Question and possible warning about Chronicle of my horse...

[grandprixjump]

I received an email today about a new comment being added to my COMH webpage, but I went there and NOTHING. I looked at the email again and the link appears to really be wrong. It started as http://chronicleofmyhorse.ning.co_/xgo= (and a bunch of different numbers and letters, I didn't want to put a working link on here so I modded it)

NING is a different social networking site, so it probably a scam to get new members there...

WATCH OUT FOR THESE KINDS OF SCAMS

[I.C.O.]

Thanks for the warning. :) I had the same thing happen to me today.

[dressagetraks]

I got one, too.

[Come Shine]

I had that as well. Couldn't figure out what it was. Thanks for the info.

[Tha Ridge]

NING is a different social networking site, so it probably a scam to get new members there...

Ahem, Ning is actually the foundation that Chronicle of My Horse is built upon. No scam there. I.E., Ning HOSTS Chronicle of my Horse. Perhaps you should've visited Ning's site before calling foul.

[ArtilleryHill]

I got one, too. Given that NING seems to be legit, any idea what's going on? I searched for the name of the "member" who supposedly left me a message, and there's no such user. I wrote to admin and let them know but haven't heard back. Any ideas?

[Tha Ridge]

I got one, too. Given that NING seems to be legit, any idea what's going on? I searched for the name of the "member" who supposedly left me a message, and there's no such user. I wrote to admin and let them know but haven't heard back. Any ideas?

It's probably just a glitch. Keep in mind that Ning is free - anyone can create a social network on their servers - so it's not like the Chronicle is investing tons of money in it.

[webmistress32]

There was a spammer that I reported this morning. She posted to a bunch of people to come and check out her singles equestrian match site.

When I complained they removed her and that probably removed her posts, too and left this weird remnant of an entry to your blog.

[kwilhide]

I got the same thing. I wouldn't trust the link. Go into Chronicle of my horse directly if you want to check, but I suspect this is malware. I have never used chronicle of my horse, is this something that is tied automatically to a COTH sign on, as I have never signed up directly. Also, my name did not match my sign on.

Hackers use this type of thing all of the time, and chances are a trojan or virus is being deposited on your computer when you click on it, even if it does take you to a legit. site.

If you have clicked on it I would recommend running your anti-virus/anti-malware program with updated definitions asap. There is alot of nasty stuff going around right know. In particular, if you see your browser being redirected like it has a mind of its own when you search in yahoo or google, that is a pretty prevalent trojan right now.

[blackwatch86]

Yeah, I receieved a comment this morning from a woman asking me to work for her equestrian dating website. Glad it's been removed and taken care of.

[findeight]

Just a general observation...this past few days and today especially, my Norton is smoking and I am routinely having to run the fixes, usually just tracking cookies but there is a worm warning now that keeps popping up. Keep your scans active. About ready to bring out the Mac laptop.

Be careful out there.

[RockingN]

I got one too, I clicked on it thinking it was actually legit and now im worried about my computer. It's doing nothing odd or anything. Mac's cannot get that sort of stuff right??

[equineartworks]

I got it too. I signed up yesterday for comh because I thought I was signing into my subscription...duh...

[findeight]

I got one too, I clicked on it thinking it was actually legit and now im worried about my computer. It's doing nothing odd or anything. Mac's cannot get that sort of stuff right??

They CAN but it is alot harder to hack in and easier to patch and the other system has always been the choice for lazy crooks and pranksters.

Make sure you run your updates from Windows and your virus protection software...and don't open anything you don't recognize, even on a Mac.

[seabreeze]

I got such an email, too, and I don't even have a COMH page.

[linquest]

There was a spammer that I reported this morning. She posted to a bunch of people to come and check out her singles equestrian match site.

When I complained they removed her and that probably removed her posts, too and left this weird remnant of an entry to your blog.


Aaaaaah, ok. That explains why, when I logged in from the link on the email, there was no new comment. I do think it’s legit- it had all the COMH info I entered- the correct friends, profile info (including the contact info I gave when I joined), and I recognized all my prior activity that's listed on my page.

So...I hope it’s all legit, and not malware, because I did all this on my Blackberry and I don't know how easy it is to get malware/viruses off! :o

[BelladonnaLily]

Oh crud, I am normally anal about not clicking on links or trusting things. But I did go to the link, and see the message about the dating service. My computer was doing weird things last night (which really isn't so weird in itself, I have 3 kids that like to screw it up!) so I hope I didn't pick up something.

[Molly Sorge]

Hello everyone,

As the Chronicle staffer in charge of the Chronicle Of My Horse site, I'll try to address this issue. The spam messages were brought to my attention this morning and I promptly deleted the member responsible from the COMH network, which in turn deleted any content she would have posted. This explains the 'disappearing' messages.

We try to keep a pretty tight lid on the COMH network but of course, since it's open to new members, occasional problems crop up. I really appreciate the users who alerted me to the issue right away.

To anyone who received this email who is NOT a COMH member, please contact me at molly@chronofhorse.com directly, as we'd love to get to the bottom of what might have caused that.

And please keep in mind that the best way to get information about any of the Chronicle's three web sites is to contact the administrator of the site directly. We do not monitor the BBs like the moderators do!

Thanks, Molly Sorge

[deltawave]

Yay for responsive and "on the ball" administrators! :)

[lizathenag]

anyone can create a social network on their servers

They built their site by allowing adult content and now that they are up and running they are kicking off all the adult content.

don't ask me how I know this. . .