All,

First, regarding a current post attributed to me (the old Free Martha BS), I
had nothing to do with it.

Second, I put my own name into the Google search, and came up with a bunch
of posts via a message board in UK, Garden Banter. Just for the heck of it,
I tried some other names, including my husband's. He's on line regularly,
though he doesn't do groups. His name came up, but it was clearly someone
else. I tried some names from this NG, and only one came up in the context
of Garden Banter, even though lots of us are referenced on that board. For
example, Ray - your name came up numerous times, but never attached to
Garden Banter.

Third, yesterday I received an email from someone unknown to me (I don't
download unknown mail - I read it off the ISP's server) who knew a load of
information about an event in my life that took place many years ago and
claimed to be a part of that event. I was suspicious, of course, but more
so now that I've seen that new post in this group. And, last time the "Free
Martha" stuff came up, months ago, responses indicated that the post
originated with me.

We update our Norton antivirus at least weekly, the most recent time being
yesterday afternoon. I know I can add a "nospam" or something to my
response addie, but what good will that do if someone simply takes off the
junk?

I'm far from stupid, but the workings of hackers are beyond my expertise.
What am I missing here? I went back and reread the original Martha thread,
but honestly I don't have the technical knowledge to fathom some of the
information that was posted (Mick posted a lot of info, but much was lost on
me).

I certainly don't want to give up this group. What can I do to protect
myself, beyond what I already do? Plain English, please!

Thanks very, very much.

Diana