General Chat

Janey, i had two notifications in my email box of PMs on here but they were deleted as i slept, by GR I assume :)

You Aussies may be too clever, but Chendi sure ain't -- if you're going to send out spam in the wee hours of the UK morning, Aussieland is surely the place to be sending it first!

I really am curious how Chendi selected his/her victims. Not by sequential member number (just opening a send-mail form and changing the member number each time), since I'm middling old and Roy is new. We'll never know. Or ... I could email Chendi ... oh dear, I'm getting tempted. A whole Chat thread of Chendi-baiting beckons ...


Just for those who had never heard of Canucks (but know what Pommies and Kiwis are): Ahem.

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=1079218

## Canucks International ##

on the General board. ;)

Hi, Janey. Just been alerted to the fact that you asked if any Aussies had received the email. I haven't received it - maybe they think we're too clever to be duped:)) Thanks for the warning.

Sue

I had no idea! I thought the world knew that "Canuck" is a familiar/insulting (depending on context) word for Canadian.

As in the Vancouver Canucks, beloved of Deb in Vancouver. ;)

Seriously, I just thought that was so obvious ... you people all know what a Pom is and all the rest, and not a Canuck.

Soviet Canuckistan, to explain further, is what the vile right-wing moron Pat Buchanan called us on television a few years back. Poor fellow, it backfired; most of us think it's hilarious.

They hate us for our healthcare!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Canadianism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Canadianism#Anti-Canadianism_and_humour

Humorous anti-Canadianism often focuses on broadly-known attributes of Canada and Canadians (such as cold weather or public health care), as the finer details of Canadian culture and politics are generally not well known outside Canada. Consequently, such humour is often made at the expense of accuracy outside Canada. However, these broad targets are more accurately caricatured within Canada itself. The fact that Americans especially but also others are perceived to know surprisingly little about Canada is a frequent theme in Canadian humour and such examples of self-deprecating humour are nearly universal among Canadian humorists. In keeping with this attitude, some genuinely critical anti-Canadianisms (such as "Soviet Canuckistan") are embraced by some Canadians as humorous, in defiance of the original intent.

"Blame Canada", a song from the film "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" in which the town's parents blame Canada for the trouble their children have been getting into, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. The song was, however, generally understood to be using anti-Canadian statements as a parody of *American* cultural values, such as a perceived tendency toward scapegoating and the shirking of parental responsibility, rather than a statement of actual anti-Canadianism, as the singers end the song saying it's a good idea to blame Canada before someone blames them.

(We got it up here.)

"Canadian Idiot, by "Weird Al" Yankovic, a parody of the song American Idiot by Green Day, is a friendly critique of Canadian stereotypes. The right-wing American character that "Weird Al" Yankovic plays in the song uses many common Canadian stereotypes, such as the statement by some that Canadians supposedly "live on donuts and moose meat". Near the end of the songs, Weird Al Yankovic (through his character) proclaims that the United States should preemptively strike Canada, as he has no idea what they are up to. This statement supports the theory that he may actually be making fun of right-wing America, and their anti-Canadian antics. He does not, however, normally talk about where he stands on political issues."

"Canadian Bacon", a film by Michael Moore starring Canadian John Candy, also parodies anti-Canadianism, depicting a post-Cold War American president (Alan Alda) who provokes anti-Canadian sentiment in a gambit to produce an economic stimulus through a new Cold War and boost his poll number: the movie's tagline is "Surrender pronto, or we'll level Toronto." The movie makes heavy use of irony in driving home the message that many aspects of Canadian culture are superior to American culture, such as one scene in which an RCMP jailer writes heartfelt letters to ex-inmates, and another in which the Sheriff of Niagara Falls, New York "attacks" Canada by spreading litter in a public park.


There. ;)

No I don't know what a Canuck is. Sorry, I thought it was your name.

Anyway, I have put out a call on the Aussies thread and asked them to answer on this thread if they received anything. I will now look on other sites where I can warn them. Of course, you would have to be very gullible to believe these letters, but apparently, some people are!

Heehee, Berona.

I was just testing my dimwitted ... er, kindhearted ... theory.

Wondering whether being Canuckistanian had marked me for a sucker ... er, charitable person ... and whether Aussies might suffer the same disability ... er, share the same sterling qualities. ;)

Don't you know what a Canuck is?? It might be giving too much credit to imagine that Chendi did, of course. Well, not that Chendi is actually a naive young orphan ...


Interesting to see that a number of people do seem to have been intended targets - got the email notification but too late to see the message, once the account was deleted. I imagine quite a number more less-active members did too.


"It would have been very detrimental to GR if their members had been swamped with messages!"
Exactly!

Still no thank-you email from GR for me. Sniff.

To answer your question "did any Australians get it?", Janey. Not to my knowledge, as we usually talk to each other - as well as to non-Aussies, on SueMaid's Australian thread, daily.

However, I don't think your nationality would come into it, would it? How would they know where you live? I think the time that it was sent would have more to do with it - you being awake at the time and able to get onto it immediately. Perhaps they will study that more next time they try infiltrating a 'safe site'. It would have been very detrimental to GR if their members had been swamped with messages!

I suggest to anyone connected to other sites that they mention this, in case it happens there too.

Janey. It was actually sent at 2.06 Thursday morning, but I didn't get online til this afternoon.

Glad GR acted promptly, but they could acknowledge email sent to them regarding this, and warn members.

I got one too - glad I spotted this thread because I thought it was funny when the message notification turned up in my e-mail inbox, as every relative on my tree has got a very "English-sounding" name so I doubted it would be a match anyway, and when I clicked on the link, there was no message there.

Ah, Vods -- GR got to it before you did. ;)

Quick action by me and Roy, patrolling around GR in the wee hours of your morning, worked!

Janey. It wasn't in my GR inbox, that's the point. It was sent to my email addy. but was listed as being sent via GR.
When I checked my GR inbox, it wasn't there, so obviously they were hoping I would open it, and take pity on them.

I had a blank one from Chendi which was a bit puzzling, now I know what it was so thanks for that. I guess GR have cancelled the messages or membership.

Ann
Glos who has been away for five days!

I know eh, Mildred! It would be a pretty good return on an investment of a tenner and a few hours, or even a few days, wouldn't it?

Vods, I can't imagine how a PM at GR in your GR inbox could possibly contain a virus! And the email from GR in your email account inbox shouldn't either. I don't think we have to worry about that. Just about some poor (and slightly greedy, or needy) soul falling for the scam.

"nobody has figured out how to send bulk PMs"

Pick names at random ...for instance a search on John smith would come up with loads of hits, but different peoples trees...just go down the list & copy paste email into each one. Not sent in bulk as such, but a bulk could be sent to on an individual basis.

To the determined, they could do this all day just to get one hit from a gullible :o((

THANKS JANEY. I CONTACTED GR CONCERNING THIS E-MAIL, AS I DIDN'T WANT TO OPEN IT IN CASE IT WAS A VIRUS.
A MEMBER OPENED ONE FROM SOMEONE NAMED HEIDI, AND IT CRASHED HER PC.
WILL DELETE IMMEDIATELY

Maybe s/he thought us Canuckistanians were especially dimwitted ... er, kindhearted.

Any Austrailans get it? ;)

could it be?.........
that the perp had to look for sensible looking members boardnames?

like people with heiroglyphics in their name didnt get it,

but Janey and Roy, and Elizabeth did?

and were spotted before they got really going?


jest a thought...

Oh well Roy, you *are* special!

I PMed them to thank them for the quick action, even though they haven't replied to me at all. :(

Yes, I'm a suck up.

I'm awake!

I forgot the member number - I'd put it in the subject line in my PM to GR.

10415002

And sure enough, it is gone from my inbox this morning. So it does seem to have been nipped in the bud early by GR in response to what complaints it got from those of us who got it. (Yes, I think that if someone had got it and it was deleted before they saw it, there would still have been a notification email.)

So one of my questions is answered - nobody has figured out how to send bulk PMs! As has been noted, a tenner would be well invested if the scam hooked even one fish.

I had copied the PM complete with html link to Chendi's name - the link is now dead: "Oops! Contact not found or unavailable to member".

GR hasn't actually replied to my email yet, but there ya go.

The big problem would be that there are so very many members here who never look at the chat boards, or even the site itself, but who might receive an email notification of the PM and look at it.

So we regulars will just have to be on guard and notify management if and when we ever get these things in future.

Now if I could only figure out what made me and Roy so special! I mean, I can understand somebody wanting to play nasty tricks on me. ;) But poor Roy??

Hi Shelly,
If GR delete an account or messages sent. They are only deleted from GRs data base.
GR can't delete the notification messages that have already been sent to you & sitting in you Inbox. But when you try to open the link, you won't be able to open the message .

If you didn't receive a notification message from GR. Then one wasn't sent to you. I didn't get one either.

Steve.