Effective this date ALL e-mail addresses on the Found Lists have been removed.
This action was taken because of the risks involved in protecting the interests of the web site, it's owners and the alumni themselves.
Because we still display e-mail addresses on the POC List, and a few other places on the web site the OLD SPAM MESSAGE is left here for information.
Jim Hyatt
1 Nov 02
OLD SPAM MESSAGE
The incidence of "spamming" throughout the world wide web appears to be on the increase. You know how it works -- you receive a solicitation from some one you do not know who wants to provide to you a service or product -- the so called "junk mail" in the U.S. Postal system that you are all familiar with. Unfortunately there are enough "suckers" on the internet who will bite often enough to keep the spammers in business. In the meantime everyone else is annoyed at the intrusion ............ I have noticed it personally here on my ISP (AOL) for some time, and it is rapidly reaching the intolerable level for me. Others are confirming the same event on other ISP's as well. The ISP's seem unwilling to stop it, or are unable to do so. Frankly many ISP's themselves are spammers so it does cause one to wonder why things seem to work so well -- for the spammers. Everyone appears to be in it for the profits it offers.
Basically for those of us who manage sites where e-mail addresses are displayed, can not afford to spend hundreds / thousands of dollars each year to "hide the addresses" within a message center type operation where the address cannot be obtained by anyone. Simply put, for people like me and you there is NO protection to prevent the spammer from eventually finding your address when it is displayed -- as on the Found List. There are many ways a "spammer" can capture all the addresses on our found list in just a few moments, and create havoc amongst all the owners. Further, a spammer can sell those addresses to another spammers which now doubles the spam to a single address, and on and on and on.
We have been lucky, to my knowledge we have only had one case of "spamming" here on the YOHI Web Site - long ago. Fortunately that was begun by an alumni, and was put to a stop immediately, with little damage. However, as time goes by I am more and more concerned about the e-mail addresses we display on the Found List -- and have cautioned before about this -- this is another caution message. Although "someone" (the owner, the sponsor or a POC....) has given me permission to display the addresses -- or it has been in the "public domain" and available thus to be listed, I strongly suggest to each alumni whose address is displayed to re-evaluate the risks involved, and chose whether you want your address removed or not. The individual "pros" and "cons" of this are obvious. To the Yohi World, it has a negative effect to remove it, classmates / friends can no longer find each other easily ......and it is going to cause many problems within the alumni at large; but on a personal basis at your end, there is risk involved if it remains. You alone must decide what you want to do.
For those whose e-mail address is removed (becomes "unlisted"), it means that the only way they may be contacted is to get in touch with the POC of the group involved and ask. Each POC will have to set up their own ground rules for providing that information, or how to make contact with the person being sought. This could provide a major inconvenience to everyone involved, but at the moment I know of no other solution.
To have your address removed simply advise your POC (if that person is active/available) or the undersigned.
Jim Hyatt
22 Oct 2000