[ironbut]

I just got an unsolicited email from Headfi(?) that started with a couple of ads for products. Toward the bottom, it listed some meet threads as a token.
I just wanted to check and see if this is indeed an official Spam or if someone is using the members list and letterhead.
 
Anybody else get one of these?

 

[balderon]

Yes I was spammed as well. I wouldn't click on any of the links in the message as many resolve to IP address 68.178.232.100 (x.jtrk61.net/u.z). At least 200 other hosts are pointing to the same IP address. This suggests your email address may be harvested by clicking on these links.
 
You can disable the "Receive Head-Fi.org Email Newsletters" option in your profile

 

[jjinh]

Do you mean stuff like this:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/521928/spam-from-headfi

 

[acidbasement]

Quote:

Yes I was spammed as well. I wouldn't click on any of the links in the message as many resolve to IP address 68.178.232.100 (x.jtrk61.net/u.z). At least 200 other hosts are pointing to the same IP address. This suggests your email address may be harvested by clicking on these links.
 
You can disable the "Receive Head-Fi.org Email Newsletters" option in your profile

Thanks for this info.  Rather disappointing in my opinion, unless one of the admin team would like to clarify or dispute it.  I don't mind a bit of advertising - after all, I do not pay for membership here.  Email address harvesting is a bit of a low blow however.
 
I have indeed now disabled the email newsletter option.

 

[balderon]

It's interesting to note the majority of the web links in the alleged head-fi newsletter sends you to x.jtrk61.net which in turn redirects you back to head-fi.org. This is a common way to validate email addresses. If you open http://x.jtrk61.net the page comes up with the following text.
 
Quote:

 
[size=x-small]Welcome![/size]
[size=x-small]There is no web site behind this domain.  This domain is used as part of a tracking mechanism in an e-mail marketing application.[/size]

 
It is disturbing why this "tracking mechanism" is masquerading as a head-fi newsletter....

 

[jude]

That email is from Head-Fi (the one titled "CanJam@RMAF, Head-Fi Meets & More").  It was the second one, the first one being before CanJam@RMAF.  You can opt out of the newsletter in your profile settings.  To the best of my knowledge, anyone who opted out of Head-Fi emails in the previous system (vBulletin) should not be receiving these.
 
The meet mentions/links within that newsletter are no more token than their mentions on the homepage are.  They're intended to bring more attention to the meets, and the meet impressions threads.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/521838/toronto-meet-on-november-20th#post_7044945
 
Again, you can opt out of the newsletter in your profile settings.

 

[Asr]

How come I'm not receiving these newsletters when I've opted in?

 

[acidbasement]

Quote:

That email is from Head-Fi (the one titled "CanJam@RMAF, Head-Fi Meets & More").  It was the second one, the first one being before CanJam@RMAF.  You can opt out of the newsletter in your profile settings.  To the best of my knowledge, anyone who opted out of Head-Fi emails in the previous system (vBulletin) should not be receiving these.
 
The meet mentions/links within that newsletter are no more token than their mentions on the homepage are.  They're intended to bring more attention to the meets, and the meet impressions threads.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/521838/toronto-meet-on-november-20th#post_7044945
 
Again, you can opt out of the newsletter in your profile settings.

Thanks Jude, but I think what some of us are uneasy about is the fact that the links in the newsletter point to head-fi through a third party website - x.jtrk61.net.  Can you tell us about this?  Balderon speculates above that this might be an email address-harvesting site.

 

[jude]

Quote:

Thanks Jude, but I think what some of us are uneasy about is the fact that the links in the newsletter point to head-fi through a third party website - x.jtrk61.net.  Can you tell us about this?

Currently we use a third party service called Jangomail to manage the sending of the email newsletters.  Jangomail manages the actual email sending, click tracking, open tracking, unsubscribes, and bounces.  The URL you see when you mouse over a URL in a newsletter is what allows for the aforementioned metrics.  Our first two emails were sent directly through Jangomail using their domain rather than the Head-Fi domain.  That's why you see x.jtrk78.net wrapping the URL.  That said, we're changing our Jangomail implementation for the next newsletter to send and do metrics tracking via the Head-Fi domain instead; so, if all goes as planned, next time you mouse over a newsletter URL (in subsequent newsletters), it should be a Head-Fi.org domain you see and click on.
 
As for the comment that email addresses are harvested when clicking on the links, perhaps the most relevant thing (with respect to that specifically) is Jangomail's privacy policy, which can be found here:  http://www.jangomail.com/privacy.asp    I hope that explains that.

 

[Caphead78]

The jangomail link only works (at least for me) without the https, if I use http it comes up
Quote:

Currently we use a third party service called Jangomail to manage the sending of the email newsletters.  Jangomail manages the actual email sending, click tracking, open tracking, unsubscribes, and bounces.  The URL you see when you mouse over a URL in a newsletter is what allows for the aforementioned metrics.  Our first two emails were sent directly through Jangomail using their domain rather than the Head-Fi domain.  That's why you see x.jtrk78.net wrapping the URL.  That said, we're changing our Jangomail implementation for the next newsletter to send and do metrics tracking via the Head-Fi domain instead; so, if all goes as planned, next time you mouse over a newsletter URL (in subsequent newsletters), it should be a Head-Fi.org domain you see and click on.
 
As for the comment that email addresses are harvested when clicking on the links, perhaps the most relevant thing (with respect to that specifically) is Jangomail's privacy policy, which can be found here:  http://www.jangomail.com/privacy.asp    I hope that explains that.

 

[jude]

Fixed.  Thanks, Caphead78.
 
Quote:

The jangomail link only works (at least for me) without the https, if I use http it comes up

 

[acidbasement]

Thanks for clarifying, Jude.