Hidden email

[Tsukiyomi-sakura]

HEY! would it be possible for people to have to have an accont to get your email?!! I just got a bunch of scam adds in my mail box and they said this is where they got my email I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE 20 EXTRA MESSAGES!!

Can we do anything about this??  I do not want my email getting out there and being sold so people can advertise to me.

[Agnate]

I was just about to post this.

Would it be possible for the webmaster to change the default setting for "Allow others to see your email address" to be off (thus making your email address hidden by default).  When you create a profile, it should NOT automatically show your email address to the public.  This option should be defaulted to "hidden", and then can be displayed at the user's leisure.

It's a bit disheartening when I get an email that says it's supposed to be from OVAS, and it is actually targeted scams with OVAS' named stamped on the subject.

[RoxyDog]

I agree, the default should be "hidden" (I thought it was?).  If you're getting spam, look in your profile and check to see if your email is hidden or not.  Tsukiyomi-sakura you may need to go in and hide yours.

[garnpet]

The default is hidden (I think).  The person in question who received the spam posted the following:

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=29093.msg191714#msg191714

Hence how the email was most likely "discovered".

[RossW]

The default is hidden (I think).  The person in question who received the spam posted the following:

http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=29093.msg191714#msg191714

Hence how the email was most likely "discovered".

I am not convinced that the SPAMer is discovering all of the emails from postings as I also received the email and do not believe I have ever posted my email address on the site.  My email address is available on my profile, which makes me think this SPAMer created an account or discovered an exploit.  Neither of which greatly concerns me.

[lis_]

I received a similar email claiming to be sent from the forum mailer...

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:13:58 +0700
From:
Subject: From Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society Forum Member

I suspect that a spammer/bot simply entered the memberlist and every available email was data mined. All you have do to get a user's actual email address is to click on the little email icon or display the user profile itself. We had some troubles a little while ago with spammers/bots posting adult content on our site to the point it became a daily battle. A simple cryptic text verification box stopped them dead in their tracks. Perhaps something like that would be useful here?

Lis

[sdivell]

I received that spam email now in both of my emails that I have registered on this site.. the hidden one and my 'other' email.

the spammer has obviously downloaded the entire forum address book.

[Tsukiyomi-sakura]

I say we get rid of the trash, Maybe we would be able to pinpoint what accont it is?

[groupie02]

A simple cryptic text verification box stopped them dead in their tracks. Perhaps something like that would be useful here?

We already have that in place.