Concerning Necessary Security

[Thy Geekdom Come]

To the Phatmass Phamily,

We have recently received growing complaints of a person claiming to be various, well-known Phatmass Phorum members and using their good names to sneak Satanic comments and attacks into their conversations with the unsuspecting phatmassers.

We encourage Phatmass members to pray for this person who is clearly struggling with difficult circumstances and decisions.

However, no matter how much this behavior may upset certain members, we encourage you not to bother carrying out a conversation with this person or seeking to debate. Dangers to one's personal safety or spiritual well-being keep us from being able to advise otherwise.

We recommend a few practices by which you can protect yourself:

If you wish to open a conversation with a person you have not chatted with before, exchange your screennames over private message or email so that you will be expecting a text message and may be able to identify the screenname.

As always, never give out personal information over the internet.

Also, if you do not wish to receive unsolicited IMs from this person, please remove your IM information from your profile.

If you think this is happening to you, check the screenname of the member this person is claiming to be by viewing that member's Phatmass profile. If the screenname is unlisted, either leave the conversation or ask the person in the conversation to send you a PM so that you can be assured that the person is the member s/he claims to be.

God bless,

The Moderators

[curtins]

wait is it an actual phatmasser doing this or someone who hacked their account?

[IcePrincessKRS]

The messages are being sent over instant messenger services like AIM. That is why we are recommending that everyone remove their instant messenger information from their profiles. We really can't prevent anyone from sending a messageover AIM saying they are someone else, our best way of protecting you is to encourage you to take the steps detailed in Raph's post. We don't want anyone's reputation marred because someone is impersonating them to get "in" and make an attack.

[dUSt]

Anyone who has received these types of IM's, please let me know.

What I need to know is:
- what Instant Messaging client was it (AOL, Yahoo, etc)
- what was the person's screename
- when it happened

[brendan1104]

I only IM with brendan11490.

This has happened to me- over the past two or three weeks - several times. It was AOL/AIM, but I didn't keep the screen names she used. Sorry.

[catholicinsd]

Hey guys, do you want me to stop conversing with her?

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='catholicinsd' post='1141839' date='Dec 13 2006, 11:52 PM']
Hey guys, do you want me to stop conversing with her?
[/quote]

Honestly, I wouldn't talk to her if I were you. I believe you prayers will do her much more good than IM conversations. However, if you choose to keep communicating with her there isn't anything we can do to stop you.

[catholicinsd]

[quote name='IcePrincessKRS' post='1141843' date='Dec 13 2006, 10:55 PM']
Honestly, I wouldn't talk to her if I were you. I believe you prayers will do her much more good than IM conversations. However, if you choose to keep communicating with her there isn't anything we can do to stop you.
[/quote]

Well, I've been talking with her long before this started. I trust her. She trusts me.

[Theoketos]

[quote name='catholicinsd' post='1141846' date='Dec 13 2006, 10:57 PM']
Well, I've been talking with her long before this started. I trust her. She trusts me.
[/quote]

Honestly, being online is not healthy at all for some people. It is good not to enable destructive behaivor.

[catholicinsd]

I don't think I'm her enabler

[littleflower+JMJ]

For the uttermost safety readers, please follow Raph's instructions because they are very, very well warranted and should be taking as a necessary precaution in order to be prevented.

[homeschoolmom]

[dUSt]

I have the offender's name, address, and telephone number.
If any of the people who have been victimized would like this information so that you can file charges, please let me know and I will gladly give this information to you.

[missionseeker]

I just sent a PM to Raph

other people's inboxes were full....

[catholicinsd]

If you think I'm putting other people at risk by conversing with my dear friend, then I will stop, (although I think this would be the worst possible thing to do.) And I don't an Instant or two is really that bad. If your faith is strong it should make no difference.