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Old 10-17-2010, 08:22 AM   #1
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Question Spammed?

Did anyone here get a couple of emails cordially inviting them to join the "Forest River Product Owner" forum this morning? Signed by a chap by the name of Gaven Herhell.
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Old 10-17-2010, 09:49 AM   #2
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Yes, I did also. JanetH is looking into this but it seems to be a re-work of a Rockwood/Flagstaff forum that hokiehall was involved with.
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Old 10-17-2010, 03:14 PM   #3
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Me too. I don't generally appreciate such unsolicited communications.
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Old 10-17-2010, 04:07 PM   #4
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Here is what's going on.

I have evidence that a former Admin here (was removed yesterday) has harvested member information on hundreds of our top members. He's the one who has started the other forum along with the Gaven fellow. It appears they are trying to use this stolen information to promote their new forum which is a dirty tactic and shows the ethics of the people we are dealing with here.

I have considerable evidence linking the Admin to the member profiles that have been spammed. We take the security of our members information very seriously Only two beside myself and my colleague had access to this information. We have logs which show exactly what time the member info and was compromised, by who and their ISP information when the info was stolen.

So why would an admin do this? Here is what I think happened:

Earlier this year this community was adopted by my small company since the founder was battling cancer. It's been pretty much smooth sailing and working with the team has been quite pleasant. A while back we had a member contact us about one of our team members signatures which contained a controversial statement. I asked them to remove the comment from his signature, that all the members of our team need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. This was not well received and some of the team members and I believe that is when some of them started planning to develop a new forum.

For the record, I have no issues with anyone starting a forum on any topic even if it competes with this forum. What I do have a very serious issue with is the theft of our member information and using it to promote a new forum.

I am saddened by this turn of events because it was all done under the radar in a way in which I feel very used and taken advantage of. For some people, online forum communities are just fun places to exchange information and hang out with friends. For me, it's my job, it's how I feed my family, it's a business I poured 60 hours a week for the last 6 years into. When someone takes advantage of their position and compromises the data in our database, I have to step up and be personally liable.

Only limited data was available in the Admin areas including your username, any personal details which you have filled out in your profile, your email address, and birthday. Your password is NOT available and you do NOT need to worry about that being stolen.

I plan to seek legal advice on how to proceed to make sure we are 100% upfront and honest with our members on what has happened and any steps they made need to take to protect themselves from this breach.

If you received an email please respond to this thread so we can keep an inventory of those who were solicited.

I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding as we pass through this unfortunate moment in our communities history.

Andy
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Old 10-17-2010, 04:12 PM   #5
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Andy, thanks for looking out for us.

I also recieved an email.
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Old 10-17-2010, 04:15 PM   #6
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Andy,
Thank you for the explanation of what happened and keeping our information safe. Now I'm very glad I didn't register with the new site because who knows what information may be compromised in the future.
Thanks again,
Tom
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Old 10-17-2010, 04:29 PM   #7
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Andy, I've seen this w/ snowmobile forums. Someone gets ticked off, takes their ball & bat home & resolve to start another site to get back @ the site they have issues w/..

Are you thinking of emailing folks to let them know about the situation? Do you think all FRF members were spammed?
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Old 10-17-2010, 05:21 PM   #8
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I never got an email. Nor am I a top member lol.
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Old 10-17-2010, 06:17 PM   #9
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I received one the other day
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Old 10-17-2010, 06:57 PM   #10
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I did not receive one either. But I am much more a learner than a teacher.
As an owner of two websites, I do know what it's like to have a mutiny tho.
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Old 10-17-2010, 07:25 PM   #11
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I got the e-mail...sure glad I deleted it without too much thought. I'm not sure what makes me a "top member", but hey...I'll take it!
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Old 10-17-2010, 07:34 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EdJunior View Post
I got the e-mail...sure glad I deleted it without too much thought. I'm not sure what makes me a "top member", but hey...I'll take it!
Looking @ post totals of those that have replied to the thread, I don't think there is any rhyme or reason.

Can I get the "Senior Member" notation changed to "Top Member" ?
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Old 10-17-2010, 09:50 PM   #13
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I received the email yesterday myself. I am a fairly new member to the forum and do much more reading and post when I have a question and contribute when I can.

Just out of curiosity, I checked out the other site but did not go any further than that. I think I will just stay here and learn from the veterans here and hopefully be able to be a guru like some of the others here.

Thanks for the honesty and providing us with the update on what has happened here.
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Old 10-18-2010, 03:11 AM   #14
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Thanks for the info,Andy. I got one too, but my computer's been acting up at home, so I didn't really read it or respond.
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Old 10-18-2010, 07:00 AM   #15
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received one, ignored it
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Old 10-18-2010, 07:25 AM   #16
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I got one. Got suckered into joining.

I got the impression it was THIS forum that was changing its format. I emailed Gavin directly several times about why if it was this forum that posts were still appearing on the old one.

He replied that All of the old posts would be archived on the new (faster) site.

Getting medical spam for the first time on the email address I used to register with him.

Worse yet I fowarded the email to my RV user list. (Damn)

I hate being "boned"
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Old 10-18-2010, 07:51 AM   #17
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I agree with ya Lou.
Here was my reply to his e-mail---

Unsolicited e-mail promoting a website or online store
is considered SPAM in most circles.
This e-mail was unsolicited and has no opt out at the
bottom so you are officially a SPAMMER.
Go away.

I know it's useless and even can generate more spam when
you reply to one so I nearly never do.
In this case I figured the guy was trying to start up a new
chat group and I politely told him he was going about it the
wrong way.
I don't expect a reply.
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Old 10-18-2010, 07:55 AM   #18
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I got one a couple days ago as well. Funny went right to my junk mail folder..I had checked all the header info and didn't recognize any of it so it got the heave ho.
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Old 10-18-2010, 08:11 AM   #19
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I was not alone being suckered. I was just on the site and there is no way to "quit" it that I could find. I was also amazed that many of the contributors to this board are there as well. I thought I was alone in being snookered.
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Old 10-18-2010, 09:46 AM   #20
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I recieved the same email twice but I have not responded to it, looked like spam to me also.
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