UK-ULVERSTON-FHS-L Archives

Archiver > UK-ULVERSTON-FHS > 2004-02 > 1077472982


From: "L. Toleikis" <>
Subject: [ULV:] surnames interest pages
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 10:03:02 -0800
In-Reply-To: <001801c3f906$17af4bb0$42b03bcb@FREDDO>


Hi Faye,

> Thank you for your reply.
> Just to clarify what I was concerned about. I don't mind my email address
> placed on a site to which people of the same interests subscribe to. In
> these instances people are able to access me by logging onto that site and
> my name then comes up under the area I am interested in.
> What I did not
> expect was for my name to come up along with my email address on the Google
> search engine.
That's because Google and other search engines independently search the net
and pick information up.

> This is where my concerns lay. Enter my name into Google to
> understand what I mean. In this case my name leads to the North of the
> Sands site. As I said in my other email, I may be naive but did not expect
> this. I have submitted my email addres to other sites that I have interests
> in and this has never happened before. It came as a shock to me to find my
> details come up in this way.
It's the nature of the Internet, Faye. It's a public, not a private,
medium. Any time you post messages you can expect they could be picked up
by a search engine.

> I understand that precautions have been taken
> to prevent the 'harvesting' of email addresses, and that Karen has toiled
> hard and long to get the North of the Sands List up and running and
> appreciate and applaud her efforts. As I mentioned I am not converse with
> the workings of the internet.
That may be part of the issue, Faye. I'm no expert on this very complex
medium either, but I understand that it's not private by any stretch of the
imagination.

> This is why I have difficulty understanding
> how my 'masked' email address became 'unmasked' and ended up with my name on
> the Google search engine.
I did look. When I look at I see:

"OPQ
... Dalton-in- Furness. 1800. Faye Waller. fladylady(@)iinet.net.au.
PICKTHALL. Osmotherley. ... PICTHALL.
Dalton-in- Furness. 1800. Faye Waller. fladylady(@)iinet.net.au. PIPER..."

I see that the @ in your email address has been enclosed in parentheses.
So, as I understand it, your email address has been altered and is still
technically masked, thus tending to discourage spammers.

>Is there some way of preventing this?
Not that I am aware of. As I said earlier, that's because Google and other
search engines independently search the net and pick up information. That's
their job. Any internet posting that you make on any message board, mailing
list or web site may end up on a search engine. For example any messages you
have sent to the Ulverston list or any other Rootsweb list, have been
archived with your name and email address and remain on line. It's the
nature of the Internet.

>Other sites
> I have subscribed to have been password protected, so the difference may lie
> here.
I'm not sure. I'm no expert, just a volunteer who loves genealogy. But my
own personal Internet rule is assume that anything you put "out there" may
become public!

In any case the Ulverston Surname Interests site isn't on a subscription
basis, Faye. It was never meant to be. Our surname site is open to everyone
with surname interests in our geographical area. It always was. There is
no password access. And there is no charge either!

Any further discussion on this topic now needs to be off-list. Thanks for
your contribution.

Cheers,

Lorraine
Duty Admin for February


Lorraine Toleikis
Deputy List Administrator, UK-ULVERSTON-FHS-L
Ulverston Heritage Centre: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ukuhc/



This thread: