Please take care when posting or responding off forum

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

We are unable to check the bona fides of people who place classified ads on the website or in the magazine.

Most advertisers and respondents are genuine, but gthere are exceptions. Several people (including me) have had 'phishing' responses purporting to be from Belarus, for example.

Please use the same sensible caution as you would when buying or selling through any other route, if you are a buyer, make sure you have are confident you will receive the goods as described before parting with cash.

If you are a seller, be aware that some people may be more interested in the address of a workshop full of tools than a genuine purchase.

So, please take care.

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Further to the above post, we've had a couple of forum issues in the last couple of days.

First was a company who registered several of its staff in order to post multiple replies to threads containing links to their website. This completely different from genuine users posting links to help people out., and is unfair to those traders who pay for advertising or post genuinely helpful comments in the forums.

Second, and more serious, was someone using the website as a way to make personal contact with large numbers of people. It may or may not have been a 'honey trap' scam. They have done this on at least three other forums before, and it became clear they were not telling the whole truth when they posted a picture of something they had 'made' taken from someone else's video.

We can't check every single post, or the identity of other posters. please be very careful who you contact and what information you give to people you don't really know through this forum.

I don't want to pour cold water on things like the really great give-aways of plastic and rubber-coated cloth we have seen recently, but these were by long-standing forum members.

PLEASE take care when relatively new forum members offer something that's too good to be true. It probably is.

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

Maybe have a minimum number of posts before a forum member can place a for sale advert ?

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 26/09/2014 17:24:06:

Most advertisers and respondents are genuine, but gthere are exceptions. Several people (including me) have had 'phishing' responses purporting to be from Belarus, for example.

Neil

I confess. I had placed a small "wanted" ad on another forum I frequent and I did receive two offers for the item I was looking for. One reply was from a very nice chap in Glamorgan who had exactly what I was looking for. Another was from a "person" in Belarus (can't these people at least get creative with their names – they used the same one everywhere) so I confess to having baited the person relentlessly but my last request to see the actual item balanced on a certain body part – just to prove they have the item you see – was met by silence and now I cannot get a response from the people, they are ignoring me. I really wanted theirs too

Childish I know, but it amused me.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 04/10/2014 21:21:48

[Steve SharmanParticipant @stevesharman33815]

Posted by ronan walsh on 04/10/2014 19:07:23:

Maybe have a minimum number of posts before a forum member can place a for sale advert ?

I don't post very much here, although I am an avid reader of all the topics, but I have been around forums of various subjects for a very long time (I was a member of various newsgroups back in 1993 when windows 3.1 was all the vogue) and one of the first things you learn is NEVER give out your email address on a public forum. The first thing any scammer wants to do is make personal contact so don't give them the opportunity.

Further to the quoted post above, may I respectfully suggest that members are not able to use the PM system until they reach a certain number of posts. This, at least, makes it more difficult for scammers to try and take advantage of existing members and they (the scammers) will go and look for richer pickings elsewhere. Or maybe, if this is too restrictive, that new members cannot use the PM system UNTIL they have received a PM directed towards themselves. This would allow legitimate discourse to take place if instigated by an existing member but may place a large enough obstacle in the path of a scammer to make it not worth their while. No system can be made foolproof but placing obstacles is a good start.

Be careful out there, some-one is always going to try and rip you off.

Steve

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Now seem to have discovered madmodder site.w

[Steve SharmanParticipant @stevesharman33815]

Before that it was gardening. What next, I wonder? I see you've made him/her/it welcome, John, but will they take the hint?

Steve

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

They'v crashed the Stirling Engine Forum three times. The last time was traced to eastern China.

Ian S C

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

I've recently sold my ML7 via the for sale section of the site and I can report it was a positive experience.

I did contact (then) 3 Wanted adverts, via the PM system, all of which appeared genuine, but were not of interest.

Fortunately – I wasn't asked to photograph the ML7 balanced on parts of my anatomy.

Steve Sharman reminds us "to NEVER give out your email address on a public forum" very good advice indeed, but your telephone number is just as precious. Looking at a random selection of current adverts some land-line numbers and mobile numbers are available to browsers, once registered and logged in.

For my advert, I purchased a Pay-As-You go Sim/Telephone number from Vodafone for £10 including £10 worth of calls. I used this new telephone number in the advert for initial contact with potential purchasers.

I realise that for small value items this might be over-the-top, where scammers are probably more interested in higher returns. You cannot be too careful, the rogues are our there waiting to pounce.

What did surprise me was that no personal details were required to purchase the Sim, which I could have bought for cash, no questions asked. So, apart from CCTV images of the transaction in the shop, purchasing a Sim is all but untraceable.

CotswoldsPhil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

> For my advert, I purchased a Pay-As-You go Sim/Telephone number from Vodafone for £10 including £10 worth of calls. I used this new telephone number in the advert for initial contact with potential purchasers.

This is why we insist on a landline for the magazine classifieds – not for nothing are PAYG phones known as 'mafia phones' in Italy.

Neil

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

Hi Neal,

My aim was describe how to remain safe on the Internet – I have no problem with, and did, provide a landline number for the magazine advert which was submitted. Farming data from hard-copy magazines is somewhat more tedious and costly than from websites.

CotswoldsPhil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Hi Phil,

I was observing the irony that what can protect the honest can also shield the dishonest.

Neil

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

Hi Neil,

Tis a strange world we live in.

Regards

Phil

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Are we all getting a bit paranoid? Scams and scammers are everywhere ,and always have been. I have a mobile with PAYG, because that's all I need and don't want a contract. I'm about to get rid of BT because they can't provide a decent service and are are very expensive. So this means I can't advertise here !

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

Hi Gordon,

PAYG / mobile numbers are acceptable on the web-site, but not if you want to advertise in the magazine – been there, done that. I tried advertising on the web-site first and was lucky to find a buyer. My reason for getting a new PAYG number for the advert, was simply to protect my personal number / email address from the potential of being added to the lists that scammer's appear to use. Ever since Ebay had the problem with data theft, early in the year, I have been receiving unwelcome emails from unknown sources.

Paranoid, not yet, careful yes.

Regards

Phil

[Steve WithnellParticipant @stevewithnell34426]

"Only the Paranoid Survive"… Andy Grove, CEO, Intel.

"Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you"…Catch22

Steve

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

If you use the classified ads section of this website then your email address is not secure. Check any ad, if it invites an email response then the site provides a special window in which to write your email, and includes a paragraph to assure the recipient that the reply has come through the website.

But it also clearly shows the recipients email address at the top, which seems to defeat the object.

Phil

[Raymond Sanderson 2Participant @raymondsanderson2]

I find that funny "Belarus" an old mate was CEO back in the 90's must tell him he still has friends there.

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Phil (Robbo)

I have to confess, I'm sure I have taken that email address, closed the window and made contact directly though my email client – it makes more sense to me as then I have a record in my sent box!

This forum does seem to run a much older system than most. I would certainly back the minimum post rule. On another (computing) forum that I've been a member of for many years, I remember when I first signed up the rules were something like;

minimum 15 quality meaningful posts before private messaging was enabled (moderators would delete meaningless posts)

minimum 30 posts before access to the wanted/for sale section was given (you couldn't even see it!)

Obviously the topic of computing is much more fertile with brand new and exciting (to me) topics popping up almost every day, so there is always plenty to talk about, perhaps for a forum of this nature, where there may be many readers but not so many contributors, a scoring system to enable certain features would be better (based on perhaps membership length (months) * total number of post? >= 25)

just a thought……..

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

I did not notice the email window is a bit of a security breach. Perhaps Neil could could add this to the list of potential enhancements for inclusion in the next revision of the website software.

Regards

CotswoldsPhil

Edited By CotswoldsPhil on 07/10/2014 11:31:17

The last post beat me …

Typo fixed + there is a check box next to the send button to send the website form email to yourself as a record.

Edited By CotswoldsPhil on 07/10/2014 11:34:36

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Posted by CotswoldsPhil on 07/10/2014 11:29:11:

there is a check box next to the send button to send the website form email to yourself as a record.

Ahh I'll keep an eye out for that, I'm a bit mad so I sometimes forget if I've sent something you see…..

Thank you,

Russ

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I think we need to balance usability with security.

Anyone wanting to get hold of advertisers email addresses only have to copy the response to themselves, so there's no point hiding it.

We don't suffer from levels of abuse that would merit greater policing of posts, bear in mind that the Mods are largely volunteers or me and Diane trying to fit a bit in around the edges of hand-crafting wonderful magazines!

I am a member of some forums where you have to fill in a Captcha AND answer a security question every time you post. They aren't very busy and I don't post much – can you see why?

With moderators who are active users and established users willing to report their worried to moderators (see that 'report' flag at bottom right, I don't think it's complacent to say we should be able to nip problems in the bud.

Neil

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 07/10/2014 15:35:51:

I am a member of some forums where you have to fill in a Captcha AND answer a security question every time you post. They aren't very busy and I don't post much – can you see why?

I think your absolutely right, & suspect no one here would like to see that level of security, and I'm not even sure what that is achieving, but with the greatest respect I would like to humbly point out that the concept of restricted access based on a minimum number of posts or post*months is specifically aimed to have almost no affect on usability. This is especially the case for active members who aren't just signing up so they can post free add's or buy/sell stock – this isn't freebay (aka Gumtree)

The only people who would be inconvenienced are those attempting to sign up purely to access wanted and free adds with no interest in taking part or even just openly discussing thoughts/plans with like minded or more educated/experienced folk on here. – and it will also catch out those wrong doers or just make their life harder.

[CotswoldsPhilParticipant @cotswoldsphil]

I tend to agree with Russ B that access to free classified adverts (browsing or placing) on the website could be a reward for actively taking part in the Forum, this would all but eliminate the most determined interloper, making any additional security arrangements unnecessary.

I'm hopefully here for the long term as I get stuck back in to model engineering after some very stop-start activity during my working years.

Regards

CotswoldsPhil

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