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Date	Original Topic
12th November 2002	"The Highwayman" Strikes Back. By John Young To the visitors & contributors to this forum, It would appear that in certain circles I have apparently acquired the sobriquet of "The Highwayman." I would invite those who chose to call me so to answer why in this open forum? If they do not have the honesty to do so, I will take they are not what they purport to be. If you wish to malign my name, at least, for your own good, be sure of the person who receives your words. My family roots are far more sinister than that of a common highwayman. Seek and ye shall find on:- http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/vg/rvnames.html Fortunately my family have long since hung up their "black, mail-chain armour" and play on the other side of the fence. To those of you who think it humorous to subscribe my e-mail address to hardcore pornographic sites, please desist, the twelve over the last two days were more than enough, thank you. My wife and two children thank you as well - but it might be best if you crawl back into sewer from whence you came. With that rant over, perhaps I might be allowed conduct myself further on this forum, without let or hinderance from those who apparently believe themselves to be my betters, for you are not. I have been accused, by some, of 'nit-picking' on this forum. I would ask you all - is it wrong to correct something that is inaccurate? Or do we allow those falsehoods to be repeated and repeated until in time they are accepted as fact? John Young, Chairman, Anglo-Zulu War Research Society
Date	Replies
12th November 2002	Andy Lee John In my opinion you are as far away as possible as being desribed as a highwayman. You do a considerable amount of good work with regard to promoting interest in the Anglo-Zulu War's and providing useful information and I for one hope long may this continue. There will alway's be idiots out there, like people who destroy grave-stones or send out others email addresses to unpleasent sites because that is their depth of character. You should be proud of what you contribute to this site and I hope to reach your level in my Victoria Cross research, so as I say long may it continue, please keep up the good work. Andy Lee Andy Lee
12th November 2002	Clive Dickens John I agree entirely with what Andy has wrtten in support of you , I know it is hard and upsetting but rise above this SCUM and carry on the good work I for one have learnt so very much from you and I thank you publicly now. if it is any consolation to you I also have had my e-mail address given to hard porn sites I just delete them now , in a way one has to feel sorry for these mindless gutter louts. as Andy say's we shall always have this type of idiot out there more's the pity. All the very best Mate Clive
12th November 2002	Arthur Bainbridge The people who upset you aren't worth worrying about,you do a lot of good.Keep it up.I take it your from the north east of uk a f great place to live.Best wishes
12th November 2002	Julian whybra Ah, I was wondering why I'd been swamped with incoming porn websites over the last two weeks. Is this a conspiracy, I wonder? Who are really the highwaymen and who are really those on the side of law and order?
12th November 2002	Alex Rossiter John, You are one of the most helpful people on this fine website. To the people who sign peoples names up on porn sites or junkmail sites there is only one way to describe them PATHETIC! A few months ago one of my (suposed) freinds decided to sign my name upt to about 20 porn sites with the end result of me having to get a new email adress as it was swamped as soon as i deleted them :-(
12th November 2002	James Garland John, I've also had my E-mail address inundated with porn websites. Thank god its happening to other people. I thought some being from cyberspace had detected some deeply hidden fault in my phsyche and was trying to be helpful. Seriously though, the web is a great tool for communicating ideas to the world unfortunately gutless morons also have access to the web so I don't think this kind of stuff is going to go away. James
12th November 2002	Peter Ewart John & Julian Are you positive that your sudden swamping by porn sites has been instigated by someone connected to the RDVC site? In the past my wife and I have both rec'd emails inviting us to click on this or that to enter a porn site & they seem to come in rushes over a week or so, but I understood they were usually the result of one's email address or domain name being picked up at random by these sites through your (innocent!) surfing. Don't millions of people get them? We report them to our server (aol) who can act on it to a certain extent - for some reason my wife gets far more than I do!!! Some of the other contributors to this forum can probably advise in a more technical or accurate way. Needless to say, I have found both John's & Julian's contributions, among very many others, hugely interesting & useful. (Having "lurked" for a month or so I've only just come out of the woodwork - an anorak's paradise! - and am still going through the back messages, some of the topics being riveting & occasionally providing help or leads for one's researches). I am, however, occasionally taken aback by the tone or the stance adopted now and again, but never mind! Peter
13th November 2002	John Young I would like to thank the voices of support above. It appears I'm not the only one to have suffered recently from the porn site deluge. ................... Peter, In answer to your question, at this time I have no evidence that the 'sudden swamping' was in any way connected with someone connected to this site. Nor do I conclude that those persons who have dubbed me "The Highwayman" are in any way involved in this vile e-mail traffic, but they as yet not stood up to be counted. However, nine messages, each sent four minutes apart, causes me to strongly suspect that someone is deliberately referring the content of those vile sites to my e-mail address. I feel it is something more than 'junk mail' or 'spamming'. To my knowledge there are three military forums where my e-mail address shown. One of those three cannot be entered without a password, and I'm informed that it is encrypted on there in any case. I'm fully aware of the harm that hackers and alike cause, but it just seems strange to me that a number of correspondents of this site are having the same trouble. Maybe that the Webmaster can assist? John Young, Chairman, Anglo-Zulu War Research Society.
13th November 2002	Julian Whybra Well, I read Peter's message and was about to agree that one cannot be sure of their origin and then I read John's and the receipt of e-mails 4 minutes apart jogged by memory (I remember noticing the same frequency though I cannot be sure of how many). Well, if it is someone out there perhaps all this publicity will stop him (please).
13th November 2002	David Bluestein Dear John: I am relatively new to this site, and have enjoyed corresponding with like-minded enthusiasts at this fantastic site. Your regular contributions to the forum are a highlight for me. By simply asking an open question, visitors are privileged to have access to experts like you. Your replies are always interesting, important, historically accurate, and courteous. You are clearly a selfless historian that openly shares his knowledge. You have helped me and others continue to learn on a regular basis. Please keep up the marvellous work!!! Respectfully from Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada David Bluestein
13th November 2002	Peter Critchley Hi Chaps, I can probably shed some light on the way these things work. Basically, the mass emailing that goes on in the various dark corners of the internet is done by computers. Not people. I tend to spend the majority of my day in front of my PC, and whilst I get dribs and drabs of junk mail during the day, I notice a dramatic increase between 5pm and 7pm and then again nearing midnight. This could be related to when the people who control these things (who generally originate States-side) think people get into work at their desks (if you consider that California is 8 hours behind). There are a number of things you can do (although they only ever limit the emails): 1. Use the latest version of Outlook Express and use the "Block Sender" function that is in the Message menu 2. Use AntiVirus software such as Norton, which will spot dodgy emails which will infect your PC (many times, these dodgy emails are the very same which John and others have been receiving) 3. Consider using a Firewall (such as ZoneAlarm) - This can stop people from accessing personal data stored on your PC. It is a sad fact that with Broadband connections on the increase, more and more people are vulnerable to attack. I'm sorry I can't offer a true solution, but the reality is that at one point or another we all encounter these isidious emails. Feel free, when entering your email address on this forum to add 'nospam' at some point - eg: [email protected] This will stop any automated systems picking up a useable address from this site, and should also hopefully be obvious enough to proper users that they need to remove that bit. Feel free to email me directly if you would like any further info. All the best, Peter Webmaster
16th November 2002	Mike Jones Although I am afrequent visitor to this site, I have not contributed much, I find it a gret source of information. Keep it up Mike
16th November 2002	david truesdale Throughout my research over the last two years John Young has been a constant source of encouragement. I find him both friendly and helpful in equal parts and his knowledge of the events of 1879 has saved me a great deal of time trouble and embarrasment. I look forward to many more exchanges of information and possibly a few drinks in the years to come.