spam from the NCF techies

[William R. Watt]

I'm getting pretty annoyed with the frequent email messages from the NCF
telling me there is something wrong with my user profile or my password,
or my email which can be fixed by opening an attachment. I don't even read
them any more. I just delete anything coming from the NCF. It's not only
annoying but if anybody in the NCF admin wants to contact me they'l have
to call and leave a message on my telephone answering machine. Maybe I'll
return teh call and leave a message on the NCF's telephone answerign
machine since nobody at the NCF answers thge telephone any more. Then our
telephone answering machines can talk to each other. For an organization
which is supposed to be dedicted to impoving communication the NCF sure
does a lousy job.

I doubt I am the only one who is getting these messages and deleting
everything proporting to come from the NCF. I'll bet members have put the
NCF in their email filtre delete list. Now the NCF will never be able to
reach them by email. I'll bet it's a plot to keep members from knowing
about and voting at the AGM. By not bothering to fix the problem the NCF
has cut itself off from members. Which is jut what htye want. Maybve the
FreeNet techies are sending out al this bogus mail themselves for just
that purpose.

--

[Glenn Jackman]

There is an email virus (named "Mytob") that appears to be an account
warning sent by an NCF email address. For more information, please see
http://www.ncf.ca/ncf/ops/virus.html

The spam rules were updated to raise the scores for email with spoofed
ncf "admin" address.

Post by William R. Watt
I'm getting pretty annoyed with the frequent email messages from the NCF
telling me there is something wrong with my user profile or my password,
or my email which can be fixed by opening an attachment. I don't even read
them any more. I just delete anything coming from the NCF. It's not only
annoying but if anybody in the NCF admin wants to contact me they'l have
to call and leave a message on my telephone answering machine. Maybe I'll
return teh call and leave a message on the NCF's telephone answerign
machine since nobody at the NCF answers thge telephone any more. Then our
telephone answering machines can talk to each other. For an organization
which is supposed to be dedicted to impoving communication the NCF sure
does a lousy job.
I doubt I am the only one who is getting these messages and deleting
everything proporting to come from the NCF. I'll bet members have put the
NCF in their email filtre delete list. Now the NCF will never be able to
reach them by email. I'll bet it's a plot to keep members from knowing
about and voting at the AGM. By not bothering to fix the problem the NCF
has cut itself off from members. Which is jut what htye want. Maybve the
FreeNet techies are sending out al this bogus mail themselves for just
that purpose.

[Michael McCord]

Post by William R. Watt
I'm getting pretty annoyed with the frequent email messages from the NCF
telling me there is something wrong with my user profile or my password,
or my email which can be fixed by opening an attachment. I don't even read
them any more. I just delete anything coming from the NCF. It's not only
annoying but if anybody in the NCF admin wants to contact me they'l have
to call and leave a message on my telephone answering machine. Maybe I'll
return teh call and leave a message on the NCF's telephone answerign
machine since nobody at the NCF answers thge telephone any more. Then our
telephone answering machines can talk to each other. For an organization
which is supposed to be dedicted to impoving communication the NCF sure
does a lousy job.
I doubt I am the only one who is getting these messages and deleting
everything proporting to come from the NCF. I'll bet members have put the
NCF in their email filtre delete list. Now the NCF will never be able to
reach them by email. I'll bet it's a plot to keep members from knowing
about and voting at the AGM. By not bothering to fix the problem the NCF
has cut itself off from members. Which is jut what htye want. Maybve the
FreeNet techies are sending out al this bogus mail themselves for just
that purpose.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned

Nope. You're the only one. It's a PLOT,you see.

If I have gotten any, I don't recall. I like the spam assassin - it does
a fine job. Only once in a while do I even need to ask something be sent
through from my red/yellow list and it takes only a moment or two the
check it.

[William R. Watt]

... I like the spam assassin - it does
a fine job. Only once in a while do I even need to ask something be sent
through from my red/yellow list and it takes only a moment or two the
check it.

That's web maill. I use FreePort mail.
Fixing this problem is a simple matter of deleting any mail purporting to
be from the administrations which is not. The heading tells what route
mail has followed. The NCF computer can tell if it is sending mail or not.
If not then it can delete it. 'Way past time they fixed this bug.

--

[Mark Mielke]

Post by William R. Watt
Fixing this problem is a simple matter of deleting any mail purporting to
be from the administrations which is not. The heading tells what route
mail has followed. The NCF computer can tell if it is sending mail or not.
If not then it can delete it. 'Way past time they fixed this bug.

As explained to you numerous times, but specifically, at least twice by me
in the past, it is not a bug. The "From" address in the message needs to be
unfiltered, common mailing list software relies on being able to send from
the mailing list home, pretending to be "From" the person who sent the email
in the first place. The "From" in the message envelope (which you do not see,
and is used by the mail server as a return path) is *NOT* using ***@ncf.ca.

No bug that NCF can choose to address.

NCF could choose to filter specific messages - but this is a never ending
battle that is better solved using mechanisms such as spam assassin, or the
other alternatives out there. NCF staff have better things to do all day
than track malicious emails on the Internet.

mark
--
***@mielke.cc / ***@ncf.ca / ***@nortel.com __________________________
. . _ ._ . . .__ . . ._. .__ . . . .__ | Neighbourhood Coder
|\/| |_| |_| |/ |_ |\/| | |_ | |/ |_ |
| | | | | \ | \ |__ . | | .|. |__ |__ | \ |__ | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them...

http://mark.mielke.cc/

[Howard Eisenberger]

Post by William R. Watt

... I like the spam assassin - it does
a fine job. Only once in a while do I even need to ask something be sent
through from my red/yellow list and it takes only a moment or two the
check it.

That's web maill. I use FreePort mail.

It's not webmail. You can use Spamassassin and have your email
delivered to your Freeport mailbox. See "go forward"

Post by William R. Watt
Fixing this problem is a simple matter of deleting any mail purporting to
be from the administrations which is not. The heading tells what route
mail has followed. The NCF computer can tell if it is sending mail or not.
If not then it can delete it. 'Way past time they fixed this bug.

The bug is in your elm filter, which can't tell whether email
claiming to be from the NCF really is from the NCF. The NCF
SpamFilter sorting rules can.

Howard E.

[William R. Watt]

Nonsense. The NCF can put a code word in the subject line so we know it's
from the techies. I check for code words all the time with the elm filtre.

I got two more of these bogus NCF techie emails this morning.
Both claiming to confirm my password had been changed.
Of course it hadn't as I had to logon to read the mail.

--

[Creighton T. Paterson]

I suspect I'll regret biting, but...

I'll bet it's a plot to keep members from knowing about and voting at the
AGM.
Nonsense. The NCF can put a code word in the subject line so we know it's
from the techies. I check for code words all the time with the elm filtre.

Which is it? Conspiracy or technical issue? Or perhaps it's that
solutions have been offered to you, and you've chosen to eschew them.

I access my mail through FreePort, I do not use SpamAssassin (though I
have in the past). Someone has posted that you can use SpamAssassin to
block these types of e-mails, and you have also been told that you can use
it through FreePort. You have a solution.

I, like you, use elm (which is not what the NCF recommends). I have set
up my filters to whitelist addresses that the NCF have used in the past to
communicate with me, my filters then blacklist keywords in the subject (I
believe one of them is "password"), and then allow in other NCF addresses
so they are "greylisted". I have had no such e-mail problems as you have,
in fact my spam count per month can be counted on one hand. I'd be happy
to share my filter list with you, if you'd like. You have another
solution.


For all your railing about "techies" (of which I am one) and the solutions
you perceive as simple to the problems you encounter, it is remarkable
that you are still dealing with this problem while so many others have
solved it and moved on.

If you want a solution to this problem, please take me up on this genuine
offer of help (made only because your repetitive wailing on this subject
has become more tiresome than your bigotry), or solicit the group for help
on how SpamAssassin might be used from Freeport to solve this bogus NCF
e-mail issue. They have proven very helpful in the past.

If it's the principle of the thing, if it's that you want NCF to solve the
problem for you (beyond supplying SpamAssassin which apparantly does the
job), or if it's that your technical "discussions" are merely a ruse to get
to the true heart of the matter; an illuminati-inspired conspiracy to
prevent AGM voting, then rail on - and sorry to have interrupted.

It won't happen again.


--
C.T. Paterson, ***@freenet.carleton.ca
When e-mailing, include "waterloo" in the subject to bypass spam filters.

[Mark Mielke]

Post by William R. Watt
Nonsense. The NCF can put a code word in the subject line so we know it's
from the techies. I check for code words all the time with the elm filtre.
I got two more of these bogus NCF techie emails this morning.
Both claiming to confirm my password had been changed.
Of course it hadn't as I had to logon to read the mail.

To state the obvious - the most recognized spam fighters in the world are
facing this exact same problem in the large companies (10000+ employees
with millions of email received each day) that they are responsible for
maintaining with regard to spam. This issue isn't unique to NCF, and
William Watt is hardly a recognized spam fighter. I specifically asked
the one that I know about this issue, as I initially held an opinion
similar to Watt. There were several reasons that were presented that
changed my conclusion as to why, although it would be cool to install
a filter, it isn't technically feasible or desirable.

NCF *never* sends you anything from ***@ncf.ca, according to my memory.
So what if we block ***@ncf.ca. What's next? ***@ncf.ca?
***@ncf.ca? We're talking about invented email addresses, not
official email addresses that are being forged. It's just a string of
characters that is socially seductive. People think it's legit because
spammers work hard to make it look legit, and yet, it isn't. Emails don't
come from ***@ncf.ca. If they do, they are almost 100% likely to be
spam.

Watt - you are wrong.

mark
--
***@mielke.cc / ***@ncf.ca / ***@nortel.com __________________________
. . _ ._ . . .__ . . ._. .__ . . . .__ | Neighbourhood Coder
|\/| |_| |_| |/ |_ |\/| | |_ | |/ |_ |
| | | | | \ | \ |__ . | | .|. |__ |__ | \ |__ | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them...

http://mark.mielke.cc/

[Dennis Brown]

Post by Mark Mielke
Watt - you are wrong.

Another project management triumph from Watt.

[William R. Watt]

I think I've found who is responsible for bringing this plague down on us,
ad696 - Dwight Williamns. I just got a message with the subject
"Ad696 take a look at these cuties" or words to that effect. :)

Could ad696 please check his computer for email viruses?

--

[Christopher Witkowski]

Post by William R. Watt
I think I've found who is responsible for bringing this plague down on us,
ad696 - Dwight Williamns. I just got a message with the subject
"Ad696 take a look at these cuties" or words to that effect. :)
Could ad696 please check his computer for email viruses?

It's unlikely that a userid in the Subject: line of a spam/worm email has
anything to do with who sent it or who it was inteneded for. It is more
likely put there in order to confuse you. Usually this sort of thing is done
for "stock tips" that are supposedly private and intended for someone
else but "mistakenly" delivered to you.

In email spam and worms the Subject: line is no more trustworthy than
the From: or Return-path: lines. Or the body and attachments for that
matter. The only thing you can count is that portion of the header that
has been filled in by NCF.

Please post the full header of the message that you received and, if it
is indeed from an NCF member, I'm sure it will be taken care of.
__
Christopher Witkowski ***@ncf.ca http://www.ncf.ca/~ab234
Ph: [phone]