[HPforGrownups] ADMIN: Possible Threat to the HPFGU Family of Lists

[Lori]

No: HPFGUIDX 86720


To whom it may concern: I read the email and just wanted to tell someone. That the threats that are being made is the exact reason that I have not participated in HP for Grownups. Another member made a threat towards me and I have not been in since. It was a rather graphic threat and it also put a virus on my computer, seven of them to be exact. I lost a lot of my files because of this and did contact the moderator of the site to inform them of the threat that was made towards me. I do hope you figure out who is behind this, I deleted the email once I read the part in the email that stated a virus was attached and then ran Norton and discovered that indeed a virus was on my system. I was told my the moderator that handled my complaint not to say anything about what I was sent, (which I found to be insulting) it was like the moderators didn't want me to defend myself. I haven't been back since. I do however receive emails and such from the Grownups group but I don't usually respond to them for fear of receiving another virus or threat. I enjoyed being in the group and participating until this occurred. I don't know why someone would be so wrapped up in a discussion group that they would be willing to take it to this measure. Lori
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: hpfgumoderator 
  To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2003 7:30 PM
  Subject: [HPforGrownups] ADMIN: Possible Threat to the HPFGU Family of Lists


  Dear Members of the Harry Potter for Grownups Family of Lists, 

  We regret the need to interrupt with a post of this nature. 

  For the past several months, we (the List Administration Team) have 
  been handling the disruption of several of the HP lists by an 
  individual or individuals, and it has gotten to a point which we 
  feel to be harassment. In addition, a threat has been made offlist 
  to at least one member of the current admin team, and we are 
  concerned that harassment of list members may have extended to 
  others beyond admin team members. 

  Until now, we have been handling this within the admin team, and 
  have done our best to avoid burdening the lists with this situation -
  we felt it was an administrative problem, and so should be dealt 
  with internally. Recently, however, we received a message which made 
  it much more than just a list admin problem. 

  We were contacted via the owners address with a frank threat against 
  the lists, indicating that, unless certain demands are met, an 
  irreversible action will be taken that will damage the HPFGU list 
  community. 

  The action was not specified; however, one of our auxiliary HPFGU 
  lists was recently deleted by Yahoo, and the sender of this e-mail 
  apparently took credit for that action, implying that "Terms of Use 
  violations" were reported. Other owner messages have made reference 
  to "holes" in our security. 

  This threat may be as innocuous as the formation of an alternate 
  list. However, we cannot ignore the possibility that serious harm 
  may be intended to the HPFGU family of lists, and we felt it only 
  fair that you should be alerted. This is your list community too. 

  Some of us are concerned that we are being manipulated into 
  complaining on the public HPFGU lists, or forwarding the emails, so 
  a complaint for a violation of Yahoo's Terms of Use could be made. 
  For that reason, we are not providing any names in this email. 

  As our experience with the auxiliary group showed, Yahoo does not 
  give notice before they delete a group. While it might seem 
  incredible that they would delete a group with nearly 90,000 posts 
  and three-plus years of history without investigating the details of 
  an accusation, we have to be cautious, and beg Yahoo to listen to 
  both sides of the story if a complaint is made. 

  We are doing whatever we can to improve security on the lists. We 
  will do our best to avoid any disruption of services, and we ask 
  your understanding if odd things should happen to the lists. We 
  intend to do whatever we can to prevent any damage to the HPFGU 
  family of lists, including deletion of any other lists, should that 
  be the form this threat takes.

  However, should any HPFGU list(s) become inaccessible, you can visit 
  The Lexicon at 
  http://www.hp-lexicon.org for status updates and, if necessary, 
  relocation information. 

  Finally, in closing, we wish to apologize. We know the 
  unresponsiveness of the admin team has been a source of frustration 
  to many of you. It has been a source of frustration to us as well. 
  We each have only so many hours to devote to HP, and over the past 
  few months, most of them have been devoted to dealing with this 
  situation. It has taken our time, energy, and enthusiasm away from 
  our proper tasks: the fostering and running of these lists. And 
  until this situation is resolved, some of our time must continue to 
  be devoted to dealing with it. So we ask your continuing patience 
  and understanding, while we do everything we can to protect this 
  family of lists. 

  Sincerely, 

  The HPforGrownups List Administration Team






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