OT: A couple of Q's about the Web Interface

[wivory]

I use only the web interface to access this forum (newsgroups are blocked out by our corporate firewall). I have a couple of questions about how people use this.

1. I don't see email addresses in the posts (and don't want to either) but I see Jorge Jimenez uses a phony email address to avoid spam. Are email addresses visible through the newsreaders? On the "Your Preferences" page Autodesk say "Your personal information is for internal reference purposes only and will not be displayed on the discussion groups". This forum is about the only place I post online and I have been getting an increase in spam and wondered if it's coming from here.

2. I have my preferences set to view 100 topics per page so as to pretty much guarantee I can see all NEW topics at once. But clicking a topic and then pressing Back is slow, so instead I right-click a topic and select Open in New Window. When I've finished reading that topic I close the window and refer to the topic list again. The problem with this is the topics don't get "unNEWed" so it makes it harder to keep track of where I was up to. I was just curious how other people use this interface.

Thanks for any feedback

Wayne Ivory
IT Analyst Programmer
Wespine Industries Pty Ltd

[Anonymous]

Wayne, the spam problem was not present at the beginning of these NGs. But from, maybe a couple years back, the spammers began collecting the e-mail addresses from the news group messages, not only from Autodesk but from every news group they could find. I was being bombarded by more than 200 spam emails per day. So I had to drop my original e-mail address and get a new one. Now, I don't reveal my e-mail in any public forum. The problem is over for me (for the moment) About the web interface I can't tell you much 'cause I don't use it. But from what little I have seen, the interface is not what I would expect from a leading software company. -- Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica (sorry, phony e-mail, SPAM made me do it) "wivory" wrote in message news:22801281.1084848892811.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > I use only the web interface to access this forum (newsgroups are blocked out by our corporate firewall). I have a couple of questions about how people use this. > > 1. I don't see email addresses in the posts (and don't want to either) but I see Jorge Jimenez uses a phony email address to avoid spam. Are email addresses visible through the newsreaders? On the "Your Preferences" page Autodesk say "Your personal information is for internal reference purposes only and will not be displayed on the discussion groups". This forum is about the only place I post online and I have been getting an increase in spam and wondered if it's coming from here. > > 2. I have my preferences set to view 100 topics per page so as to pretty much guarantee I can see all NEW topics at once. But clicking a topic and then pressing Back is slow, so instead I right-click a topic and select Open in New Window. When I've finished reading that topic I close the window and refer to the topic list again. The problem with this is the topics don't get "unNEWed" so it makes it harder to keep track of where I was up to. I was just curious how other people use this interface. > > Thanks for any feedback > > Wayne Ivory > IT Analyst Programmer > Wespine Industries Pty Ltd

[Anonymous]

Oh, BTW, I use Mozilla Firefox for my WEB Browser. It is faster than IE and has many neat features. For example, instead of openning a New Window you can open a New TAB. Try it out ! It's free. The only problem is some sites are made for IE only so this might be a drawback for you (or for the site!) -- Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica (sorry, phony e-mail, SPAM made me do it) "wivory" wrote in message news:22801281.1084848892811.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > I use only the web interface to access this forum (newsgroups are blocked out by our corporate firewall). I have a couple of questions about how people use this. > > 1. I don't see email addresses in the posts (and don't want to either) but I see Jorge Jimenez uses a phony email address to avoid spam. Are email addresses visible through the newsreaders? On the "Your Preferences" page Autodesk say "Your personal information is for internal reference purposes only and will not be displayed on the discussion groups". This forum is about the only place I post online and I have been getting an increase in spam and wondered if it's coming from here. > > 2. I have my preferences set to view 100 topics per page so as to pretty much guarantee I can see all NEW topics at once. But clicking a topic and then pressing Back is slow, so instead I right-click a topic and select Open in New Window. When I've finished reading that topic I close the window and refer to the topic list again. The problem with this is the topics don't get "unNEWed" so it makes it harder to keep track of where I was up to. I was just curious how other people use this interface. > > Thanks for any feedback > > Wayne Ivory > IT Analyst Programmer > Wespine Industries Pty Ltd

[Anonymous]

Hi Wayne, I can echo Jorge's comments. I also post a ridiculous address here and have had to change my primary address. I'm still using Outlook Express for Email. Regards Laurie Comerford www.cadapps.com.au "Jorge Jimenez" wrote in message news:40a9964c_1@newsprd01... > Wayne, the spam problem was not present at the beginning of these NGs. > But from, maybe a couple years back, the spammers began collecting the > e-mail addresses from the news group messages, not only from Autodesk > but from every news group they could find. > I was being bombarded by more than 200 spam emails per day. > So I had to drop my original e-mail address and get a new one. > Now, I don't reveal my e-mail in any public forum. > The problem is over for me (for the moment) > > About the web interface I can't tell you much 'cause I don't use it. > But from what little I have seen, the interface is not what I would > expect from a leading software company. > > -- > Saludos, Ing. Jorge Jimenez, SICAD S.A., Costa Rica > (sorry, phony e-mail, SPAM made me do it) > > "wivory" wrote in message > news:22801281.1084848892811.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > > I use only the web interface to access this forum (newsgroups are blocked > out by our corporate firewall). I have a couple of questions about how > people use this. > > > > 1. I don't see email addresses in the posts (and don't want to either) > but I see Jorge Jimenez uses a phony email address to avoid spam. Are email > addresses visible through the newsreaders? On the "Your Preferences" page > Autodesk say "Your personal information is for internal reference purposes > only and will not be displayed on the discussion groups". This forum is > about the only place I post online and I have been getting an increase in > spam and wondered if it's coming from here. > > > > 2. I have my preferences set to view 100 topics per page so as to pretty > much guarantee I can see all NEW topics at once. But clicking a topic and > then pressing Back is slow, so instead I right-click a topic and select Open > in New Window. When I've finished reading that topic I close the window and > refer to the topic list again. The problem with this is the topics don't > get "unNEWed" so it makes it harder to keep track of where I was up to. I > was just curious how other people use this interface. > > > > Thanks for any feedback > > > > Wayne Ivory > > IT Analyst Programmer > > Wespine Industries Pty Ltd > >

[Anonymous]

Wayne - Yes, email addresses are visible on the web The ability to mark all messages as read on the HTTP web interface is on the wish list. -- Anne Brown Discussion Groups Administrator Autodesk, Inc. wivory wrote: > > I use only the web interface to access this forum (newsgroups are blocked out by our corporate firewall). I have a couple of questions about how people use this. (snip)

[wivory]

Thanks all for the responses.

Anne, I see in the text of the above replies that my email address is shown as:

"wivory"

I haven't entered that anywhere, so is it something that Autodesk is doing automatically? You said "Yes, email addresses are visible on the web", so is the above address the only one that is visible or is the real one visible somewhere?

Thanks

Wayne

[Anonymous]

Wayne - My understanding is that if you join on the HTTP side but don't put in an email address this is what appears "". Your real address will not appear on either the HTTP or NNTP side. I'm going to double check my understanding and may/will probably be back with more info. Anne -- Anne Brown Discussion Groups Administrator Autodesk, Inc. wivory wrote: > > Thanks all for the responses. > > Anne, I see in the text of the above replies that my email address is shown as: > > "wivory" > > I haven't entered that anywhere, so is it something that Autodesk is doing automatically? You said "Yes, email addresses are visible on the web", so is the above address the only one that is visible or is the real one visible somewhere?

[bcoward]

I'm getting the impression that there is not a complete understanding of how spammers operate.

I am often condemned when I say that computer system security and spam elimination is not a software issue but rather a policy issue. While some spammers might snort a newsgroup there ar a lot less tiresome ways to collect your email address.

The anti-spam laws brought about by our wonderful US politicians only assist spammers to drop their domain within ten days, sell their lists to others, and get back on the market. It is very much like having a going out of business sale, close down, then open next door with a new name and the same inventory.

It might help for some to read http://www.sophos.com/spaminfo/explained/fieldguide.html

I include my email address that I have used for the past nine years. I see about 15 spams per day and rarely do I see the same domain twice. I have to give credit to my ISP because they do the work of contacting other ISPs to have the offending domain removed from automated forwarding brought about by the software written to review email headers, look for hidden style sheets etc. I see they received 229 during the night to deal with while I slept a few hours.

Have you looked at Outlook 2003? This is looking more like a software that has implemented policy. I only say this because testing of the product is revealing interesting things under the hood to address these same type issues.

Regards,

Bob Coward
CADS, Inc

800-366-0946
bcoward@mindspring.com

[Anonymous]

Wayne - Clarification: No e-mail addresses are visible via http interface. All http user e-mail addresses appear as “no spam”. In nntp (nntp protocol requires e-mail address) addresses may appear if user choses so and doesn't use a fake email address. -- Anne Brown Discussion Groups Administrator Autodesk, Inc. wivory wrote: > Thanks all for the responses. > > Anne, I see in the text of the above replies that my email address is shown as: > > "wivory" > > I haven't entered that anywhere, so is it something that Autodesk is doing automatically? You said "Yes, email addresses are visible on the web", so is the above address the only one that is visible or is the real one visible somewhere? > > Thanks > > Wayne -- Anne Brown Discussion Groups Administrator Autodesk, Inc.

[Colin French]

Anne Brown wrote: "...is on the wish list."

I've submitted this directly, but I hope the wish list also includes the ability for the user to choose font size. The current size is way too small when running a 1600x1200 resolution, as many CAD folks do, and I hate having to manually adjust the rez every time I come to the board. I'm assuming that these pages use CSS style sheets, so allowing the user to set her/his preference amongst several styles would be a great help.

The web interface is *much* improved over the last time I used it, about a year ago, just needs a bit more tweaking.

...Colin French