I often get unsolicited IM's and/or Friend Requests that I strongly suspect are from this group and some even identify themselves as being from this group. It's just the nature of the beast since this is a YM group so anyone looking for someone to chat with would strongly suspect that all members of this group have YM... BUT I have also gotten unsolicited IM's because I was showing up as being "Online" in my local FreeCycle group and sometimes from my fish groups.
If you change your preferences to NOT show you as Online in Yahoo Groups/Services, then that would cut down on the number of unsolicited IM's and/or Friend Requests. Of course, for you ladies, not having Yahoo ID's like "sticksandstoneswillbreakmybonesbutwhipsandchainswillpleaseme" would probably stop you from getting lots of anonymous guys saying HI! LOL I don't mind unsolicited IM's, especially if it's someone needing immediate help with a problem although I strongly encourage them to start a thread so all can learn. As far as Friend Requests, I usually say NO and type a short message why.... mainly being that I don't add Friends just for friends sake... I guess that's why I don't have a lot of friends on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc. LOL Lenny Vasbinder http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Deb White Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 5:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Y!M] Unwelcome contacts my friend is a member of the group she got the person first on YM and then me about couple of seconds later ----- Original Message ----- From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder <mailto:[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 12:59 AM Subject: RE: [Y!M] Unwelcome contacts OK. Now going back to your original post, so you two were chatting and she got an unsolicited IM request from someone and then you got one also, from the same person? Was yours at the exact same time or shortly afterwards? It could just be someone's YM that is infected and is now part of the SPIM-bot networks that exist and constantly send out SPIM to people. If it wasn't a YM that has been compromised and part of a SPIM-bot network.... and this stranger ONLY sent these to you and your friend, then it could be something innocent or nefarious. Answer my questions above and we can go from there. If you both are members of the same Yahoo Group, it could be someone who saw both of you in that group and that you were online so he decided to try his luck. There is a setting where you can have yourself show up as online in your groups and other Yahoo Services, whenever you sign into YM. You can also turn this "feature" off so you do not show up as online. I regularly get IM's from people because they see that I am online in one of the various Yahoo Groups. What the status smiley in the group's do not show is that I may be "Away From My Desk" or something like that so it shows me as online but not as NOT available. Lenny Vasbinder http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com <http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com> FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI <https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI> Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of Deb White Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 12:01 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [Y!M] Unwelcome contacts Sorry what I meant by chatting, my friend and I were just sending Instant messages back and fort. What I meant that I hope this person wasn't trying to read our messages to each other. Thanks for the info Lenny ----- Original Message ----- From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:lnvtm1%40gmail.com> > To: [email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 4:21 AM Subject: RE: [Y!M] Unwelcome contacts While anything is possible, it's not easy for your average to above average computer user to hack into your computer or into your IM conversation. Were you all in a 2-party IM window or had you opened a Conference? You also say you were "talking" so was this a Voice/Call where he popped up or just a regular IM window? As far as unsolicited IM's or Friend Requests, I usually give them a pass on the first attempt and just X out or deny the request. On a second attempt, if they have not sent an IM explaining who they are and/or why they are IM'ing me, I then report them as SPAM and they get put on my Ignore List with that action. I don't think Yahoo!, Inc., actually does anything to folks who get reported over and over but at least I don't have to be bothered with them any longer. At least with some email providers, if enough people report someone as a spammer, the email provider will blacklist that person so that ALL of their emails are considered spam. I have my YM set up so that any IM's from people not-on-my-friends-list, go into one window so that I do not get a bunch of IM windows opening from these unsolicited IM's... or SPIM's. Then I can look at the list of unsolicited IM's and click on any which I wish to reply to. This usually happens when surfing around chat rooms and 99% of the unsolicited IM's are from spim-bots that automatically send one or two IM's to anyone who enters a chat room. Lenny Vasbinder http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com <http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com> <http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com <http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com> > FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI <https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI> <https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI <https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI> > Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of Deb Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 12:39 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:Yahoo_Messenger%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: [Y!M] Unwelcome contacts Hi, I was talking to my friend on YM the other day whilst we were chatting, my friend said some person popped up out of the blue, so she got rid of him as she did not know him then he done the the same thing to me twice I ousted him off and kept coming back so I got a box saying why I wanted to refuse this person and I said I did not know him. Now up until then the person kept popping up my friend said it could of been a spammer. But I was scared that others could tap into our conversations could this happen without inviting others to do so. Regards Deb ________________________________ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.58/2164 - Release Date: 06/08/09 17:59:00
