I sent mail again this morning telling PG Music that I didn't
subscribe to this list. Mr. Birch's attempt to shuffle blame
by suggesting that someone might be masquerading as me is a
transparent attempt to duck blame, and I'm *still* getting
messages that I don't want via this list. I've contacted
Yahoo Groups about this abuse, and would encourage everyone
else who's getting unwanted mail to do the same.

At 11:21 AM 2/13/01 -0500, "Greg Wilson" <gvwilson@...> wrote:

I sent mail again this morning telling PG Music that I didn't
subscribe to this list. Mr. Birch's attempt to shuffle blame
by suggesting that someone might be masquerading as me is a
transparent attempt to duck blame, and I'm *still* getting
messages that I don't want via this list. I've contacted
Yahoo Groups about this abuse, and would encourage everyone
else who's getting unwanted mail to do the same.

Dear Greg,

I am not an official of this group, just another group member so there is
really nothing I can do about your problem, but try to give you some
helpful advice.

I understand your frustration about not being able to stop something that a
nameless, faceless computer is doing *to you*, but please try to cool down
a bit. Getting excited won't help you solve your problem, it will only add
stress to your life -- and stress isn't good for your health. If there is a
problem (which there obviously is) being cool, systematic and rational
should be the best way to solve it.

PG Music has nothing to do with this list so that effort was wasted. All
you have done is taken a technicians time on a problem he has no way to solve.

On the bottom of each letter from this group there are subscribe and
unsubscribe messages.

Have you tried sending an e-mail message to the following e-mail address?

Band-in-a-Box-unsubscribe@...

The above would be my first attempt to get off the list. If you have more
than one e-mail account, be sure to use the same e-mail address that the
posts from this group are sent to. If they are coming to more than one
e-mail address, you might have to do this for each e-mail address that you
are getting Band-in-a-Box posts.

If you have done the above, and if Mr. Birch's attempt to get you off the
list hasn't worked, then there is obviously a technical problem.

Mr. Birch was very factual with his assessment, this group is set up so you
cannot receive mail or post to this group without subscribing to it. If you
did not subscribe to the group, someone else may have done so in your name.
This is not to say that they did, but it is a possibility. Another
possibility I suspect is with Yahoo software. I suspect that you could have
done something else with Yahoo and a computer glitch might have sent you here.

I cannot speak for the rest, but I am here because I want to be here. I
subscribed because I like to talk about Band-in-a-Box. If I get tired of
the group, I'll unsubscribe (and hopefully won't have as much trouble as
you are having).

Contacting Yahoo groups is a good move, but it has been my experience that
the technical staff will usually respond quicker if you are polite. There
is an old proverb that applies here "You can catch more flies with honey
than with vinegar." And they will be able to help you quicker if you
include as much information as you can to help them help you (include a
copy of the letters you cannot unsubscribe to).

It has also been my experience that when something out of the ordinary
happens in the computer, it takes time to figure it out. The tech
departments are usually under staffed and they have a lot of pressure on
them. They didn't write the software so it can be looking for a needle in a
hay stack. Patience is a good thing here as long as you know they are
indeed working on your problem.

We don't want you on the group if you don't want to be here but we welcome
your presence if you want to be here. We are not here to spam you. We are
here to discuss Band-in-a-Box. I am very sure that Mr. Birch is trying to
help you.

I do sympathize with your problem, I get too much unwanted mail in my
mailbox and at times it has the power to irritate me. When it does, I
remember it isn't worth getting excited about (I don't want to give the
spammers the power to control *my* emotions) and simply hit the Delete key
as many times as it takes to trash them all.

Keep your cool and Mr. Birch (who started this group) should either be able
to help, or know who to contact for help.

And good luck. Once again, I know that these sort of things can be very
frustrating, but they are not worth impairing your health for. Patience,
persistence and perseverance should pay off in the long run.


- - - - - - - - -
Bob "Notes" Norton
owner, Norton Music
norton@...
http://www.nortonmusic.com

Norton Music is the #1 producer of BiaB after-market products in the world!
Featuring Power User Styles, Fake Disks, and Arangement Disks.
PLUS ... PG Music products at up to 20% off ... FREE Midi Files ... links
to MIDI file search pages ... download and print sheet music directly from
the web ... a few jokes to brighten your day ... and more.

Thanks Greg for your support!

Now I can see that I'm not alone fighting spammers.
But...

My primary concern is: how this dude got my private email address?
... and yours? (and a lot more, my mailbox is just beginning to
receive more and more messages about this topic, yup!)

I think that PG Music is a really serious company, and I didn't never
suspect that they has given my email address... so what? *sight*

again, thank you very much.


Regards
Michael


P.S.: I beg you pardon for my very poor command of English language,
it isn't my mother tongue.

At 12:34 AM 2/14/01 -0300, "Miguel Correa" <mac@...>wrote:

Now I can see that I'm not alone fighting spammers.

There is a good site that can help us all fight spammers. Their software
usually finds out where the mail is coming from (not the forged e-mail
address), and then reports the violation to the spammer's Internet
provider. Quite often that gets them kicked off the server. While this
doesn't stop them, it slows them down a bit.

http://spamcop.net/ is the website. The service is free, but there are some
low cost upgrades you can get that will filter your mail for you. I choose
the free service.

Plus if everybody would never-ever-under-any-circumstances buy something
that arrived in their in-box unsolicited, it wouldn't be worth anybody's
time to spam. No matter how much you want, need or love whatever they are
selling, just say "No" to spam.

I think that PG Music is a really serious company, and I didn't never
suspect that they has given my email address... so what? *sight*

I write third party (after-market) user styles for Band-in-a-Box. PG Music
approves of what I am doing and they like my styles so much that they have
referred hundreds of customers to me for additional styles. I have been
trying to rent PG Music's mailing list (snail mail) for years, but Peter
Gannon flatly refuses to sell, rent or give away any information about his
customers. I feel certain that if he won't rent the names to me, he isn't
going to rent or sell them to anybody.

I also have that same policy. Any information given to Norton music stays
at Norton Music. I go as far as to keep all customer information on
removable drives. That way even if a hacker comes to visit me and bypasses
my security, there is nothing for him to steal. The computer I use to go
on-line with has no customer or Norton Music sensitive information on it.

If somebody is selling or renting your personal information, it is a safe
bet that it is neither PG Music nor Norton Music.


- - - - - - - - -
Bob "Notes" Norton
owner, Norton Music
norton@...
http://www.nortonmusic.com

Norton Music is the #1 producer of BiaB after-market products in the world!
Featuring Power User Styles, Fake Disks, and Arangement Disks.
PLUS ... PG Music products at up to 20% off ... FREE Midi Files ... links
to MIDI file search pages ... download and print sheet music directly from
the web ... a few jokes to brighten your day ... and more.