'Remove Klez from Big-O-Software' Spam

Post by **Big-O Mark** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 11:50 am

Unfortunately, one member of the Big-O Software Discussion Forums took it upon himself to spam every registered user of these forums. In response to this action, we have taken the following steps:

* An immediate and permanent ban of the account in question.
* No users' registered email addresses will be visible anywhere on the forums.

More information on the Klez issue itself can be found here:

http://discuss.big-o-software.com/viewtopic.php?t=1599

fuuucckkers · Post by **fuuucckkers** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 12:11 pm

What exactly is this email?? Is this a foward of the Klez worm? am I safe to open the email ?

Post by **Big-O Ryan** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 12:18 pm

The e-mail is safe to open.

fuuucckkers · Post by **fuuucckkers** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 12:25 pm

Plasma sent the SPAM email to everyone?? I dont think banning was the right thing to do.. hmmm.. but of course im not gona complain. I dont really care for the email.. i'll just delete it as it does not concern me.

On another note -- sort of ironic that the email got dropped into my SPAM mailbox and not my regular inbox. Even when i get regular email from big-o.. it goes to the inbox. Weird.

DADINK13 · Post by **DADINK13** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:09 pm

xWastedMindx wrote:Plasma sent the SPAM email to everyone??

Yes he did. I got it. And I bet that everyone else on the list got it too. What a shame really..

DADINK13 · Post by **DADINK13** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:11 pm

xWastedMindx wrote:What exactly is this email?? Is this a foward of the Klez worm? am I safe to open the email ?

Big-O Ryan wrote:The e-mail is safe to open.

Ryan's right, it is safe. If it wasn't safe, NAV would've deleted it on the spot.

jester22c · Post by **jester22c** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:12 pm

I can understand him sending it. He keeps getting emails from people infected on these forums. I viewed the email as no more than something helpful to those who might not know they are infected. It's just one email. Even though I don't have the worm I didn't mind getting the email at all. I can understand also that you don't want people to spam, but it's not like this is a reoccurring event... I don't see it as a big deal.

.02

nybbles · Post by **nybbles** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:20 pm

jester22c wrote:I can understand him sending it. He keeps getting emails from people infected on these forums. I viewed the email as no more than something helpful to those who might not know they are infected. It's just one email. Even though I don't have the worm I didn't mind getting the email at all. I can understand also that you don't want people to spam, but it's not like this is a reoccurring event... I don't see it as a big deal.

.02

I feel exactly the same way.

DADINK13 · Post by **DADINK13** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 1:24 pm

jester22c wrote:I can understand him sending it. He keeps getting emails from people infected on these forums. I viewed the email as no more than something helpful to those who might not know they are infected. It's just one email. Even though I don't have the worm I didn't mind getting the email at all. I can understand also that you don't want people to spam, but it's not like this is a reoccurring event... I don't see it as a big deal.

To be honest, I'm not really bothered by it anyway. Anything I see from Big-O gets my attention, because it's usually a reply to something that was posted on the boards. When it comes to email viruses, I do remember a while ago when I kept getting infected emails with Klez, but NAV always took care of it and cleaned and deleted the emails as they came into my inbox. I think Brian was doing us all service in a sense. There are lots of ignorant people out there using computers and the Internet without having some sort of antivirus.

Anyone agree?

SparkleSatine · Post by **SparkleSatine** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 2:33 pm

I'm very confused...Plasma sent the infected e-mail to everyone registered and thus was booted? I'm sorry, I know others have asked these questions, but ... I'm still a bit lost.

I read the original thread & I'm still not understanding. Can someone explain? Thanks

XMenKMan · Post by **XMenKMan** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 2:53 pm

First off, I don't even consider it spam since it is useful information. What if the person who has it still didn't know how to remove it, this email told him exactly how. In Plasma's defense, he did what you should have done from the get-go. These forums were being used to send malicous emails so it should have been you emailing everyone, and not posting on the forum because frankly, not many people read this board. Plus, I can't believe everyone's email was visible at one point, since that further increases the chance of the virus being sent. Thanks plasma if you are reading this because at least all of us w/o AV stuff were able to check for Klez

harra · Post by **harra** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 3:35 pm

Firstly, the definition of "SPAM" is very cluttered. There are people out there who consider mail they "opted in" for to be SPAM because they no longer want to see it and are too lazy to go through the process of Unsubscribing.

So most people subscribe the the basic definition of SPAM being any UNWANTED mail. Many people say that they appreciate the mail message that was sent. In fact, I too read it, went to the linked site and scanned my box for any evidence of the pesky Klez worm. But, there are people out there who get their noses bent out of shape whenever their prescious privacy has perceived to have been breached by receiving mail they don't want and/or didn't ask for. Since this is a US website and a US company, they have to be govern by the anal-retentive whining of American consumers. It is for the very reason that people were LOUDLY yelling that AIM+ was spyware or contained viruses that they have to take someone sending out BULK messages to their subscribers seriously. Just think of the damage someone can do on the outside if they started spreading that you will start getting SPAM if you come to this site.

Also, the mail message subject and sender was created in such a way that a person might've thought that it came from Big-O Software. That in itself may have been enough to get Mark and Ryan upset. If you looked at the email address itself you'd have seen it came from Plasma's domain, but to the untrained eye it looked like a spoofed account.

I understand where Plasma was coming from when he did what he did. I'd like to chock it up to impetuousness (sp?) of being young. From previous posts I'd gather he is between 19-23 (because I think I remember him saying he was in college). I've done some stupid things in my youth (I'm not a ripe old age of 31) that I wish I hadn't done. But I think I remember a post on the boards he made that pretty much warned he was going to do this. He asked for Mark or Ryan to send a message and when it wasn't done he came back and said that he would have to take care of it himself. That should've put up some red flags. What concerns me more is that someone was able to do this in the first place. Plasma the best inentions in mind. What damage could someone do if they didn't possess good intentions?

I have felt that Plasma has provided some valuable input on these boards and banning him for life may seem a little harsh, but in this day and age harsh punishments are becoming the norm. As Plasma himself pointed out. It doesn't take much to get banned for life from AOL. I am sure Ryan and Mark have tried to think of an appropriate way to deal with this action. Maybe a more appropriate "punishment" could be obtained. Who knows. I hope there is a way found to bring him back. I'll miss Plasma.

Ray

*** Edited to remove non-relevant tangent that I rambled onto

Michael · Post by **Michael** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 3:57 pm

I personally had no problem with the email, but it is an abuse of the system. All emails from Big-O should come directly from Mark and Ryan, not from some simple, however prolific, member of the community.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 4:11 pm

i think they did the right thing. as michael said...its the fact that he abused the system. He could have just as well told mark or ryan to send it...if he wanted something sent. Even though plasma has contributed to approx. 5% of all the posts on this board, he had no right to "spam" (im not sure if spam is the right word) people. When i was going through the email, he identified it as someone from Big-O software (which i infered was mark/ryan) and was totally blown away when it was from plasma. Even though i dont like it, i think banning his was the only way to deal with this issue.

SparkleSatine · Post by **SparkleSatine** » Fri Dec 06, 2002 4:22 pm

Wait, I'm still confused. Especially because I didn't even GET an e-mail from him. What's going on?

'Remove Klez from Big-O-Software' Spam

'Remove Klez from Big-O-Software' Spam

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