new thread
Hi everyone,
I got an email, wanting me to confirm my email address as a member of the MLHH. It said, if you wish to remain in the directory of users, click on the link in this email to confirm, if you do nothing, your name will be removed from the directory. Just wondering if others have received this. (I assume this is an annual "check" of the directory of users, maybe it's done every January, so the list can be kept current) As I'm fairly new here, just wondering about this.
David
I got one too.It showed up in my spam box.I deleted it then realized what it was.I can't get it back.I'm still here.
Arrick
I got the same message, but haven't clicked on the link yet. We apparently have the entire month of January to confirm our e-mails. I came to the MLHH to see if there was a post informing us that the confirmation message would be sent. Since I'm generally mistrustful of requests to click on unknown web sites, I'll wait to see how this thread develops before proceeding.
I did click on the link, the only reason is that it mentioned Oren in the body of the email and seemed perfectly legit. It also mentioned Oren's full name and I don't think spam would have had some of the information contained in the email. I was assuming the whole purpose of the email was some sort of "cleanout" of the directory, probably done annually, removing those without valid email addresses, etc. I hope I'm not too trusting.
David
Seems legit, I did get a confirmation, might be useful for Oren or someone from the crew to make a post to clarify to any others getting this email.
David
I clicked it. The email that I registered to this site is blacklisted anyway, so the only that'll happen is more spam, which is fine because that account already gets hammered.
JeffL
Ordinarily I never follow links from e-mails, but with mention of Oren in there, and the small size of MLHH, and none of the usual suspicious indicators of an exploit or phishing attack, I felt it was beyond a reasonable doubt that this was not an attack.
FWIW, a best practice for security is to *never* tell users to follow links directly from the e-mail. Instead, the message should tell them to "log in as usual" and update their settings. Since MLHH has no login, you can't do that.
If this procedure were followed by all the major websites, and if it were required for all legitimate businesses, then phishing would never happen since it works by falsifying URLs.
Until that day arrives, just follow this rule: The client should always initiate the transaction. For example, if your bank sends you an e-mail requesting such an update, don't click on the link in the e-mail. Instead, just open a new browser window and log in to your bank as usual. If the e-mail was a phishing attack, it will thus fail.
What I am going to say will sound critical. Perhaps it is. I wondered why everyone on the list had to be contacted. Some of us post rather regularly. Why ask us if we wish to remain on the list and tell us that we will be deleted if we do not?
I've been on this list, regularly, and served for some time as a Moderator, since 2000. And I will be deleted if I don't respond to the email?
Ticked me off, if I am honest. I know it wasn't intended to tick me off, but it did. Perhaps that's just my problem.
Me being ticked off aside, seems to have created extra work for somebody for nothing. Why not just email those you haven't heard from in a while?
Robert--who, btw, is likely NOT going to respond to the email :)
Even though we've locked horns on occasion, I'd hate to see you go. I am not a MLHH developer, but as a software guy I can tell you what's the deal is. This is a free site running custom software, in production, and maintained by unpaid volunteers. Given that, it's understandable to me why the more logical way of handling this (e.g., tracking inactive users and deactivating their accounts after a certain period) hasn't been implemented.
That said, I can see your point of view. Those of us who've been here any length of time know who the "regulars" are, and which accounts might be invalid. It might have made more sense to just contact that ones that looked "stale".
Not being a MLHH developer, I have no idea how hard it would be to bypass the confirmation check and auto-confirm you.
I appreciate the sentiment, Steve. Having been one of those volunteers here for a while, I don't understand why the more logical and less work approach was not taken. It's not like the moderation crew has lots of extra time on its hands.
More to the point, for me (and I may be the only one who is reacting this way), it's like going into a local grocery or bank where you have been known for a number of years and being asked for identification to prove who you are. It's just a little insulting.
If there is a logical--we can't get around this--reason, then a heads up post might have been nice.
Robert
The logical reason is "the world is shades of gray". It would take a lot of time to decide who is active and who is not, and what about the ones who are somewhat active? We'd make mistakes for sure. So why not just ask everyone, "Do you want to stay with us?" So many organizations ask people to fill out a membership form or send money every year. Some just time you out (Yahoo does this) and you disappear if inactive, with no notice at all! Would that be the way to treat our users? Hardly.
We asked people to make one click. How much easier can it be?
Bill
Simple distinction.
If I am inactive and you automatically phase me out, I won't care.
If I am active and you ask me if I want to stay, it sounds like you don't care.
Been on Yahoo longer. Never been phased out. Never needed to be asked.
Being too sensitive, am I? Maybe. Caring is part of what I do in my line of work, and I notice when that sort of thing is not tended to. I've said enough. You all do what you need to do to take care of business.
Robert
But what about the vast group in the middle, the people who WILL care? They are the "shades of gray"? Between the three groups, how would we fairly and to each man's satisfaction make the cut????
We can't. To be fair, we have to let each man have the opportunity to answer our question himself. We don't want the cleaning out of the directory to be a mystery. Everyone has been told about it and has a chance to opt their own choice for themselves. That is fair.
Bill
Hi all,
Yes - that email is genuine.
We're doing an "are you still with us?" check of the entire Directory of Users. There are many users that haven't been active in several months or even years.
Hope you all have had a great New Years,
- Oren
...you better check your 'Suspect Email' or whatever kind of filters you have.
That's where I found mine!
I did DavidN, However, they told me if I ever brought up the hair contest thing again, that the hair Mofia would visit me. Ha! Just joking. I got the same thing.
People join the users' directory but almost never leave it. Over time it can have lots of people who mostly don't post here anymore, and over time lots of the e-mail addresses are no longer valid ones. In an ideal world people would tell us when they leave or when they change their e-mail addresses, but they don't. Meanwhile, it's not fair to our other users to leave someone listed with a bad e-mail address. People may spend time to write them, and then their time is wasted because their message bounces or is never read. To fit our directory to the real world of how people behave on the Internet, we have to occasionally clean house. We figured the first of the year would be a good time.
The link goes to mlhh.org, which is our web site. All it sends is the stuff to the right of the question mark, which is your e-mail address. It knew that already because it had just e-mailed you. It mentioned Oren. It called you out by name at the top. So there's lots familiar about it and nothing to fear about it.
All that will happen is that, at the end of the month, we'll take the list of confirmed addresses and remove any users' directory entries that are not on the list. This will be done with software because there are over 300 names on the list. No one is going to leave people on the list because they post some, because they post some more, or because they post a lot. How would we fairly judge that? Instead, we'll just keep people who ask to be kept. It's just a "Hello, are you still alive and still interested?" question, and nothing more.
Bill
No big deal...no forms to fill...just click on the link and your done.