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

[Lynn Eddy]

No: HPFGUIDX 87148

Please let me know if there is anything I can do. (sign a pedition,  
write Yahoo, etc.)

Sincerely, Laura Peregrine
(AKA Lynn Eddy)
On Sunday, December 7, 2003, at 07:30  PM, hpfgumoderator wrote:

> 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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