Why am I getting advertising from/thru EnglishForum?

Uncle GroOve · #1 22.03.2012, 15:34

.... has the server been compromised?
.... has the social nature of the forum been compromised? :-/
.... Has CIGNA Int'l hijiacked the mailservers....?

can I ask Ye In the hallowed Command Centre to remove my address from whatever mailing list I'm on?....

Kindest regards from The South

Paul

Puhutes · #2 22.03.2012, 15:36

Agreed... i got the mail too and thought WTF?!?! And what would I want with some British insurance *spam*... no thanks!

Slaphead · #3 22.03.2012, 15:38

Click on "Control Panel" then click on "edit details" on the left. You should now see "Receive offers from the local" somewhere near the top. Just click on "No".

Edit: And then click on save changes at the bottom of the page

pg2011 · #4 22.03.2012, 15:43

	Quote:	Slaphead
	Click on "Control Panel" then click on "edit details" on the left. You should now see "Receive offers from the local" somewhere near the top. Just click on "No".

I think there is a software bug!! I clicked the "No" as above and relogged to verify the settings and now again it is set back to "Yes"!!

Slaphead · #5 22.03.2012, 15:45

	Quote:	pg2011
	I think there is a software bug!! I clicked the "No" as above and relogged to verify the settings and now again it is set back to "Yes"!!

Did you click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page?

c123 · #6 22.03.2012, 15:48

No, that's a feature - for the advertisers!

pg2011 · #7 22.03.2012, 15:50

	Quote:	Slaphead
	Did you click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page?

Thanks for the tip, the save button was too down my screen and missed it. I did it now and it works ... reminds me I am getting old!

Bigule · #8 22.03.2012, 16:20

To the moderators of English Forum, may I please ask when users of this forum gave their permission for their private email addresses to be used for spam.

If as appears to be the case English Forum has sold its database information to at least one insurance company, please could you tell me who this money has gone to.

To other English Forum users, if you are not happy to receive unsolicited spam in the future, can you please let English Forum know.

adrianlondon · #9 22.03.2012, 16:22

Follow the instructions above and turn off the setting to receive these emails.

Odile · #10 22.03.2012, 16:32

Instructions to do this clearly displayed at the bottom of the e-mail btw.

Uncle GroOve · #11 22.03.2012, 16:41

	Quote:	Odile
	Instructions to do this clearly displayed at the bottom of the e-mail btw.

Thanks!
I actually never even looked at the bottom of the message - I usually don't read the spam but I gues that this time around it would have been helpful ;-)

Ciao
Paul

Bigule · #12 22.03.2012, 16:45

It is helpful to receive instructions on how to stop the spam in the future, so thank you to the people that have given that advice (although as someone has said, it was on the spam email itself).

But actually the thread is asking how this has come about. This is the first such Spam I have received and yet I have not been informed of any changes in the terms on which my details were given to this site, nor have I been asked for permission for my personal information to be passed to others for commercial reasons.

jrspet · #13 22.03.2012, 16:54

These have been discussed under Forum Support as well as Announcements:

http://www.englishforum.ch/forum-support/

Occasional special offers emailed to all EF members

adrianlondon · #14 22.03.2012, 16:55

There was a very long thread here about the new T&Cs, which came out a few months ago, but I assume that they were sent to people's email addresses at the time and hence could have been blocked as spam.

I don't know the content of the T&Cs (new or old) as I never read them!

Questions for Paul from the Local
Change of TaC: How to delete my posts?
How seriously are you considering departing EF permanently?
Feeling a little sad this morning....
Thread split following economisto's removal
List of the self-deleted

and many, many more!

little_isabella · #15 22.03.2012, 16:58

I just started receiving spam mail as well, although the offers box was originally ticked as "no." When I ticked it back to "no" and hit "save changes," I got an error message. So, nay working. =)

american lockpicker · #16 22.03.2012, 18:52

I got an email today from englishforum.ch about joining Cigna International Medical Insurance. After I got done laughing I promptly deleted it. They are pretty f@cking worthless. Besides dropping me for no other reason other than being over 18 they were supposed to cover a very expensive surgery for my dad but pulled out all of their money after the procedure leaving my parents to pay tens of thousands to doctors and hospitals.

Slaphead · #17 22.03.2012, 19:14

	Quote:	Bigule
	It is helpful to receive instructions on how to stop the spam in the future, so thank you to the people that have given that advice (although as someone has said, it was on the spam email itself). But actually the thread is asking how this has come about. This is the first such Spam I have received and yet I have not been informed of any changes in the terms on which my details were given to this site, nor have I been asked for permission for my personal information to be passed to others for commercial reasons.

Bigule, the time between your previous posts and your posts on this thread is over 5 years. During that time the have been a large number of changes. I can't list them all here, but for various reasons the forum was sold to a Swedish company called The Local, who are a commercial operation.

Your email address hasn't been passed on to any third parties. The third parties approch The Local and The Local perform the email advertising on the third party's behalf. Your data is not made available outside of the current ownership of the forum.

If you are still concerned then create a junk free email account with google, yahoo or whoever, and then change your email address on the forum to the new email address. That's what I did.

jrspet · #18 22.03.2012, 19:23

	Quote:	Slaphead
	Bigule, the time between your previous posts and you posts on this thread is over 5 years. During that time the have been a large number of changes. I can't list them all here, but for various reasons the forum was sold to a Swedish company called The Local, who are a commercial operation.

The estate sold it to The Local, Sweden. ( www.thelocal.se )

EF Partners with "The Local", Transfer of Ownership 26.03.2009 about 3 years ago.

mahmed · #19 23.03.2012, 07:56

has anyone else got this spam email about health insurance, its via this forum. Hope this isn't the start of more things like this and this place isn't selling all our information to 3rd parties!!

Caviarchips · #20 23.03.2012, 07:59

	Quote:	mahmed
	has anyone else got this spam email about health insurance, its via this forum. Hope this isn't the start of more things like this and this place isn't selling all our information to 3rd parties!!

Catch up already