We had a similar situation on my alma mater e-mail list. Some of the admin
information was lost, but the lady who was the admin was willing to give the
list to someone else.
It has been moved to groups.io, and everyone on the old list was notified of
the change, and now everyone is happy.
Judy
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf
Of Steve
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 2:30 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Optacon List
Folks,
I already own a large list (Blind-hams), which has 385 members. I also co-own
two other lists on this site that are smaller and not too difficult to moderate.
I thought Cathy in New York City might have also been involved with this list
creation, but possibly not. Don Bishop was the owner; and I don't know if he
game admin privilleges to anybody else -- which is unfortunate. The last I
heard from him was in 2016.
If noone has admin privilleges to this list on Freelists, then because of the
way this list is set up, I have no clue on how many members there are and I
couldn't transfer members to any new list if I were to create one.
----- Original Message -----
From: "CHARLES POND (Redacted sender "wpg67" for DMARC)"
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 11:46 PM
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Everybody Stop!
thank you for this. I did not know. Don was also a believer.
If someone wishes to continue an optacon list, either perhaps they can
contact freelists for the credentials, or simply collect the names of
those interested privately and form a new list. This was done when
Freedom Scientific was about to shut down their optacon list years ago.
Thank you again, Steve, and I am saddened by this.
Charles
On 2020-09-23 9:42 a.m., Steve wrote:
Don Bishop is no longer with us. He was also a blind ham and is ato view the list archives, go to:
"silent
Key,"
Steve, K8SP
----- Original Message -----
From: "CHARLES POND (Redacted sender "wpg67" for DMARC)"
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 11:38 PM
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Everybody Stop!
Is don Bishop still alive or active? I tried several times to connectto view the list archives, go to:
with him off list but have heard nought from him.
Charles
On 2020-07-26 3:35 p.m., Maureen Hogg wrote:
Don Bishop was the original list moderator. That was many years ago. Heto view the list archives, go to:
and his wife were both blind. Don was a programmer who benefited from
the Optacon in the 1970s. I haven't seen a post from him in over 15
years.
Good luck in your search!
Maureen
On 7/26/2020 8:24 PM, petra wrote:
I know that Richard Oehm is alive and I hope doing well. I believeto view the list archives, go to:
that
Charles Pond is alive, though I can't prove it. Neither can anyone on
this list prove that he isn't.
I think some of his messages look different than I remember them from
before, but how would you feel if people kept insisting you were dead
when you were not! I will continue to read messages from "Charles" if
he
continues to write to this list and take them for their value. I'm not
technical enough to judge wheather his ideas will work or not but I'm
happy to see that maybe he is alive and I hope getting better.
I also wonder where the list owner is and who he is. What happens to a
list if the owner stops or can't monitor the list?
This list should get back to what it is intended to do, share ideas
and
tips for Optacon users. Not advise people how to avoid phone scammers.
That's certainly for another list.
Lets get back on topic and stop all this nonsense!
Best wishes to all.
Petra
----- Original Message -----
From: David Plumlee <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender
knobman for DMARC)
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2020 2:46 pm
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
I agree, Sunshine. One particular message purporting to be fromto view the list archives, go to:
"Charles Ponds" is nothing like his writing before, and causes me to
believe strongly that the real writer of the message is a scammer or
at
the very least a person who cannot handle any degree of doubt or
questioning of his identity. I am about to the point where I suggest
that we on this list ignore and delete from our computers future
messages purporting to be from "Charles Ponds" unless someone we
trust
can establish for certain whether he is alive. We don't have any
place
for more messages such as that one that said it was from him.
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of sunshine
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2020 3:17 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
To be honest I wouldn't imagine that Charles would write that kind of
message. I can't say either way whether he is or isn't alive because
I
don't know. I have always known of him to be very polite.
Sunshine
Sent from my iPhone XR
On Jul 26, 2020, at 11:53 AM, David Plumlee (Redacted sender knobmanto view the list archives, go to:
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Hi, Petra,
I hope the list owner takes that nasty message down; you are right
that there is no reason at all for such language on this list! As I
understand the guidelines for this list, that message is a blatant
violation of those guidelines!
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of petra
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2020 7:02 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
Good evening Charles?
Excuse people for thinking you had passed on. You were the one
always
telling us how ill you were and then no posts from you for quite a
while.
I'm glad you are alive, if it's really you, and hope you fully
recover
from whatever is plaguing you.
I think the language in your message is appalling. No reason for
that.
Petra
----- Original Message -----
From: CHARLES POND <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender
wpg67 for
DMARC)
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, July 25, 2020 2:42 pm
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
List: This is Charles Pond in Ottawa. David Plumlee, Catherinestraight.
Thomas and the several others of like-mind: What the "Fake" is
wrong
with you people? You are so full of brown-stuff and this is now so
far gone that you can't even be reasoned with at this point, let
alone see
I'll address this ridiculous gossipy virtually slandrous crap aboutexcept for one proverbial "fly in the ointment": The ubiquitous
me being deceased and a fake and scamming in a few days, but for
now:
for "fake sake", this is Charles Pond very much alive in Ottawa. I
am nod dead! What the f*** is wrong with you people!? Do you want
me
to send my rent receipt for July and my bank statements to prove
this? Who
started this way-out Bull-S and perpetuates it? They should be
exposed
and publicly humiliated and help accountable in most blatant terms!
I have been regularly and consistently on other lists and there are
people on the "optacon losers' (excuse me, users') list" who
readily
know this and with whom I interact often en. What is seriously
wrong with you people?!
enough of this bull-shit from you - Catherine, David and a few
others!
Charles Pond
On 2020-07-25 1:10 pddm., David Plumlee (Redacted sender knobman
for
DMARC) wrote:
Hi, Pamela,
Notifying BBB or the local police would be an extremely great idea
practice of that damnable number spoofing. For one thing, I believe
that number spoofing makes the "DO NOT CALL" lists virtually
WORTHLESS
because there is no way to capture the REAL PHONE NUMBER of these
callers. Occasionally, you might get a true phone number for the
caller; but when I have Googled several of these suspicious callers,
I
have found that a whole branch of an exchange (i.ei, (701) 238-****,
covering 9,999 possible numbers) is listed as scam, suspicious, or
the
like.
the F-word when I wouldn't tell him my age, I googled his number andOne day when I received a call from a guy who became very nasty
and
used
found it to belong to a woman in a small town not far from our home.
That call was to me a "wake-up call" against calling any number
found
for one of these calls since I could very easily be blaming an
innocent person for calling me. As another "wake-up reminder" we
had
a call one day while Debbie was on the phone with a friend, and our
Caller ID said the call was from our own number. That call was
obviously from a spoofed number, since you wouldn't call your own
number. Debbie and our friend both laughed at that Caller ID
report.
spoofing so that a caller would have to either have his number shownI wish that phone companies would take action to eliminate all
number
on Caller ID or else come in as a "number unknown" so that a person
could easily choose to ignore all "number unknown" calls if desired.
I am already moving more firmly in the direction of ignoring all
calls
that report "toll-free call" or "out of area" calls. Such calls are
almost always junk ads or scams. How often have you answered a call
and heard something like "This is your final call'''." THEY ARE
LIARS
- ALL OF THEM! Since they can't tell the truth on that statement
(they keep calling), those callers can't be trusted for anything!!!
other agency, but that's the way I see the situation these days. WeYes, I know I am pessimistic about reporting to BBB, the police,
FTC, or
simply have NO IDEA who is placing most of these calls. Sadly, I
have
heard on our local news about persons in our area being scammed out
of
much of their savings by these thieves. It's sad indeed that at
least
one of them somehow found our Optacon list; but we can render them
ineffective by refusing to click on any of their messages or send
them
any money or personal information.
moment to notify your local Better Business Bureau and even the-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Pamela Drake
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2020 2:31 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
David and all,
I would also suggest that anyone receiving such phone calls take a
police
if you believe it would be helpful. Yes indeed, scams are out there
everywhere!
The BBB has a page on their site <beb.org> which they call scam
Trackers.
You can report and find a lot of scamms, nationally and locally.
<dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:On Jul 25, 2020, at 10:34 AM, David Plumlee
come twice to our house on two different phone calls. On one call,"I also want to warn all listers about a telephone-based scam
which
has
a
fellow said that he was offering me a grant of $80,000 which I could
use for anything I want, tax free, coming from something he called a
reinvestment and recovery act. I knew that nobody, especially the
U.S. Government, is out there to give me EIGHTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
with
no strings attached! I recorded the information he gave me on how
to
apply for the grant.
"hook" somewhere by which the scammer would get money from us whileWhen I discussed the call with Debbie, she agreed that there has
to
be a
providing us nothing; or maybe the scam was to get us involved with
some crooks stealing government money. We stayed out of it!
grant of $15,000. Having already discussed this kind of scam withA few days ago, I received a call from a woman supposedly offering
me a
Debbie, I told the woman on the phone that nobody is out there to
give
us that amount of money and that we are not interested. I then
immediately hung up the phone. More than likely, the phone numbers
from both of the callers were spoofed and therefore untraceable.
The
calls probably came from someone overseas. I haven't yet figured
out
how the scamming group was going to get money while they were giving
money to me with no requirement that I pay any kind of fee to get
it;
but I'm sure there is a "hook" somewhere in those deals, and our
best
approach was to leave both of them alone!
any of us to think, if we got such a call, that we could apply for aI take time on this list to tell of these scams because I wouldn't
want
grant in order to provide funds for research and development of a
new
Optacon.
Most of us are in no position to get scammed out of our own limited
funds, and it is sad indeed that scammers have apparently discovered
this list and sent some fake messages, perhaps "feelers" to see if
anyone will offer to advance some money "down the rat hole." I also
share the opinion that we cannot expect a new Optacon anytime soon -
and maybe not at all. If I understand "the way the wind blows"
these
days, education of young blind children has moved so far into
recordings and computerized speech that nobody will seriously look
at
the device which has been so helpful to us.
but not to a foundation or the like, and not much money for R&D.
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carolyn
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2020 9:19 AM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
That was why in my post, I said that $10,000 was a lot to an
individual,
a new Optacon 3 product anytime soon, and I encourage you to be-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Noel Runyan
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2020 6:31 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Fake Messages
Catherine and listers,
I will start by echoing a strong warning about getting your hopes
up
for
extremely suspicious about anyone asking for money to fund new
Optacon
research.
development.With that said, I hasten to point out that Charles Pond's recent
messages to this list were not asking for money, although he did
state that he needed
$10,000 to $13,000 in order to finish his new Optacon display
near the many hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to develop theClearly, that relatively small sum of funding would not come
anywhere
rest of an Optacon 3 device, assuming the tactile display
development
portion was successful and working well.
assumptions or suspicions about the poor health or death ofI also encourage us all to be extremely careful when making and
sharing
individuals.
truly deceased, or do we only have unsupported assumptions andDoes anyone on this list have any actual proof that Charles Pond
is
irresponsible gossip?
being his brother and writing for Charles.In two of his recent posts to this Optacon list, Charles Pond
mentioned
expect from someone who has been falsely proclaimed to be deceased.These appeared to me to be the kind of ill advised humor one might
Charles, and they both were very consistent with his former writingIn the last several months, I have had two direct Email exchanges
with
style and technical issues. He mentioned Halbach magnetic arrays, a
technical term for a special kind of magnet I told him about several
years ago.
technical reference in Optacon discussions with me.I am sure that a poser would not have known to use such a unique
heard from in the past, is still alive and has recovered enough fromCertainly, I am comfortably convinced that Charles Pond, the one
we've
his severe health problems to be able to continue some discussions
about Optacon tactile displays.
observation of and confirmation of any working prototypes ofHowever, I am also convinced that we have not had independent
Charles's
Optacon 3 tactile array devices, something that causes most experts
in
the field to have serious doubts about its performance and
viability.
Charles Pond will need to be more open and willing to share detailsTo be taken seriously by researchers in the tactile display field,
of
his design concepts and any prototypes.
quotes) in the message subject.Sincerely,
Noel
-
Noel H. Runyan
Phone: 1-408-866-7564
Email: Noel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-
At 11:35 PM 7/23/2020, Catherine Thomas wrote:
I think someone is having a joke at the list's expense. Idoubt vey
seriously that the messages are authentically from Charles.The english
is wrong, the writing style does not match and the tone iswrong. If
anyone receives any private requests for funds claiming tobe from
Charles, just delete them. This is only my opinion based onyears of reading Charles'
messages.----------
Catherine
------------------------------------------------------
comCatherine Thomas
braille@xxxxxxxxx /
-----------------------------------------------------------
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