Why are we receiving advertising on this genealogy list? I thought this list was for the exchange of info on family history.

I have responded privately to those who have asked on the list about why this particular post reached the list. I responded privately so as not to clog up the list and drag this discussion out. I see now that I should have responded to the list. I am the list administrator for PA-MCKEAN and every once in a great while the list receives spam and the list subscribers get very upset. I don't blame them, but there is not a whole lot that can be done. Why? Because the spammers are becoming increasingly creative and no system is 100% effective in detecting spam and blocking it. I cannot be certain in this case (because I'm not this list administrator), but I believe in this case the poster actually had to subscribe to post in order for his message to reach the list. Personally, I have a spam blocker on my email addresses through my ISP. I receive about 300 spam messages daily and every once in a while one will get through to my inbox. The longer an address is active the better the chances the spammer will find you. Considering how long the rootsweb lists and boards have been around, and how very active they are, I'd say that they are doing a far better than average job of eliminating this junk but, as I said, no system is 100% fullproof. Whatever you do, do NOT respond to this individual's email address (if you have half a mind to chew him out). You will only be giving him your address and he can then bombard YOU and sell your address to others who will do the same. I respond to half-dozen county lists and this is the first time I have seen anything this blatant. I share your frustration, but let's remember the problem lies not with rootsweb, ancestry or the list administrators. The spammers are the problem. Maureen M. Lee maureen@happeningsinthehills.com www.happeningsinthehills.com (history & genealogy for the PA counties of McKean and Potter, and the NY counties of Allegany and Cattaraugus) www.happeningsinthehills.com/adma (Austin Dam Memorial Association) www.happeningsinthehills.com/brag (Bolivar-Richburg-Allentown-Genesee Historical Preservation Society) www.happeningsinthehills.com/ovhs (Oswayo Valley Historical Society) www.happeningsinthehills.com/rugby (Yuma, Arizona Sidewinders Rugby Football Club) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Hart" <khart395@charter.net> To: <NYALLEGA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, 06 September, 2003 12:15 PM Subject: [NYAllega] phone spam > Why are we receiving advertising on this genealogy list? I thought this > list was for the exchange of info on family history. > > > ==== NYALLEGA Mailing List ==== > Visit Allegany Co. New York GenWeb at www.rootsweb.com/~nyallega/ > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

The recent spam post that made it to the list was actually posted on the Rootsweb/Ancestry board for Allegany County, NY, which is "gate-wayed" to the list, meaning we get a cc of everything posted to the board. Once something is posted, there is no way to stop it from going onto the list. If anyone had clicked on the link to the board, they would have have found the message on the board had already been deleted. I managed several message boards and this really rarely happens. The best thing to do is to delete it and move on. Maureen had excellent suggestions about dealing with spam. I do some other things and if anyone is interested they can contact me privately. Karen Bush NYAllega-L karenbush@thedam.com