Matt, this is an emergency!

“Matt, I don't know what's happening, but I just got a fax from my best buddy who teaches at the English high school in the neighbouring village. He sounds pi$$ed and even used the F word which is pretty radical for a school to school fax - even in our society. He told me to take his wife's name and his name off the net. Now, all I have is his wife's e-mail address on my yahoo address list. Clearly something is wrong. All I can think of is that I e-mailed my 'Bummer!' thread from the TT site. Have you been selling lists? I'll be driving to his school at noon to tery and catch him. Please get back to me.”

“Was he one of the people you mentioned by name on the thread? Was it a real name?

(If yes to both, that might be why, in which case you probably should avoid posting any more identifying information - such as mentioning that he teaches at... )”

“Yeah.”

“I don't know if Matt would be willing to change it for you, it wouldn't hurt to email him and ask.

Good luck!
(people have such very diferent views on the internet and privacy - one sets of alarms for one person may seem innocuous to another)”

“gremlin,
You've got to email me since the email address on your account isn't valid.
matt@thebackpacker.com

and by the way, I have never and will never sell my email lists.”

“Thanks, Matt, I was pretty sure about that, but wanted to be able to show him this thread. The only other thing I can think of is that someone has been making christmas purchases on the net and the company or companies distribute customer lists. I'll get back to you and update my e-mail address on my TT site. Thanks again.”

“Gremlin --

Might he have only been refering to the mention of his and his wife's name in the body of your long email??

Perhaps his concern is simply that you mentioned them by real name, and in a geographical context, so that some stranger could figure out who they are???

Or did has he recieved unsolicted email that can be traced back to your mention here??”

“that was my concern, too, Lee”

“Pedxing and Lee, you were right, but I managed to spread oil on troubled waters. Whew!”

“You're gonna get in trouble with Greenpeace for that, gremlin...”

“As an environmental engineer I can get that oil back for you, save your Greenpeace lawsuit but not cheap!!”

“whoa! Glad he understands.”