Hi Jody and the list,  Thanks for your thorough analysis of my previous
message concerning the suspicious email I received, purportedly from
twitter-dot-com.  Let me hasten to make clear that I did not intend
to imply, if it appeared that way, that this was the result of some
failing or mis-configuration of the MMD email system.  We are all at
the mercy of the digital miscreants out there and we can only do so
much to escape their dirty-work.  Your anecdote about the engagement
ring was both humorous and chilling.

That said, let me add a bit more to the conversation.  I have sent
you as a separate message, the original Twitter message I received,
including its full header.  I am not enough of a geek to make much
sense of the gibberish contained therein, but perhaps it will have
more meaning to you, Robbie or anyone else you care to enlist in the
analysis.  I did notice, close to the top of the header, words to the
effect "From: unknown..." and "bounce.twitter.com" appeared, so there's
a good chance that Twitter, per se, may not be the only culprit here.

Some background on my mail server may likewise be enlightening.  I am
presently on vacation where I am accessing the Internet over a WiFi
network which, while password protected for the local users (family
members in the same location), ultimately connects to an ISP which
may have less-than-honorable intentions.  This is the environment
I have been in the past two weeks and (of course) MMD is not the only
recipient of messages from me during that time.  When I am home, I use
Microsoft Outlook as my email client, but while on vacation I prefer
to use the web-based client [Workspace Webmail] provided by GoDaddy.

One thing I did in the message I sent that (coincidentally?) "spawned"
the suspicious Twitter email was that I included a (clickable)
hyperlink to the printer manufacturer's web site.  Whether or not that
amounted to a "blue flag" that can be or was exploited by the trolls
is not something I can speak to, but it may be a topic for further
investigation.  But as a kind of test, I'm going to include another
one here to see if I get another "hit":  http//:www.lawyers.com  If
_anybody_ has their hooks out it would be them.  (Apologies to any
MMDers who are in that profession.)

I'm also glad you asked for, as I did, reports from other MMDers who
may have had similar experiences.  If so, there may be a more insidious
connection than is casually observable.

I consider it unlikely that an MMD "mole" did the deed, but I suppose
it's one of numerous possibilities.

John Grant
Baltimore, Maryland

 [ John, I found the message you forwarded and had a long look at it.
 [ I really does look like it came from Twittter.  It has a valid clickable
 [ link to unsubscribe you from more information about this topic
 [ and that page has a valid link to a location within Twitter
 [ to opt-out of most e-mail from them.
 [
 [ I'd be interested to hear if others have had similar solicitations.
 [ --Jody