……

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

I get mine through a POP account and use Outlook to view it.

Not knowing what you used I wondered if that was the cause – but

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

knowing how horrid Outlook is, it could be anything.

Seriously, I wonder if it’s a case of the mail client (Outlook) display setting. I have noticed I get a different looking message when I have the system set to ‘display as html’ to that of it when set to ‘display as plain text.’ And even ‘display as simple html’ will give a different look to some messages.

Maybe they made some updates lately….

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

… but, since I have PM turned off, I haven’t noticed any difference lately! 😉

I have it turned off and will continue to keep it turned off until TR makes the asked for changes to it (i.e. make it so only people on our contact list, ‘PEERS we trust’, can send to us… or, at the very minimum, require a certain number of months of membership here before they can PM). I guess TR figures that “PM” means Private Message instead of Peer Mail. The way it’s set up now, anybody with an account (including spammers, religious zealots and every other idiot) can use the PM system to send their dribble through it. My Inbox is full enough without having to wade through that crap! 😉

that is a fair option that should be available

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

give people the choice.

No peers,
yes peers,
yes peers, but only from contacts.

Heck, “myspace” is technical enough to handle such, you would think a place with the word “tech” right in the title could figure out how to do it?

Yep, my point exactly JD….

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

I am boycotting the PM until TR changes it to something I can control. I hope I’m not the only one in this boycott.

I’ve sent peermail to peers not in my Contacts.

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

I seldom get peer mail. The ones I have received, other than from my Contacts, had the objective of saving my soul from eternal damnation. :^0
The PM’s I receive have the peers name in them.
I don’t advertise in my profile “send me peermail for further info” so I don’t encourage PM but I’m not adverse to it. I’ll read it. If it’s funky or threatening I’ll report the peer to Tammy and let her take care of it. It hasn’t happened yet.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a few months long waiting period.

Interesting some of you get spam PMs, I’ve not had any — yet (nt)

In reply to This difference must be something to do with

Of the last twenty PMs received, only two have been listed contacts –

In reply to What if they are not in your list of contacts?

none of the rest have been people in my list. So it is the same for listed or not listed for me. In fact, since this discussion opened I’ve received a PM from someone I’d not even been in contact with before, and just finished replying to come back to this thread. The body of the text had their TR ID in it, just as I said before:

Since I’m not giving out anything that isn’t already known, I’ve no problems with showing the body of the message – the email address in the main message headers is different and is their real email address. But the message body is:

quote

One of your fellow TechRepublic members has sent you a private message:

From: judykumeucowgirl
Subject: And the band played Waltzing Matilda
Message:

end quote before actual text.

As you can see, the same format, and this person is not in my contacts list, yet.

I’m with you

In reply to I’d support those, although I’m a bit confused with item one as all the

I get exactly the same kind of thing.

the account is Susilmac

In reply to I’d support those, although I’m a bit confused with item one as all the

and when I search on it, I get the following message:

“1 results for Susilmac”

But there is nothing there, and no link to the account at all.

I always give the person the benefit of the doubt, which is why I want to look over their account before deciding to respond, ignore, or publicly ridicule.

This person was offering Indian Recipes, which is something I have expressed interest in before.

The same thing happened when I did my blog about ARP requests and a SonicWall rep contacted me over it.

I too have recieved peer mails

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

but have had no trouble finding who they are, the name is in the emails and from the top 100 board do a search on the name as that is included in the peer mail.

Of course once you are on their profile you see no profile to speak of, so you still do not know who they are.

Because I am a silly boy I file them in a TR unknown folder in hopes they will become known.

You have a good point about not allowing peer mail from someone who does not accept it but it is just a click away from turning that function on and off.

I have no problems as yet with peer mail, I receive and file or respond depending on the mailer.

JD are you getting a large amount of peer mail?

Now, now, JD

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

You come alarmingly close to victim mentality. You would tidy the world by consigning these earnest correspondents to hell, for, among others, my best interests?

Maybe not h*ll

In reply to Now, now, JD

Possibly the waiting room. There could be some merit in this.

Perspective.

In reply to Now, now, JD

Thank you.

I actually get very few spam mails

In reply to Now, now, JD

but for the questionable one, I would like to be able to look at the profile and see what it has to say for them.

Things like, how long have they been a member, what discussions have they been involved in, what their responses are like, and if I have crossed paths with them or not.

Now quit picking on me! :p

I moderate on a board

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

We don’t allow a new person to send peer mail until they have made 25 posts. We have bulletin boards and a new person MAY post there- but the message is not private and the peer has the right to remove it.

I get a lot of unsolicited peer mail too. If I can find out nothing about the sender, I “file 13” it. If it looks and smells legit, I will answer from a spam account.

This is a tough issue to find the right balance for.If nothing changes between now and the next TR event, I would propose that it go into the hat for live discussion.

the 10 peer max does help

In reply to I moderate on a board

but only the 11th person.

Member’s alias would be useful anyway

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

I get none abusive ones like thanks for your help, and I’ve no clue who they are from or for what…

NOt sure about 3 , but PM to PM is mandatory in my opinion as I may not wish to give some complete stranger my email in order to reply

Not sure what difference that would make?

In reply to Member’s alias would be useful anyway

[i]PM to PM is mandatory in my opinion as I may not wish to give some complete stranger my email in order to reply.[/i]

As the current system warns when PMing:
[i] Please note: Your e-mail address will be visible to the recipient of this message[/i]

PMs are very useful – back in March 2006 I responded to a request for

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

a plan on moving a data center – I said I had a plan for moving an office and it should serve as a basis for putting a data center one together. Since then I’ve had a few hundred PM requests for the file and supplied it, with a request to let me have a copy of their amended version after their move. Still waiting to get one back. the last request was only a few weeks back, it amazes me that people are still asking around and no one has yet come up with a better plan.

But the requests were all from people not on my contact list and all but a few via TR PMs. So the PM is very useful.

Turn it off?

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

That is what I did after getting messages that were more than unwanted.

If you want to send me you can at:

Jesus, care of the Pentegon!

Want to “send” you alright

In reply to Turn it off?

I am just to polite to say where! :p

Could join you at the “Land Of Confusion”

In reply to Want to “send” you alright

Kind of like ‘Land of the Giants’ but without the Giants. Bet you still get prodded by giant fingers tho!

All suggestions…

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

(including number 2) – have been previously submitted as suggestions to improve the peermail system.

I also added this suggestion when I submitted this a couple months back:

“Allow peermail from those on Contact list only”

In the meantime though, you can send me a copy of the email – as it does warrant an auto ban of their account for abusing the system.

-Tammy [_]3

I thought you only got an autobahn in Germany and you needed a fast

In reply to All suggestions…

car to use it properly. Are you going to Europe for a holiday to be concerned about autobahns now?

Wrong! You also get autobahnen in Switzerland and Austria ..

In reply to I thought you only got an autobahn in Germany and you needed a fast

http://driving.drive-alive.co.uk/driving-in-switzerland.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn

Can’t have you going astray now, can we? 😉

Vell, not havink driven in eider place, I’m not knowing mooch aboot it.

In reply to Wrong! You also get autobahnen in Switzerland and Austria ..

tank you vor the corrected data.

(note – above text adjusted to show crazy accent of crazy writer)

I’ve never read about autobahns anywhere but in Germany, so I now stand correct – well, more of a sit corrected actually.

Not only that

In reply to Vell, not havink driven in eider place, I’m not knowing mooch aboot it.

it did sound more of drunken typing 😉

Even in Namibia they speak of autobahn … and that is: they speak of them as they don’t have any :^0

Well having justed returned from Austria

In reply to Vell, not havink driven in eider place, I’m not knowing mooch aboot it.

They do have Autobahns, but they also have speed limits. The speed limit for normal cars on the autobahn in Austria is 130 kph, which is about 80. Trucks and buses are limited to 100 kph.

The lane discipline on the autobahn is amazing. You must travel in the right lane except to pass. On the other hand I saw some amazing passing on tight hilly country on the smaller two lane backroads that would curl your hair.

We did see some speed traps in Austria on the autobahn.

James

Didn’t say it was an abuse

In reply to All suggestions…

just trying to find out a little about someone before I make a decision about them.

If they have an account and can peer me, then I should be able to find their account. the current system is a hit-and-miss at best.

And no, I would NOT turn on a “peer only from contacts”, but it would be acceptable as a checkbox option. How is it MySpace is more technically advanced than TechRepublic?

A “search membership’ feature

In reply to Didn’t say it was an abuse

would be cool. 🙂

2nd that

In reply to A “search membership’ feature

it would be cool, wouldn’t it

it used to exist

In reply to A “search membership’ feature

in the people link that was stolen from us in one of the “upgrades”

No problem with the last two, but the first already happens

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

Every peermail I’ve ever received has the following heading [u]in the message body[/u]:

[i]One of your fellow TechRepublic members has sent you a private message:

From: username
Subject: whatever
Message:
message body[/i]

Don’t see the problem with your first complaint.

Appearantly what he and a few other see is a bit different – just see

In reply to No problem with the last two, but the first already happens

posts in the sub-thread I started near the top.

Because you are not looking in the right place

In reply to No problem with the last two, but the first already happens

the user is “Susilmac”, and you are welcome to show me their profile.

After that, you tell me if there is a problem or not. B-)

You did forward that to Granny, er i mean Tammy

In reply to Because you are not looking in the right place

crossing threads again, silly me.

But if you have not you should send it along to her perhaps she can find who the Susilmac is.

Any discussion with the “feedback”

In reply to You did forward that to Granny, er i mean Tammy

is SUPPOSE to get their attention.

Supposed.

In reply to Any discussion with the “feedback”

Another silly concept. Kinda like should. 😀 😀 😀

Making a playlist I think you would like, Boxie

In reply to Supposed.

will be sending you a link.

Ah, the corruption of Boxie continues! ]:)

A.

In reply to Making a playlist I think you would like, Boxie

For persistence.

B-)

In reply to Making a playlist I think you would like, Boxie

But of course luv! ;\

Both of you

In reply to Any discussion with the “feedback”

“Supposed”.

This gets us into, supposition. Who, where, when, what, why, and sometimes, how.

Just meandering.

I’d settle for the second one.

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

No one should be allowed to send peer mail if he or she will not accept peer mail.

Edited to remove some mistaken content.

~lol~

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

I just ignore a peer mail if the member can’t be bothered to post on TR at all.

specially the peer mails asking questions that SHOULD be posted here.

oh, for sure

In reply to ~lol~

at most, if it is a followup question to something I posted, I will reply to the post on-line with the response.

I do not give the general population free email support. 😀

I know,

In reply to oh, for sure

but by posting it so it’s clearly stated, the “peers” abusing the peer contact can see they aren’t going to get the response they expect.

what gets me is the ones that are talking about something you posted, years ago, with no link to the danged discussion.

It wasn’t me!

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

I swear!

Maybe, maybe not

In reply to It wasn’t me!

I have my eye on you! ;\

You mean

In reply to Maybe, maybe not

the dog has his/hers eyes on us … don’t you

Personally?

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

I think peer mail should be limited to someone in your friends list.

System wide mailings are just begging for spam abuse.

I turned mine of partially because of that.

If I don’t add you to my friend list, I don’t want email from you…guaranteed.

Ideas :)

In reply to Ideas about dealing with peer mail abuse

didn’t we have this discussion some years back? Or am I mistaken?

The “Message … TR Member XYZ” is a nice one.
So is the suggestion to have a search member option 🙂

An other option is to enable a link in any peer messages to report any spam to TR. And if this option is miss-used … TR will ban you right away … :^0

[Author]

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