Hey Ken, what is the necessary procedure for reporting a foul message? I just received in my e-mail a response from somebody with bad language. They responded to a old message (baiting deer). They didn't say much but 50% of their existing vocabulary was very foul.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), February 01, 2002

Answers

Response to Foul Language messages

I noticed that message here on the board too. Strange. Ignoring it is about all a person can do.

You say you got it in e-mail? That would be up to you, not up to Ken as to what to do about it. Your software or your internet provider can set up a kill file to prevent seeing future messages from this same address. I wouldn't bother replying in any way, that would only add to the 'fun' for this person. If something really threatening comes, your provider or the source provider can help track down and pull the subscription of this person, but would take more than this to get any interest in getting there from here.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), February 01, 2002.

Response to Foul Language messages

Yeah, but I bet since it was posted on the forum, Ken can take care of getting rid of it, at least.

-- Christine in OK (cljford@mmcable.com), February 01, 2002.

Response to Foul Language messages

1. If it is on the forum, notify me and I'll take care of it. This includes sending an abuse report to their Internet Provider. I can find the Internet Provider by going to the administrative function.

(If the e-mail is a result of a posting on the forum the title should reading something like, Response to Baiting Deer. If not, than it was likely a private e-mail to you.)

2. If a private e-mail to you, see if your e-mail service has routing information. It basically tracks the routing from enter to you. See if you can figure out the originating Internet Provider. It should be a string of numbers, such as 128.23.148.131. Armed with that, go to www.arin.net, then to the option for Who Is. It will tell you who a block of numbers is assigned to. In this case it is the School of Medicine at Miami University, identified as MUSC.EDU. Now forward the e-mail to (in this example) abuse@musc.edu with a cover note you were extremely upset at receiving this message AND cut and paste a copy of the routing information as well as it will contain the exact time of transmission. If the administrator for that web site feels it warranted, they can track down who was using that IP at that time due to sign-in procedures.

One person reported to me a racial slug had been posted against a thread in the archives/older messages. I tracked it down to a military agency and filed an abuse report. A couple of days later I received a report from them the individual had been identified and appropriate disciplinary action taken. If it was a letter of reprimand in their personnel file, likely this person will never be promoted to a supervisory position.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

Well done Ken!! But in my "corner of the woods", in Pennsylvania, 60% of the people use bad language when they speak, also when they write, at the begining when I moved from Texas I almost had a "hart attack" even the ladies, use the four letter word, on daily basis, my coworkers use to do it all the time, took me four years, to I should say "educate" them. Also if you put your e-mail in this public place, is like opening a window, you get a lot of light, but also you will get some flies in. I am a christian, and most of the homesteaders that I know are christian, however I learned long time ago that there is all kind of homesteaders, and country people out there. Good Luck to all you guys. Ralph.

-- Ralph Roces (rroces1@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.

Where do they come from? Chances are not from within the 'homesteading' community. Don Armstrong suggests what is happening is someone does a search on an engine, such as google. Say on deer hunting. Among the results is one titled "Baiting for Deer", which they open. It would take them directly to the forum thread, including the option to post against it. As a parting 'gift' they leave an inappropriate message. Several have come from Canada, one from Europe, several from business web sites, one from a government agency and one from a university.

This is different than the troll attacks of a couple of months ago. Those seemed to be a group of youths belonging to a chat room. There purpose seemed to be to find other places they can try to disrupt, and then likely brag about it afterwards. These seem to mostly come from free Internet services, such as yahoo and hotmail.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 02, 2002.

Thanks Ken. I really wasn't that offended since I have had these words spoken directly in my face by other people in the past! But I thought if it gets even worse just what should I do then? I really figure it probably is somebody that wants me to e-mail them back in defense, but i'm not going to. I will probably just let it ride for right now and wait to see if it gets worse. Then I will use your recommendations.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), February 02, 2002.