Well done HQ

Sometimes when in a hole it is best to stop digging. . . . .

I asked gransnet HQ for their opinion a few hours ago. They say they are going to get back to me.

It is their site POGS.

They always say they'll get back to you! It's just a standard reply to any query or request. Whatever their joint opinion, they can hardly forbid us from responding to spammers!

They always say they'll get back to you!

Oh. And they dont get back?

Whatever their joint opinion, they can hardly forbid us from responding to spammers!

They can uphold their guidelines or make them clearer if they want to.
Up to them.

Dont gransnet answer reports?
.

Is it worth getting steamed up about? We have sent spammers and suspected tr*lls packing before now, why the fuss?

They will get back to you, yes. I didn't mean to imply that they wouldn't, just that it's a standard reply.

Please tell us why you care so much soon.

I was quite amazed at the number of spam threads this morning but, really, it's HQ's problem, not ours.

How do we know that person offering company to lonely old people was a spammer? There was an article on the radio this evening about someone paying out a lot of money to give a Xmas lunch to a group of strangers who just happen to be lonely and unloved.

Spammers upset people. At least I thought they did.
And we actually , as a group, could try and do something about it. So long as HQ went along with it as well.

POGS got angry at them. Elegran chased him up.

I just thought there was a chance that gransnet, as a group, could try and help stop quite so many spammers in the first place.

But there would have to be enough caring about it in the first place. And enough joint group will.
And I dont think there is enough of either.

That is why I gave up half way through.

They don't upset me. Sometimes they're even funny!

You can have a laugh can't you, especially at the fractured which is a bit of a giveaway!
Lighten up soontobe

soontobe

POGS got angry at 'HIM' not 'THEM' because he was a ruddy conman who used several threads of an emotive, very personal nature to try and con us. So yes I was angry.

The other spammer this morning, the so called Chinese poster, was obvious to spot and became no more than a nuisance and I didn't feel angry about it.

These spammers are possibly thinking that some of us grannies might be naive and trusting. We should take no notice of anyone offering services on GN unless it is a company GN are dealing with.

I would not buy any goods or services from anyone who is cold calling on me without a lot of investigation and only then if it happened to be something I had already thought of getting done.

A lot of them are 'block spammers', they're not just targeting us as older people, they send out the same message to thousands of websites.

Pester power. Same as cold callers use. Best ignored, and then deleted.

GNHQ approach has always been the same: don't respond to posts that you suspect are spam or worse, just report them. If HQ agrees the posts are deleted. It's really quite simple. Nothing else is necessary.

Shall we see how long we can keep this thread going? It could be another Christmas game.

The word "reported" should not be beyond most folk.

Precisely, Charleygirl! Simple as that.

If posters give a phone number, or the name of a company or charity they "have connections to" then an internet search takes a few seconds. You can find out an amazing amount about people on the net, and form an intelligent opinion. Sharing that with others is not rising to the spam bait, it is passing on the information to people who may not have thought to check. There are new members joining all the time, some of them new to computing and the net as well. They don't all read the guidelines, and they may not have the experience to recognise the fakes.

Ignoring tr*lls and spammers is not a new idea of soontobe's It is standard policy at GN and has been for a long time. Getting angry at people who appear to be exploiting trusting internet virgins is not a new thing either, and it fuels the wish to check a poster's credentials and warn others. Well, it fuels mine, anyway.

We won't stop spammers posting. There are more popping up online every second, and they bulk post blindly on lists they can buy. We can avoid feeding their ego by getting into conversations with them. We can report them and ignore them. We can pass on any information we can glean about their identity and operations, as we pass on information about telephone scams and dishonest garages.

Jings - if this thread does continue until Christmas, it will be without me. I have presents to buy, parcels to wrap, the tree to retrieve from the attic, food to shop for, a spare room to clear of debris and a GN trip to the ballet - plus I only have a couple more days of my £1 for a month Findmypast bargain membership to go and I have done absolutely nothing more toward my family tree.

Have a nice discussion.

Just a thought before I go - why was that offer of visits to old people not checked out with GN before it was posted? You would have thought the poster would have wanted the GN organisation to know about it and put their approval onto it? That would have verified their position.

If they want to go into the homes of vulnerable strangers, surely they are worldly-wise enough to realise that they need positive vetting?

No guessing I totally agree with Elegran

I take on board those who say 'report' is the beset option but there is a failure to acknowledge that the timing of the posts meant that they were on the site and available for GN's to give them serious thought and actionsactions, because of their total plausability , 'before' HQ could have dealt with themthem.

Hence to wording of the OP. I assume GNHQ are not watching 24/7, unlike some GN's

Absolutely right Elegran and Pogs Not all GNs are clued up to how these scammers work and how sneaky they can be. They may not know how to do a little research via web-searching to check them out.