Your email addresses

[LouieMacGoo]

It came to my attention that by clicking on a members name and choosing the email option it was opening the users email client/application and displayed the choosen members private email address. I have made changes so so this will no longer happen andyour private email addresses will no longer be exposed. I apologize for any problems or inconvenience this might have caused.

[Beer-lord]

Hey, do you work for the NSA?

[BigPapaG]

Hey, do you work for the NSA?

Yeah, if it stands for: Never See Addresses

[RickBeer]

Just a comment on things like this. Whether it's this forum which is built off a forum package someone developed and has code in it that does whatever they want it to (the developer, not Louie) or any other website, you should always make sure to not provide information, including email addresses, that you don't want revealed/spammed. It's very easy to setup an email address in many places (yahoo, aol, comcast, ...) that you have forward to your regular email address. Then, if it's hacked, you just turn off the forward.

I happen to have several domains I own. I can created any email address at those domains, for example borgforum@rickbeer.com. Anything that goes to _____@rickbeer.com is automatically forwarded to me (note - rickbeer.com is not my domain). That way if I sign up here with borgforum@rickbeer.com, I then sign up at amazon with amazon@rickbeer.com, and at home depot with homedepot@rickbeer.com. Point is, when I get an email sent to homedepot@rickbeer.com I know where they got that email address.

In doing this, I learn where my email address goes. I've learned that many sites have horrible security and their lists have been copied by others. I've learned that companies that I signed up to get emails from (RedEnvelope) comes to mind, when they went belly up and were bought the list got out. Many, many others.

In short - protect your info. Don't trust anyone. It's not a matter of whether the site owner (in this case Louie) is 150% trustworthy, the point is he is using a package that he didn't write to create the forum, and that package has code in it that he believes does what he says - but nothing is for sure. So, in the words of a old cop show from the 80s, "Be Careful Out There".

[FrozenInTime]

How do you own a domain and have different addys? I'm so puter ill literate. How would I get a domain that says ____@JohnDubya.com ??

[jimjohson]

How do you own a domain and have different addys? I'm so puter ill literate. How would I get a domain that says ____@JohnDubya.com ??

pay for it?

[RickBeer]

How do you own a domain and have different addys? I'm so puter ill literate. How would I get a domain that says ____@JohnDubya.com ??

You can buy any unowned domain many places. The domain itself might cost anywhere from $8 - $12 per year. You may find promos for things like $.99, but the next year it will go up. Owning the domain by itself doesn't get you anything, you of course would want email and perhaps to host a site. There are providers like 1and1, Go Daddy, FatCow, and HostGator (and many others). Monthly cost will be in the $2 - $7 range, with the lower range likely a promo and going away at some time. Current rates that I just found were as low as $1.99 per month at 1and1 (plus $7.99 per year for your domain). Everyone has promos all the time, so you want to make sure you know what the price will be when the promo ends. Each site allows you to see if your desired domain is available (yes, yours is, but I may buy it and offer it to you for $1,234,412.18).

Once you're setup you can use literally hundreds or thousands of email addresses @johndubya.com. Beerborg@johndubya.com, MyBank@johndubya.com, Amazon@johndubya.com, ... You can also setup a "catchall" that allows you to literally makeup email addresses as you stand in front of the person asking for it, and all of them go into one folder. So, you're at a car dealer and he says "Hey, can I get your email address?". You say, "Sure, it's SmithFord@johndubya.com". Then, any email that comes to SmithFord@johndubya.com you know how they got that. When you start getting emails from Nigerian princes at that email address, you call the owner and cuss him out, because he either sold the list or had it unprotected. The beauty of it is that you can go in and setup a rule that says that if that email address gets an email either delete it before you see it or forward it anywhere you want, like the FCC, your worst enemy, etc.

I'd be happy to provide more guidance if you're interested. I myself own 3 domains, one for the family and two for my businesses, and spend around $80 a year for all of it. You can clearly do it for at least a year for $35 or less, but figure the next year closer to $50. You can also switch providers any time you want, but your site will be in limbo for maybe 24 hours.