English Chess Forum

Is anyone else getting annoyed at the spam they get from ECF Graders and ECF Graders Forum distribution lists?

I have complained to the ECF already but it has no effect.

Michael Flatt wrote:Is anyone else getting annoyed at the spam they get from ECF Graders and ECF Graders Forum distribution lists?

I have complained to the ECF already but it has no effect.

May we see an example ?

John Upham wrote:May we see an example ?

I delete them and wouldn't want to add to the spam anyway.

The emails do not originate from the ECF but from others who use ECF graders and ECF graders forum email addresses to forward potentially malicious emails and viruses.

Disabling the automatic forwarding from those addresses and using MailChimp or another similar service would a much safer and acceptable alternative.

Michael Flatt wrote:

John Upham wrote:May we see an example ?

I delete them and wouldn't want to add to the spam anyway.

The emails do not originate from the ECF but from others who use ECF graders and ECF graders forum email addresses to forward potentially malicious emails and viruses.

Disabling the automatic forwarding from those addresses and using MailChimp or another similar service would a much safer and acceptable alternative.

If they don't originate from the ECF then I'm not too sure what they could be expected to do.

I also get these spam emails and they are annoying. I believe it happens when an old email address is hacked and generates spam which is then automatically forwarded. As for what could be done Michael Flatt has already answered that question above; purge the mailing list of obsolete email addresses and stop the auto forwarding. Generally the graders forum is used so that deadlines and other announcements can be made.

Andrew Zigmond wrote:I also get these spam emails and they are annoying. I believe it happens when an old email address is hacked and generates spam which is then automatically forwarded. As for what could be done Michael Flatt has already answered that question above; purge the mailing list of obsolete email addresses and stop the auto forwarding...

I think what's likely happened is that someone or something has got hold of one (or both) of the dlist email addresses for graders, possibly through infection of an internet device of one of the dlist members. If true, purging old email addresses from the dlist would have little effect - the spam emails would continue to be forwarded to the remaining email addresses. One solution might be to close down the existing dlist/s and create (a) replacement new one(s).

The spammer only needs to submit his email to either the ECF Graders or ECF Graders Forum email addresses and the email is forwarded to all those on the particular distribution list.

Occasionally, an ECF grader accidentally submits results to the ECF Graders address instead of the ECF Grading address, which then gets forwarded to all the ECF Graders.

The ECF shouldn't use an email address as a means of storing a distribution list. It is very sloppy email practice and unnecessarily assists the spammers.

You can have email distribution lists moderated so anything coming from an unrecognised email address is held back and only allowed through if a list moderator approves it.

You still need to give the people on the email distribution list a way of emailing the list. That will presumably still be an email address, and it is that address that the spammers use when they get hold of it.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:You can have email distribution lists moderated so anything coming from an unrecognised email address is held back and only allowed through if a list moderator approves it.

You still need to give the people on the email distribution list a way of emailing the list. That will presumably still be an email address, and it is that address that the spammers use when they get hold of it.

That's an idea but it requires someone to act as moderator which is probably a waste of their valuable time.

Personally, I don't find it necessary to email other ECF Graders. I only need to be able to submit my results to the Grading Administrator and for him to respond to the data submitted.

This Forum provides an adequate channel for ECF Graders to correspond with each other.

This comes up every year or so and MailChimp is still the answer but what do I know?

Carl Hibbard wrote:This comes up every year or so and MailChimp is still the answer but what do I know?

Does MailChimp have the same functionality - for an email sent by MailChimp to a dlist, can a member of the dlist send a reply email to the dlist?

Angus French wrote:

Carl Hibbard wrote:This comes up every year or so and MailChimp is still the answer but what do I know?

Does MailChimp have the same functionality - for an email sent by MailChimp to a dlist, can a member of the dlist send a reply email to the dlist?

Why would you want to do that? Are you willing to assist the spammers?

The mailing list is protected and only visible to the author of the mail. It behaves similarly to the blind copy facility available in normal emails.

MailChimp can handle very large distribution lists that would normally be blocked as spam. There are certain restrictions, such as confirming that receipients have given permission to be included on the distribution list and allowing them to unsubscibe.

MailChimp conforms with data protection legislation and email best practice.

Michael Flatt wrote:

Angus French wrote:

Carl Hibbard wrote:This comes up every year or so and MailChimp is still the answer but what do I know?

Does MailChimp have the same functionality - for an email sent by MailChimp to a dlist, can a member of the dlist send a reply email to the dlist?

Why would you want to do that? Are you willing to assist the spammers?

The mailing list is protected and only visible to the author of the mail. It behaves similarly to the blind copy facility available in normal emails.

MailChimp can handle very large distribution lists that would normally be blocked as spam. There are certain restrictions, such as confirming that receipients have given permission to be included on the distribution list and allowing them to unsubscibe.

MailChimp conforms with data protection legislation and email best practice.

Sorry Michael, but I think you've misunderstood the current functionality - functionality which allows graders to engage in conversation. If MailChimp doesn't allow this then you're not comparing like with like.

Angus French wrote: Sorry Michael, but I think you've misunderstood the current functionality - functionality which allows graders to engage in conversation. If MailChimp doesn't allow this then you're not comparing like with like.

Angus,
Providing spammers with easy access to large distributions list is plain irresponsible.

If ECF Graders need a forum to converse then the ECF are perfectly capable of setting that up as a private group which would protect everyone from spam.

I can't recall the last occasion anyone used the list as you describe. The only thing I see is spam.

Michael Flatt wrote:

Angus French wrote: Sorry Michael, but I think you've misunderstood the current functionality - functionality which allows graders to engage in conversation. If MailChimp doesn't allow this then you're not comparing like with like.

Angus,
Providing spammers with easy access to large distributions list is plain irresponsible.

If ECF Graders need a forum to converse then the ECF are perfectly capable of setting that up as a private group which would protect everyone from spam.

I can't recall the last occasion anyone used the list as you describe. The only thing I see is spam.

There are typically a few messages sent per year where graders are asking other graders for help with something, and a few messages per year where someone has sent something to the "graders" e-mail address when it should have gone to the "grading" e-mail address.

I don't receive any spam from this distribution list. Perhaps my ISP has a better spam filter than yours.