You should just mail them directly and tell them to change their password. That should solve all of the problems. As far as hacking GW, I doubt it. How most people phishing for passwords is by making a site that looks just like a site you intend to go to. So, you may type I the address bar: www.yahooo.com, simply an extra o. It could look just like regular yahoo, but when YouTube your user name and password in, they collect it and then sell it off to illegal pharmacies so that they can I turn spam other users. Sometimes it is even simpler to steal your username and password. Say for example you see an advertisement for a free computer or car or whatever and you click on it, or perhaps a contest for the advertised item. It may even be a complete an offer and get this prize type of situation. Anyway, no matter they way, they make you create an account on their website. So you create your username, a password, all your info etc. Well, research has proven that most people use the same username and password for almost all of their accounts, so if they have one, the. Chances are, they can figure them all out. Best thing to do is to make sure your password is difficult, at least 1 captitol letter and a number. Also, always check your address bar to make sure you typed correctly, or better yet, always use google to get to an address, as google won't let you go to a known spamming site. And the biggest thing you can do to protect your accounts and computers.....never click on attachments in a forwarded email. As a matter of fact, don't even open them..they may look innocent, but trust me, they are installing spyware I the background while you watch yet another video of a baby laughing or are looking at pictures, or what have you.

OK,I was a bad girl and repeated myself in too many places and seemed to set off a spam filter,I guess in attempting to relay the message about Bigreds troubles I used similar wording and the filters picked me off as spam...which is a relief to know that we are well protected.Sue rescued me and I hope also Bigred.I have informed her of the activities that have been going on and we will hopefully hear from her by the end of the day!Thanks again! ~ Angie... who is walking far away from this computer because she has had enough for now!

No software, no protocol and no activity is 100% effective. Helpful, but not absolute. And yes, address generators and miners are a spammer's best friend. However, focusing on the word "best" the adage is still absolutely true. Unfortunately users are still their own worst enemy, particularly newbies and the those with limited experience. Through their zealousness to enjoy, and learn on the Internet they register on sites without proper research. They use forwards. They CC. They publish their e-mail address in plain view. They fill in the line on product registration cards. They register on-line for newsletters and free product coupons. And, all this are just examples. We as users sit at home and pay our ISP money for the privilege to connect to the Internet. Site commerce is what drives the Internet. Even legitimate spam though annoying is perhaps useful. It is quite similar to the bulk mail we all get in our mailbox at home. A user's biggest concern is the malicious, false or unwanted, by subject, spam. My personal remedy has been being security minded with my addresses, and multiple e-mail addresses for dedicated use. DA

Buehl, The message you are seeing at the bottom of the email (PLEASE NOTE: The member responding to your post has chosen not to reveal his or her email address. Therefore, you cannot reply to this message via email) only means that you are not able to respond by clicking Reply within your email account (gmail, yahoo, outlook, hotmail, etc, etc). However, there is a way to send them a response ... go to their 'My Page' and respond to them from there. You do not have to respond via your email account. If they are set up to be able to receive email, you can respond to them from their My Page the same way they emailed you (they went to your My Page). NOTE however, if they do not have their account set up to receive emails as in your instructions above, you will not be able to reply to them from their My Page either. Finding a member 'My Page' ... http://members.gardenweb.com/members/search.cgi I believe it IS upper or lower case sensitive Using your instructions above, you also have the choice to have your email address revealed or not revealed in your settings on that same page (show my email address to: none). I have mine set up for 'none' and I see that you have your account set up this way as well which I think is smart . . . . I noticed something that made me change my settings ... When you email someone, if they have their email revealed, GW will automatically show you the person's email address. Just in case any spammers ever come trying to harvest email addresses, I thought it would be a good idea to change my settings. Because I use my real, work email address in GW, not a fake throwaway address. Click the first link below and you will see an example of how you can see that person's email address. Typically, when I send a private message to someone using GW, I include my email address in the body of the message, so they can respond without having to search me out using My Page. But I can still keep my email address private within my gardenweb settings. This way it makes it easier for the person I am messaging. I can choose to send/receive emails and neither of us has to unblock our email address. I have sent a suggestion asking GW to make this message that appears at the bottom of the email more clear, because it is very confusing how they have it worded. It makes it sound like you cannot respond at all to the person emailing you. You can send a suggestion too ... Here ... http://www.gardenweb.com/auth/nph-logincheck.cgi?action=public_profile&user=/gwtamara or here ... http://letters.gardenweb.com/letters/nph-ind.cgi