Archive through May 13, 2002
TV ClubHouse: archives: WEBTV:
Archive through May 13, 2002
Sunshinemiss | Saturday, April 20, 2002 - 09:30 pm     ROTFLMAO!! Great link Holly, thanks. |
Admin | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 08:19 pm     Funny link! Donut: are you okay?? What's with all the o's and counting them? You know what they say eh...."some are sicker than others.." you'll be okay. I think WebTV (or something like it) is the only way the internet will ever make it into everyone's house. Can you imagine if a Television was like a computer? It would never have become as widespread as it is. You WebTV'ers are pioneers! |
Littlebreeze | Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - 09:58 pm     Help??? A friend of mine is being spammed to death on her "main user" WebTV name/addy. This is her original WebTV address which she's had since she first went online many years ago when WebTV first came on the market. This spamming is a fairly recent problem and it's become so bad now that she isn't even receiving her wanted mail. Her wanted mail, her good mail, is being bounced because her mailbox is always absolutely full of junk. I told her to just dump that particular web name/addy, get rid of it altogether and create a new one with a slight variation. She said she's tried and there's no option on the WebTV settings to change your "main user" name/addy, that the options offered are to change only your 5 additional user names. That seemed crazy to me so I checked it out myself on my own WebTV. She's right as far as I can see. I could find no way to change the main user name. Bottom line, she called WebTV and explained the problem. She was told that she cannot change her "main user" name/addy because it's what her "WebTV account is under". Huh??? That makes no sense at all. So what? So they change the web address her account is under.... what's the big deal? It's what her "account is under"? Her WebTV main user nickname sure isn't on the credit card that she pays with each month. As a matter of fact, they have no problem at all in letting you change your method of payment, letting you change your credit card info, as long as they get paid, so why not let you change your main web name/addy? What am I missing here? They just don't want to be bothered with doing the work to change it while this woman is being spammed off the planet and can't even receive her legitimate mail? That's the only thing I can figure because it surely would be easy enough for it to be changed and would take probably all of one minute. Yes, she has 5 other user names but she contracted with WebTV for 6 user names and she is paying WebTV on a monthly basis for 6 user names, and she is only able to use 5 of the 6 at this point. I don't have a great deal of knowledge about the web, technical knowledge, but I would imagine that WebTV has the capability of looking at her mail files and verifying that she has a real problem. Sorry to vent, but I just get so aggravated when I see things like this. It's so unfair. You pay a company every month, and WebTV makes sure they get your money because they insist on your credit card, yet they flatly refuse to assist you when you ask them for help. What is that, the WebTV Customer No-Service Policy? There are alot of very intelligent and web savvy people here. If anyone knows anything about this, has any experience with changing the WebTV "main user" name/addy, I'd be very thankful for any direction that could help my friend. |
Webkitty | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 09:09 am     Littlebreeze, please confirm back to us that your friends unit is a plus. I don't think you can have multible email addresses on a classic. You said she has had this unit for years since the first ones came out (which would be a classic) so I'm confused. WEBTV/MSNTV does not charge for more than one email address on a PLUS unit, you get up to 6 at no extra charge. OK, so now, is her SPAM FILTER on? If its not, then that's half the problem right there. This goes for all the email addresses on the unit. If she is on a classic, she may not have a spam filter (I can't remember if my old classic had one) and needs to upgrade to a plus, IMO. If she IS on a plus, and does not have her spam filter on, it will take a few days after TURNING it on for most of the spam to stop (just so you know) 2nd, when she is getting all these emails, does she go into them and read them, or is she deleleting them w/o opening them? Every time you open an email and it turns out to be spam, you are opening the flood gates for more. If I don't recognize an email address, I delete it w/o reading it. My life is simple and I can do this. If your friends life is more complicated, she might just have to do this anyway until the problem subsides. (sorry!) IF she already has her spam filter on, and if she is NOT opening mail she does not recognize, then I don't know what to say. Anyone else? |
Littlebreeze | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 09:46 am     Webkitty.... thank you so much for your response! I will check with her on the points you mentioned. Actually, seeing she's in PA and I'm in MA, I'm going to email your post to her, to one of her other users or she'll never get it. I think her unit is a Plus but I'll find out for sure. I'll get back here with her answers. This will prove just how web-ignorant I am. I have a Plus and I had no clue that there's a "spam filter". Where do we find it? When I finish here, I'm going to go check out settings, etc. Personally, I'm lucky in that I never receive spam but, if I find that filter, I'll activate it anyway. About the 6 user names (on Plus), what I was getting at in my venting tirade is that, when you pay WebTV each month, you're paying for what you originally contracted for which is 6 accounts. In other words, they "sold" you six accounts for your monthly fee and you pay every month for what you were sold, six accounts. In my friend's case, at this point, she's unable to use one of those six and it's her "main user", the most important one of all, and WebTV won't help her or let her change it. Going now to forward your post to her, Webkitty, and then to see where that spam filter is. Again, thanks so much! I'll get back with her answers. |
Littlebreeze | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 01:30 pm     Okay... It is a Plus Unit, she's always had the spam filter activated, she doesn't open the spam mail. She says she's even written to some outfit, some organization that's supposed to help in this sort of situation, and she's seen no results. It seems there's no way to stop the spam. I guess it comes down to the question of whether anyone has ever had their "main user" name/addy changed and what they did to get that accomplished. Any help with that would be very much appreciated. Thanks! By the way, thank you, Webkitty. I did find the spam filter on my unit and it was already activiated. I had a friend of mine's son set this up for me and it looks like he's had me blocking spam from the start. |
Webkitty | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 02:01 pm     Littlebreeze, The spam filter is in the email settings (sorry for leaving that bit of info out!) One more point about the 6 email accounts: You didn't mention if your friend's unit is running slow or not, but if she has 6 email accounts and emails stored in each account, that is alot of memory to "stuff" into one unit. The more emails there are (either in "storage" or just sitting there, the slower the unit runs. That goes for the favorite folders, too. One reason I got my plus, so I could hook up a printer and print out alot of what I had stored in my favs and email, then delete alot of it so my unit runs as fast as possible. Like I've said before, I love my webtv, but I realize it is not a PC, and needs to be treated differently. I hope this helps Good luck to your friend! |
Webkitty | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 02:02 pm     oops! Took me too long to post! |
Littlebreeze | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 02:19 pm     Thanks, Webkitty. You're very kind for helping out. This one's for you....  |
Webkitty | Wednesday, April 24, 2002 - 02:22 pm     Littlebreez, there is a link to a webtv help group that I will try to find for you, discussions on everything webtv, and this was one of the topics I saw recently. |
Urgrace | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 01:39 pm     Littlebreeze, every time I need an answer to a problem it seems more time consuming than ever to get an answer since MSN took over Webtv! They even made it impossible to just write an email to them without going through a very long process of checking off what kind of problem you have and trying to give you a standard answer. Blame MSN for all the headaches. I am so unhappy with the way they are handling our accounts. Your friend may have to find some way to print out the files she/he wants and start all over. ACK! I cannot believe they won't let you change the name of the primary user. There used to be an email addy where you could do this, wasn't there? Also, if you have an email account anywhere else with msn or hotmail, they want to tack it on to your list of users if you try to add another user. If that ever happens, tell them you don't have a hotmail or msn account. Even if you want to change one of the secondary users it is a real hassle if there are files you want to keep. Webkitty, I hope this group is better than the one on my home page. Those people are not friendly at all! |
Holly | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 02:12 pm     LB There is a ng that your friend can try.If it doesn't let you click on it ccp and go to your home page then arrow down to dicuss and click that,When you are in there arrow down just a little and you will see a box. Cmd v to paste that link in your box.Arrow over to look for and click,it should bring it up. Here's the link: alt.discuss.activist.fighting-spam Another thing is to have your other username ready when you call webtv and tell them you want to take off the old main user and add the new one. If the person you talk to says it can't be done ask to speak to someone else. I know it can be done. If all else fails let your main user name fill up and give your friends "only" a new email address.When it fills up then it will start sending the email back to the sender. I hope I have helped in some way. I HATE SPAM!!! |
Urgrace | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 08:19 pm     Does Anyone Here Have a Cable Modem Hookup instead of the standard phone line? I want it, but when I went to the cable company to inquire, the installer said he didn't know how to hook it up. I then decided to call webtv to ask, but thought someone here could tell me if they have one. I installed my own webtv unit without any problems so if I have the directions it should be a snap. IS IT Possible? Please say yes. |
Littlebreeze | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 08:43 pm     Holly.... thanks for the info!! I will send your post to my friend. Hopefully she will find some assistance at that ng because she sure isn't getting any from WebTV. Thanks alot! Urgrace.... I told her the same thing, talk to a manager. She said it was a manager who told her she cannot change her primary user name. Is that unbelievable or what? |
Webkitty | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 08:52 pm     http://alt.discuss.clubs.public.webtv.tech/ See if this link works, its the discussion group I lurk at when I have a question, its not the same one that is on the home page of webtv/msntv. I think the so called discussion group on the home page is a "pretend" one set up by msntv, really. Urgrace, I think I remember the sales rep telling me that a 56K modem is already built into the PLUS units. The hook up is by telephone line, sorry! When Bill Gates bought webtv and turned it into msntv, he did it with the purpose of phasing it out, competition, he wants everyone on a pc using windows, IMO. That is why customer service is going down. I choose not to get upset over it. I will enjoy my webtv for as long as I can, and then get a laptop, simple as that. This will take years to phase out, so I'm not worried about it now. Also, to Car54, you might find that once you get your webtv, it will do everything you need it to and you can drop the old pc you have (and the ISP fee) if not, MSN was running a special, if you have them for your ISP, they will give you your msntv/webtv connection for free. (I don't know if the special is still in effect, you can check with them when you call) |
Urgrace | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 08:53 pm     MSN is not as user friendly as Webtv used to be, but I still wouldn't give it away. It doesn't seem right. What a nightmare for your friend, Littlebreeze, I sure hope she can get hold of someone else who knows. I've found that if you run into a roadblock with one tech, you hang up and redial! |
Urgrace | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 08:56 pm     Webkitty, is that MSN special for new users or can old users switch? <grumble, grumble, why didn't i know about that...?> |
Webkitty | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 09:21 pm     Urgrace, Do you have a pc in addition to your webtv? If you don't, then it wouldn't apply. I couldn't click on the link I posted above, and I can't remember how I got to that discussion group, but its where I found out about the special and lots of other stuff too. I have it saved in one of my favorite folders, so I can access it, give me some time to figure this out  |
Holly | Thursday, April 25, 2002 - 09:30 pm     Here's a list of newsgroups,some of which you may not want to click on.There are alot of good ones too. http://wtv-zone.com/jazz/00/adalpha.html |
Tksoard | Friday, April 26, 2002 - 07:25 am     Wow Holly!!! That's a great site!! I spend hours there last night just "surfing". I got alittle upset in the "pets-dogs" site about the beagle=bassett dog that needed a home ASAP. I have 3 plus 2 other mutts, but really feel for that poor dog!! I mentioned it to my hubby, and he only asked his age (4-6 y.o.). I'm going to check back, and probably if it gets down to the end, we might make a trip up to IL. I'd really rather not, but... There are so many great things in there. If anyone goes to check it out, make sure you have the time. It's very hard to break away!! Thanks Holly!!  |
Holly | Friday, April 26, 2002 - 12:39 pm     TK I love that site too. I just went into the pets-dogs discuss group and saw the post you are refering to.I hope someone will give him/her a good home. Have you made a page with pagebuilder yet? I have a Christmas page. I don't put it out for the public, it's just for me. Besides I see some of the work of others and I know mine does not even come close. Have a good day!! |
Sunshinemiss | Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 10:37 pm     I read awhile back that there is a way to get into chat here with WebTV, could someone tell me where those directions are (or email them to me- my addy is in my profile).. never tried chat and I feel brave, so..look out, here I come! Re: changing the primary user email address- it CAN be done. It isn't easy though- it can't be done from your unit, it took me three phone calls to do it, and that was back when it was WebTV, not MSN-tv.. I had somehow ended up on some awful porn list somewhere, and the "unsubscribe" links wouldn't work, so I basically called and insisted and threatened to cancel if they didn't change it for me. I did have to listen to them tell me it couldn't be done several times, then why it shouldn't be done, etc. etc. Good luck, and I hope you get a good and cooperative customer rep. |
Urgrace | Monday, April 29, 2002 - 12:14 pm     TVCH chat room information: (thanks to Karuuna who gave me instructions on Feb 3rd) From..HOME PAGE click...COMMUNITY(Classic Webtv)Skip if Plus unit click...CHAT click...GO TO .........SERVER enter required info: chat.planetz.net port 7000 room #tvclubchat .........CONNECT Have Fun!! |
Sunshinemiss | Monday, April 29, 2002 - 08:19 pm     Thanks Grace! (and Karuuna) let's see if I can work this out... see you in chat! |
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