Hello, Lists; When I saw this message from Brian, one of Rootsweb owners, I just had to forward it to you even though I believe my lists are the best on the INTERNET. However, there are one or two who do not know about these things, or forgot, or got excited and sent it anyway. As usual, please flame me personally. It is just so tacky to subject other subscribers to someone elses disgruntlement. If you love these lists like I do, you will be very protective of them, like I am. Sandra in Sacramento ******************** _____F I R S T M E S S A G E F R O M B R I A N______ >-- Your message was: (from "Shirley") > >> I've received a virus alert from a listmember and have been unable >> to verify its existence by checking >> >> http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html >> and >> http://www.kumite.com/myths/ >> >> I don't want to pass along a false report, and need suggestions on >> how to confirm it. > > ------------------ > > >First, there are *no* valid virus alerts. > > NONE. > >In two decades on The Net, I've never seen a virus alert that wasn't >a hoax. > > ### > >And even if this turned out to be the *first* valid virus warning >ever circulated on The Net then please, whatever you do, don't post >it to any RootsWeb lists. > > That way lies madness. > >There are literally thousands of *important* things, most bogus but >a few that are real -- missing children, virus alerts, FCC warnings, >send cards to a sick child, ... -- that would find their way onto >the lists if we started to accept nongenealogical posts. > >RootsWeb lists should never (that's NEVER) be used for making >general, nongenealogical announcements. We'll choke the servers and >break things for everyone if we aren't careful about this. > >Thanks all! -B > > >-- >Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L >RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative http://www.rootsweb.com/ >P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich@rootsweb.com _____S E C O N D M E S S A G E F R O M B R I A N______ BTW, it occurs to me that it might not be obvious to everybody why these things can break servers. Here's the reason: Virus alerts and their ilk tend to "ring" the servers: they appear on one or a few lists, get rebroadcast on more lists by more people, ... , fanning out sort of like a chart of our descendants. I've seen one of these posts generate as many as 500 copies posted to other lists within an hour or so. On top of our normal load, this can be *really* hard on the servers. -B -- Dr. Brian Leverich Co-moderator, soc.genealogy.methods/GENMTD-L RootsWeb Genealogical Data Cooperative http://www.rootsweb.com/ P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798 leverich@rootsweb.com Sandra [T.YLER] D.UNCAN purplevw @ sl.net {ôçô} SURNAMES may or may not be documented (ô¿ô) SEEN AT: • http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3577 • •••PLEASE check with me before sending any attachments!!!••• Support RootsWeb! Go "NOW" to: http://www.rootsweb.com