English Chess Forum

Do you mean this one? I just hit 'reply to all' to a 'spam' email from our captain advertising a blitz tournament... perhaps he should use blind copies in future?

september 13: Hendon ECF GRADED Swiss this Thursday - Please enter online! Free to members - £5 to guests / http://global.tornelo.com/tournaments / Four games, 15 mins each, graded by the ECF on the rapidplay list.

september 22-23: Hampstead FIDE U2200, 5-SS, G90, Henderson Ct, Prince Arthur Road, NW3 6NS, Entry Fees: see our website and for details of rating prizes!
http://www.hampsteadchess.blogspot.co.uk for details of times and fees, (ECF Gold Membership required for ENG players)

*NEW* october 1: City of London International Blitz, 6-SS, G10, The Loose Cannon, EC4R 3UL, EF £10. FIDE rated, £50 1st, £25 2nd, £25 rating prize Under 1800 (145). Register online, pay on the night.

*NEW* october 3: Laboratory Spa & Health Club FIDE Blitz, 6-SS, G10, Hall Lane, NW4 4TJ, EF: £10, £6 club (Lab or HCC) mems, http://global.tornelo.com/tournaments, 7.30pm-10.00pm.

october 13: ALL SECTIONS NOW FIDE RATED! Golders Green Rapidplay (http://www.goldersgreenchess.blogspot.com) at St Albans Church Hall, West Heath Drive NW11 7QG. Four sections based on ability! Enter online and pay on the day.

http://www.chessengland.com


RESULTS FROM GOLDERS GREEN 8 SEPT 2012

OPEN
Alan Merry, Chris Duncan 5/6 £60 each
Grading U180: Patrick CM Duncan (175) and Tom Villiers (152) 3.5/6 £25 each

MAJOR U170
Finlo Rohrer, Roman Mitra 5/6 £60 each
Grading U155, Ben Franklin (144) 3.5/6 £30

MINOR U145
1st John Kelly 5.5/6 £80
2nd Taran Jina 5/6 £40
Grading U130, Sebouh Takvorian (121) 4.5/6 £30


AMATEUR U120
Josh Altman 6/6 £80
Victor Litvin, Ayse Karel 4.5/6 £20 each
Grading U105, Zachary Greenberg (90) 4/6 £30

I've started to receive unsolicited posts on the EC forum.

I am sure I did not request them. Knowing this persons track record I am confident I would never have asked for them.

Have any rules been broken? I do hope so!

John Upham wrote:I've started to receive unsolicited posts on the EC forum.

I am sure I did not request them. Knowing this persons track record I am confident I would never have asked for them.

Have any rules been broken? I do hope so!

Let me have the details please

Surely all that is required in most cases (if such mail is not wanted), is a polite request to be removed from the circulation list...
Recepients could consider passing on such `informative notices` to any players they know who might actually be interested...
It is important that tournament organisers circulate and promote there events, and that these are well supported.

Most email programs let you mark unwanted emails as spam.
Spammers generally have an alternative email account for sending non spam mail.

This should also be adequate to discourage people from relaying spam mail.

Thanks David - I try to ensure that any marketing email goes out blind copy, and to players who have opted in, rather than randomly.

There is a mailing list that you can join for events that I run, and other events. If you want to sign up do this;

a) send a blank email to [email protected]
b) you'll get a return email immediately
b) follow the simple instructions and sign up for my Topica Mailing list!

Am on your list Adam, keep me there please. May wander in to London one evening, you never know.

Michael J R White wrote:I've started to receive emails, from Adam Raoof, advertising his tournaments.

Probably just a trial run for when he's director of Membership and Marketing when we can all expect to get them. Isn't that why we are asked for email addresses when signing up to the ECF? And why some have given old addresses, or none at all.

David Pardoe wrote: Surely all that is required in most cases (if such mail is not wanted), is a polite request to be removed from the circulation list...

No. Ideally the circulation list should be opt-in. At the very least the sender should have good reason to believe that the recipient is likely to want to receive the mail. This is a case of pure laziness - Adam receivers a mail from another source and just clicks reply all. His North London empire is so important to him that the possible opinions of others don't count. Then he shifts the blame onto someone else for not using bcc, and spams the thread with more advertising. No hint of apology.

David Pardoe wrote: Recepients could consider passing on such `informative notices` to any players they know who might actually be interested...

And double the nuisance.

David Pardoe wrote: It is important that tournament organisers circulate and promote there events, and that these are well supported.

And annoying people achieves this how?

Please remove me from any of this crap if I am on it, took me long enough to get removed from the chess boxing nonsense as well

Michael J R White wrote:"Do you mean this one? I just hit 'reply to all' to a 'spam' email from our captain advertising a blitz tournament... perhaps he should use blind copies in future?"

Is anyone else having trouble following what on earth is being talked about?

Raoof's first paragraph, last post would indirectly be suggesting that I had signed up to his emails. No doubt, he will come back emphasising his use of the word "try".
I can't remember signing up, and if I haven't then it will always be possible to institute a legal challenge.
Has anyone else received his emails without signing up?
So the question I asked, at the start of this thread, has gone unanswered by the Forum.

No emails are exposed by this forum unless you include them in a post of course

Michael J R White wrote:"Do you mean this one? I just hit 'reply to all' to a 'spam' email from our captain advertising a blitz tournament... perhaps he should use blind copies in future?"

Is anyone else having trouble following what on earth is being talked about?

Raoof's first paragraph, last post would indirectly be suggesting that I had signed up to his emails. No doubt, he will come back emphasising his use of the word "try".
I can't remember signing up, and if I haven't then it will always be possible to institute a legal challenge.
Has anyone else received his emails without signing up?
So the question I asked, at the start of this thread, has gone unanswered by the Forum.

I receive lots of emails I don't want. I do one or more of the following:

a) ask the sender to remove me from the list;
b) report them as spam;
c) delete them;

You have come up with a fourth option:

d) institute legal proceedings.

As you say, members of this Forum do not so far seem inclined to assist you in pursuing this last option.

Martyn,
All I can say is that I have circulated on many occasions to quite wide audiences and generally received favourable responces. The few who have expressed a desire to be excluded from these have been respectfully acknowledged, with no problems.
Where I will agree is that it is very important to avoid `overkill`, where too much material is circulated, maybe too frequently. People certainly dont like to get bombarded with publicity material....
The web is an ideal environment, if used sensibly, to publicise and spread the word. It therefore lends itself to publicising our congresses and other chess events, about which many complain at dwindling numbers...leading to closure of some excellent chess events.

Michael J R White wrote: Is anyone else having trouble following what on earth is being talked about?

No. Seems like Adam used the recipient list of an e-mail he received to send his own e-mail.

Michael J R White wrote:So the question I asked, at the start of this thread, has gone unanswered by the Forum.

I'll answer it for you then. No.

Michael J R White wrote:Raoof has made you misunderstand Simon Brown. The email he sent, using bcc functionality, did not have Re: at the start of it, neither did it have the original recipients, which would have been present if he had only hit Reply All.

Why don't you ask Adam what happened? Is there any need to make that process public? You should at least equally (it seems) be excoriating the person that made your e-mail address visible in a group e-mailing. I do that for some group mailings, but then I trust those on that mailing list not to use it to spam the recipients.

Michael J R White wrote:As someone who is not a member of the ECF and someone who didn't sign up to a new membership list, this is the quickest route to mediating the situation, without having to resort to legal action.
Adam Raoof's sacrcastic opening line in this thread hints there is something else at work with his approach, and I want no part of it.

I refer you to David Sedgwick's post here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 54#p100327

For the avoidance of doubt, I get Adam's e-mails as well. I mostly ignore them, but may one day go to one of the events listed there.

Changing subject, I wouldn't object to such e-mails from the ECF if I'd signed up for such e-mails, but I don't think I have. All I expect to get is a reminder e-mail when my ECF membership approaches expiration next year.