Who is Serendipity?

[Gofa]

Just curious... I got a PM from a certain Serendipity several days ago and politely respond to it. Now I see the name is banned from the board.

Does anyone know who Serendipity is?

[Triffid]

No idea.

I got the same PM as you, I'm guessing. So replied with a polite "Hello" and advised them to introduce themselves in the Intro's section. They never did from the looks of things.

From the sounds of it if they got banned they must have done something wrong like "fishing for details" or "making a nuisance" (goes without saying really).

Oh well. T'is just one of those things, but yet more confirmation that the Moderators here are more than just "On the Ball."

[cb977]

If any of you EVER get a PM or an email from somebody you do not know, please let the mods know...

we don't allow our members to be harrassed privately either!

[RosieC]

This member was complained about by one of our long standing members because the PM was spam. It had a footer link pointing away to a 'serindipity' website (at least it did in the version that was forwarded to me as a complaint).

The user was banned as all they appeared to be doing was spamming members through PM and not taking any part in the forums.

[Triffid]

Originally Posted by cb977

If any of you EVER get a PM or an email from somebody you do not know, please let the mods know...

we don't allow our members to be harrassed privately either!

Sorry for not reporting, I'll know what to do that if it ever happens again.

I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes.
Try to live by the rule....
"Never attribute to selfishness or malice what you can attribute to stupidity and absentmindedness"
....Guess it really didn't apply here

[RosieC]

I think the thing to look for here is links. The inclusion of links from people you don't know is generally a good sign that they are just trying to get you to follow the link. In this case the lack of any posts on the forums was another thing I used in deciding it was spam.

Spamming through PM is a much more subtle type of spam and of course they hope they won't get noticed that way. But as Sue has said, we are just as tough on that sort of Spam as the public sort (once we know about it).

[Triffid]

It's actually very reassuring that this site is so strict on Spammers

Watch out for links! (I'll be sure to do that if it ever happens again )

[cb977]

I think a pretty good rule of thumb is never click on links coming from somebody you don't know.

That being said, I am just getting past the aggravation of my regular email address being hijacked. So many of my friends thought they were getting emails from me but they were all Canadian Drug spam...mostly Viagra and Cialis...and they come in Pink for women!

If an email comes to you and something about it looks odd, do not open it. Best to contact the sender and confirm that they did send it first.

A clue for my friends...I absolutely NEVER pass along an email with earlier forwarding addresses attached.
If you see an address other than yours, it didn't come from me

Unfortunately not everybody in the world has the best intentions and we must be wary...but that won't stop us from having fun!