I do not consider myself immune to stupidity. Not in the least. Nevertheless I have the ability to surprise even myself at times. Like the recent OrangeShark incident.
I was sitting on my couch Sunday evening, checking email, adjusting my Facebook status, and listening to the news. An email popped up, ostensibly from an elderly woman in our congregation that I interact with regularly. It purported to be a challenge to beat her score in some on-line game. It seemed plausible to me at that hour. So I clicked to the site.
I was asked to register an account on OrangeShark.com to play the game and take the challenge. One of the items on the registration included my Yahoo! account and password. And I gave it to them! I cannot believe I did that! What was I not thinking?
In a matter of moments an email went out to all six hundred plus people on my contact list telling them I had challenged them to beat my score in this stupid game. In no time I was getting email back from friends checking to see whether I had really sent it. It didn’t sound like me. (Thankfully.)
Others, depending on my relationship with them, took the challenge seriously, logged on and tried to beat my score. Most ignored it because they had the good sense to see what it was. But I think they continued to get the emails for a couple of days.
Since I myself have five different email addresses that show up in my contact list, I was getting challenges from myself to beat the score. I was getting email from friends telling me that some idiot was sending out mail in my name. I had to respond to each of those. I got a couple of phone calls to that effect as well.
I changed my Yahoo! password. I contacted OrangeShark and told them I wanted my account cancelled and the emails associated with it removed.
Today I sent out an email to all on my list apologizing. That turned out to be an interesting action. Many wrote back – laughing cyberly, forgiving, checking in, telling me they had clicked on the link to my blog and were catching up with my life. The postmaster function on my mail server kicked back two dozen addresses allowing me to clean up my address book.
I have regained some sanity, even if my ego has been bruised. I don’t think I’ll even give Yahoo! my Yahoo! password next time they ask for it.
Beware of OrangeShark!
7 comments:
What a fat mess that must have been!
Interesting to see that you added Real Live Preacher to your blog list. He's a little different but I enjoy reading his writings.
Yeah, i've unsubscribed twice so far. no harm done, though. peace to ya! james a
I randomly came across your blog after Googling for OrangeShark reviews and bad incidents. Unfortunately, the same happened to me, but AFTER I requested my account deleted. I rec'vd the same email and naively signed up, perused the site 30 minutes and never signed on again. I constantly received emails, so I signed in to unsubscribe to them. But that didn't work, i still rec'vd emails daily. So I requested my account be deleted. About 10 days AFTER i received confirmation my account was deleted, my friends & family began emailing me for confirmation that i sent this invite out. *sigh*... i was quite annoyed and upset and embarrassed that i fell for the oldest internet trick! Anyway, i just wanted to vent to someone who had experienced the same. I hope your situation was successful in removing your contacts... it'll only give me hope they'll do the same for me.
I was searching around for ways to delete my OrangeShark account, and I came across your blog. Apparently, I did the same thing out of boredom and now I regret ever signing up for that stupid website. I got emails from friends that OrangeShark contacted using my Yahoo! username and password. Looks like we're in the same boat, huh? Um...do you mind telling a gullible 15-year-old girl how to get rid of her account? Hehe...yeah...
You write to their Customer Service every day. You demand to have your account deleted and the mailing list cleared out. Change your Yahoo! password. Use the word "Lawyer."
Here's what I wrote and their reply:
Dear OrangeShark Support Staff:
According to your Privacy Policy, you saved my contact list for emailing when I registered an account with you on 7/27/08. On 7/30/08 I requested that my account be deleted, and according to the email you sent below, you have complied with my request.
I would like confirmation on the fact that
(1) my contact list is also deleted,
(2) that those addresses will not be continuing to receive Orangeshark.com
email, and
(3) that those addresses will not be given, sold, or otherwise shared with any other person or business. Can you confirm that for me? Thank you.
R. Robert Creech
Response:
Thanks for contacting OrangeShark support. Thanks for your patience. As per your request we have deleted your entire contact list. Those addresses will not receive any of our OrangeShark emails. We maintain our user's privacy, we will not sell or share to any other person or do business.
Same problem, but the difference was that I didn't give my password. Just type some abcdefgh junk in the password field and it doesn't ask you again ;)
Requested them, hope it gets deleted quickly :P
It was very interesting for me to read that article. Thank you for it. I like such topics and anything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.
Best regards
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