Astrobay ?????

[Veracocha]

Yes UKAI member as well I got the email straight into my spam folder

Jake

Me too

[russ]

Lets see what UKAI have to say about sending the emails? My guess is TJ's thread will be pulled asap and he will be banned instantly.

Been a longtime since i've seen that many active members logged into UKAI.....i notice most are SGL members waiting to see what the response will be.

[Psychobilly]

Time to ask the same question and get banned (from UKAI) as well then

[JB80]

I'm fairly sure I signed up to UKAI at some point, probably the same e-mail too.

Still all that aside is this site going to be legit, I'm not overly bothered if we get another place to pick up some gear from.

It'll probably end up just being the same ads as ABS anyway.

[Tim]

I'd be surprised at a ban tbh, the same post is here anyway so nothing to gain, and I am patently not trying to make trouble, just ascertain the answers to the question that a good number of members are asking.

[russ]

I've just sent a PM to the admins of UKAI asking the question. Lets see if i get a response.

[Stephen]

I just bumped it up a bit I had forgotten I had registered there (no posts) but would be dissapointed if they had shared / lost the email list.

[Ant]

A reply has been posted on UKAI - quoted below!

Dear SGL & UKAI members,

It would appear that the launch of my new site Astrobay.co.uk, has not gone as smooth as I would have wished.

Hopefully I will try and address the issues raised within the forum thread as I have read them so far.

First, please accept my most sincere apologies for the manner in which you have received this email, this appears to be to primary cause of concern for most people on the thread and I can understand this concern.

I recently purchased a consumer interest based mailing list of some 600+ names from a third party broker for the purpose of launching our site. This third party assured us that the list was opt-in and validated. Obviously after the issues and concerns raised on your forum we have been in contact with our supplier today and will update you once we have a response.

We can however guarantee that the mailing list will not be used again, for any purpose and will be deleted from our system. If we are unable to trust the opt-in nature of the list even from the small number of issue raised here, then it is not fit for purpose.

I must also stress that the list was not obtained in any underhand manner such as hacking SGL or UKAI members lists or theft as suggested in some of the postings.

Second, who we are, where we are and what we do.

This appears to have been a major oversight on our part. In our eagerness to launch the site we simply forgot to include these details. This will be updated on the site today, once I have finished firefighting. However just to make it clear, my name is Jason Hibbert-Lau. I am the sole owner of Astrobay.co.uk. I am based in Leeds, West Yorkshire and anyone wishing to contact me directly can do so on 07570 836 870.

The issue regarding the domain name registration is currently in hand and a request to switch the registration type is being processed now that the site has gone live. The site was originally registered as a private individual through my 123-reg.co.uk account as this is the default setting on the account. Sarah Norton at Nominet has now processed this request.

Third, The UKAI connection.

Some of you are aware that I was previously a member of the UKAI admin team. However I relinquished this role in 2009 for personal reasons and I am now only a standard member of the forum. I still access the site and I am on good terms with the current admin team. However, Astrobay.co.uk is my sole creation and is in no way associated with any member of the UKAI admin team or individual members.

Fourth, my intensions.

Astrobay.co.uk is intended to be an updated and improved classified adverting service to what is currently available, ie Astromart or Astro Buy & Sell, offering an improved site design and user feature options.

In the manner of this site launch, some would rightly say we have made mistakes, but we are learning and hopefully we can make a space for ourselves in the marketplace and provide a service to the astronomy community.

Hopefully I have tried to answer some of your question, but please feel free to contact me if you have any further question. My email address is admin@astrobay.co.uk or my phone number is 07570 836 870.

Once again, please accept my most sincere apologies for any inconvenience or concerns that this site launch has caused you or your members.

Regards

Jason Hibbert-Lau

Astrobay

[Stephen]

I think the question still needs to be asked as to how this "mail list provider" seems to of gotten UKAI's mail list ................

[beamish]

who is this" 3rd party" more to the point ? !

[JB80]

To be fair we always recieve various e-mails that have got our address' from so called list's. Like I said I'm not too bothered to be on this one as it's actually a website that is of interest to me and I may not of known about otherwise.

I hope this can be clarified for those that need clarification.

Good to see Jason's response and willingness to address the issues.

[SteveL]

from the header of the email message, so we can actually track it back to the specific machine that submitted the message for sending:

Host: 87-194-151-3.bethere.co.uk

IP: 87.194.151.3

Received: (from apache@localhost)

by server.hibbert-lau.co.uk (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) id p67MqpOR016425;

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 23:52:51 +0100

Received: from server.hibbert-lau.co.uk (localhost [127.0.0.1])

by server.hibbert-lau.co.uk (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id p67MqqKb016426

(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO)

for <(##removed##)>; Thu, 7 Jul 2011 23:52:52 +0100

Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning bounces@astrobay.co.uk does not designate 87.194.151.3 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=bounces@astrobay.co.uk

Received-SPF: softfail (google.com: domain of transitioning bounces@astrobay.co.uk does not designate 87.194.151.3 as permitted sender) client-ip=87.194.151.3;

[George]

bethere.co.uk is just a hosting company, Im wondering if this Jason guy still has overlooked admin rights on UKAI.....it would then be simple for him to harvest UKAI members email list.

[roundycat]

I received the same e-mail this morning. I was mildly upset as I personally think all spammers should be hounded to the ends of the Earth and then killed.

I am not aware of 'not opting-out' of any list that makes use of my personal details and then sells them to someone else.

Jason, if you are reading this may I respectfully ask (insist?) that you make the name of this list/company available so those of us that have no wish to be on it can attempt to get off it. I don't doubt that the opting out option was not highly visible because I would have opted out straight away.

I am quite sure that passing on details in this way breaches the Data Protection Act.

Dennis

[Kai]

Well Mr Hibbert

As far as im concerned you have just had you "Ratner" moment with me im afraid , your underhand way to try to advertise your new site has fallen on deaf ears.

I now wouldnt use you if Astrobay and Telescope Planet were the last two retailers left in the UK.

Too many if and buts in your reply for my liking (3rd party...yeah right) oh and no i do not accept your apology

[jnc71106]

Far to many coincidences for my liking. He's an admin on UKAI and the mailing list he "bought" just so happens to have emails addresses from UKAI

Hmmmmm........

Jake

[johnrt]

There have been several requests for Jason to provide full details of the company he bought the mailing list from, including an Admin at UKAI who also appears to have received the email.

Although all concerned state that this has nothing to do with UKAI it seems more than coincidence that the people who received the mail also all have UKAI accounts. I for one am not aware of any "opt in" astro mailing list subscription that I have joined.

This however can be put to the company who sold the mailing list to Jason when he shares this information.

[George]

I think he just killed his newborn site

BTW forums are covered by the DATA protection act so they MUST protect the identities of their members, that also means NOT passing on email lists to 3rd parties.

[Ant]

Once again can I assure all SGL members that the details of users of this site ARE NEVER given away, sold, transferred or whatever.

Ensuring that spammers aren't on SGL is what keeps most of the mods busy most of the time! It is a constant battle and one that we feel we are currently winning (famous last words and all that ).

By all means continue adding to this thread, but I would suggest the questions needs to be asked by you on UKAI and Jason Hibbert-Lau of astrobay.

Thanks

Ant

[reddoss]

I have just looked and the astrobay website is up and running now.

It looks well organised, but there are only sample adverts on there at the moment. I wonder if it will stay that way????????

[rawhead]

I too got the email but it DIDN'T go to the email address I registered with SGL.

Same here...

[michaelmorris]

I've just asked how I de-register from UKAI and have all my details removed from any databases they hold. If anyone is interested, I'll pass on details once I get them.

[John]

I've just asked how I de-register from UKAI and have all my details removed from any databases they hold. If anyone is interested, I'll pass on details once I get them.

I was banned from UKAI a couple of years ago but they clearly retained my e.mail address as I got the Astrobay communication as well.

Thats really cheeky isn't it ? - ban you from using the site but retain your contact details for future "use"

[russ]

I've had some contact with the admin at UKAI and they are very worried by this too. The first they knew about it was the email they received. They had no idea this was going on. They assure me they are investigating this. And they assure me the thread will not be pulled or our comments deleted.

Anyway, it's something for UKAI to deal with now not SGL. Best to keep an eye on their thread for latest developments.

[George]

I was banned from UKAI a couple of years ago but they clearly retained my e.mail address as I got the Astrobay communication as well.

Thats really cheeky isn't it ? - ban you from using the site but retain your contact details for future "use"

Most forum bans are upheld using members previous email/IP address members rejoining using a different username are compared to either and blocked.