Re: [MtHigh] More spam has been deleted

[Aunti B]

Is there any advantage in having people in our Google Groups who aren't members? I would consider having it a Members Only group, which is what we do at our condominiums. The management company isn't even allowed in, because we want our conversations just among ourselves.  Can't outsiders can get information about our club from the web site, and couldn't that suffice?

I don't know anything about it, but these are just thoughts that came to mind.

Barbara Brady

On Nov 24, 2025, at 4:08 PM, Emilio Trampuz <Emili...@earthlink.net> wrote:

Hi folks, 

So, we got one more spam message earlier today about the same Vent cleaning service. They are persistent.  This is supposedly from a Francis Myrick, who has joined this Mountain High group about a month ago.  Not a club member, but just joined the Google Group (the Forum).  

We have just deleted this message from the Gorum, and removed Francis Myrick from the group

At the same time, we deleted 2 pending messages with  the same kind of spam.  Those two new ones were caught by the more stringent filters we have set up for this group, to prevent any future spammers from joining the group.  So, those 2 were stopped by our filters, and removed from the group before they bother anyone else. 

Please be patient and ignore any future such spam messages.  I expect that we might get another one or two such messages, because these people join the group and then lay dormant for a month or two or three.  And only then do they start sending us spam.  At this point, we can't tell which of the people that have joined the group within the past few months may be spammers.  But as soon as they send us any more spam, they will be removed from our Forum (the Google Group). 

We now have fairly good filters to reject any new spammers.  But it's hard to do anything about those who have joined the group before we implemented the filters. We will remove them as soon as they show themselves as spammers.
 
Emilio

On 11/24/2025 1:18 PM, Linda or Bruce McGavin wrote:

SPAM!!!!

On Mon, Nov 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM Francis Myrick <francis...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Everyone!

We’re scheduling a dryer vent cleaning and if anyone else is interested, we can get a group discount. Normally, this service costs $350, but if more people sign up, the price drops to $150 per home! Not cleaning your dryer vent increases the risk of fire in your home because lint and dust build up inside the vents, which can become a serious fire hazard.
We’ve used this service before, and they do an excellent job. (he does duct and chimney cleaning if you need that as well)

If you’re interested, please PM me your contact info and address, and I’ll arrange a convenient time. Or feel free to text him at 301-409-1848.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mountain High Snowsport Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mthigh+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/10067262-48b0-4785-94aa-d25fe6d80d2en%40googlegroups.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mountain High Snowsport Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mthigh+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/CACFOruUHGN%2BvVRVj7w61Be0Fhdm6SnVSeHn2%2B1zcnXxDJDEY4Q%40mail.gmail.com.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mountain High Snowsport Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mthigh+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/f809730e-4f95-41c3-8c78-0e51d4a8bdbd%40earthlink.net.

[Linda or Bruce McGavin]

Great suggestion, Barbara.  

Do you think your management company really can't infiltrate your group?  

Linda

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/26FD39C1-A7ED-4DB7-AEB4-2CB906001DA9%40gmail.com.

[B Brady]

I don't think they would take the time to try and decode our access.  If they did, they might find out who was hosting the next social, or who had a good cleaning girl. 

Barbara 

On Nov 26, 2025, at 8:17 AM, Linda or Bruce McGavin <mcgav...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/CACFOruWOwxqZRk9G9vvnmX0dEjtYWJAHkOAs6wZK6U3-jcB5cQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Emilio Trampuz]

Hi Barbara and Linda and all, 

When we first set up these two Google Groups (the two Forums), I was hoping that it might be just one more way for people to find our club and eventually join us.  So, it was open to everyone.  And this worked for the past 15 years or more.    I can't remember exactly when we set it up. 

The mid-week skiing group was initially proposed by Harry Scribner.  So, for a least a couple of years, he was our Mid-week skiing coordinator.  Then he withdrew from that and our next Mid-week skiing coordinator was Kenny Brundidge, and he was in charge of this Forum for a few years  Then he died in an accident several years ago, before Covid hit us.  Since then, we haven't had any formal Mid-week coordinator.  The group just takes care of itself.   I am just listing all this to try to estimate how many years ago the Forum has been in place .  Both Forums were set up approximately at the same time, or within months of each other. 

But things changed this year when this Vent Cleaning Service figured out that they can send their ads to a lot of people just by sending a single email to each group.  I bet they are doing this to many other Google Groups too.

However, their effort within our Group is coming to an end.  We recently implemented stricter controls regarding who can join the group.  No new people can post anything any more.  The have to be approved by a group moderator first.  And just 2 days ago, on the same day, our automatic new controls have already stopped 2 more Vent Cleaning spammers from posting in our group.

So, in a way, our 2 Forums have already become more or less reserved for our club members, or friends of the club that we know.  We don't have an automatic way of cross-checking if any newcomers are our club members.  But, our group moderator can check it manually. 

The only potential problem are a few people who had joined the group in the past.  They might be legitimately interested in our club or might be members of the same Vent Cleaning cabal.  We have already weeded out and banned from the Group several of them.  But there might be a few more lying dormant before they post some of their spam.  And as soon as they do, they will be banned too.  So, things are getting better. 
 
I am puzzled by their sneaky and aggressive tactics.  Because, I think that most people will simply be repelled by that.  I, for one, would never ever buy anything from them.  In other words, their tactics are counter-productive. 

Emilio

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mthigh/E47657A5-AE38-4514-AB1C-4A19DB27D97F%40gmail.com.